The House of Dolls
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| Author | Ka-tzetnik 135633 |
|---|---|
| Translator | Moshe M. Kohn |
| Country | Israel |
| Language | English translation from the original Hebrew |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster (first English edition) |
| Released | 1955 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
The House of Dolls is a 1955 novel by Ka-tzetnik 135633.
In the novel, the Joy Divisions were groups of Jewish women in the concentration camps during World War II who were kept for the sexual pleasure of Nazi soldiers.
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[edit] Allusions/references to history
The origin of Ka-tzetnik's story is not clear. Some say it is based on a diary kept by a young Jewish girl who was captured in Poland when she was fourteen years old and forced into sexual slavery in a Nazi labour camp. However the diary itself has not been located or verified to exist. Others claim that it is based on the actual history of Ka-Tzetnik's younger sister (The House of Dolls is about the sister of Ka-Tzetnik's protagonist, Harry Frelshnik).
Records of organized sexual slavery exist at Auschwitz but not at other camps. [1] In the Documentary film, Memory of the Camps; a project that was supervised by the British Ministry of Information and the American Office of War Information during the summer of 1945, camera crews filmed women whom they stated were forced into sexual slavery for the use of guards and favored prisoners. The film makers stated that as the women died they were replaced by women who were transported there from Ravensbrück. [2]
The barracks in which the women were kept were located in distant locations within existing concentration camps, usually close to the front lines. Troops on their way to the front spent a day drinking and molesting underage women. If they were not 'pleased' with their prisoner, they could have her killed. These female prisoners were better fed than other prisoners of the camp.
The book Stella: One Woman's True Tale of Evil, Betrayal, and Survival in Hitler's Germany, a biography of Stella Goldschlag, says she was threatened with being forced into sexual slavery unless she cooperated with the Nazis. [3]
[edit] Literature and scholarly references
In his essay, "Narrative Perspectives on Holocaust Literature", Leon Yudkin uses The House of Dolls as one of his key examples of the ways in which authors have approached the holocaust, using the work as an example of "diaries (testimonies) that look like novels" due to its reliance on its author's own experiences. [1]
Ronit Lenten discusses The House of Dolls in her work Israel and the Daughters of the Shoah. In her book, Lenten interviews a child of Holocaust survivors who recalls The House of Dolls as one of her first exposures to the Holocaust. Lenten notes that the "explicit, painful" story made a huge impact when published and states that "many children of holocaust survivors who write would agree . . . that House of Dolls represents violence and sexuality in a manner which borders on the pornographic."[2]
[edit] Popular Culture
- The band Joy Division took its name from these enslaved women, after changing their name from Warsaw in 1977. The band's early song "No Love Lost" references The House of Dolls.
[edit] References
- ^ Yudkin, Leon; various co-authors (1993). "Narrative Perspectives on Holocaust Literature", in Leon Yudkin, ed.: Hebrew Literature in the Wake of the Holocaust. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 13-32. ISBN 0-838-63499-0. (accessed through Google books)
- ^ Lenten, Ronit (2000). Israel and the Daughters of the Shoah: Reoccupying the Territories of Silence. Berghahn Books, 33-34, 66 n. 4. ISBN 1-571-81775-1. (accessed through Google books)
[edit] Further reading
- Ka-tzetnik 135633. The House of Dolls. ISBN 1-85958-506-X.
- Wyden, Peter. Stella: One Woman's True Tale of Evil, Betrayal, and Survival in Hitler's Germany. ISBN 0-385-47179-3.
[edit] See also
- German Soldier's House
- Comfort women
- Sexual slavery
- Recreation and Amusement Association
- German war crimes
- Japanese war crimes
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