Opening

"I am a woman who suffered, lost her husband, parents, children, and friends"
Source: Lengyel Olga, Five Chimneys, Academy Chicago Publishers 1995, p. 227.

"And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial ... an everlasting name [a "yad vashem"], that shall not be cut off."
Source : Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 5.

During this ceremony, we will present the women’s experience of Auschwitz. Some of the experiences, such as the journey to the camp and arrival there, were common to both men and women, while others were unique to women, such as going through the “sauna” and the pregnancies. Our starting point is that women did indeed have a unique experience of the Holocaust, but the purpose of this ceremony is not to examine this in an academic manner, but to present chapters from the Auschwitz experience focusing on the women’s voice.

If you want to read more on the subject of “Women and the Holocaust”, click here