House of Dolls: Difference between revisions
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== Origins == |
== Origins == |
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The origin of Ka-tzetnik's story is not clear. The author suggests that the subject of the book was his younger sister, who did not survive the [[Holocaust]]. However, he did not have a sister.<ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1080662.html] Tom Segev, Breaking the Code, ''Haaretz'', April 23, 2009.</ref> |
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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, and the author suggests as much in his later book ''Shivitti'', 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 Preleshnik). |
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Between 1942 and 1945, [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] and nine other [[Nazi concentration camps]] contained |
Between 1942 and 1945, [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] and nine other [[Nazi concentration camps|camps]] contained [[camp brothel]]s, used to reward cooperative non-Jewish inmates. The book however ist fictional and not a factual report. |
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In the documentary film, ''Memory of the Camps'', a project supervised by the [[Minister of Information|British Ministry of Information]] and the [[United States Office of War Information|American Office of War Information]] during the summer of 1945, camera crews filmed women who had been 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 from the concentration camp [[Ravensbrück]].<ref>[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/camp/ Memory of the Camps], Frontline, PBS</ref> |
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While De-Nur's books are still a part of the high-school curriculum, modern Israeli critics like Na'ama Shik consider ''The House of Dolls'' [[pornography|pornographic]] fiction,<ref name="NYTimes">''[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/world/middleeast/06stalags.html Israel’s Unexpected Spinoff From a Holocaust Trial]'', [[Isabel Kershner]], [[New York Times]], September 6, 2007</ref> not least because sexual relations with Jews were strictly forbidden to all [[Aryan]] citizens of [[Nazi Germany]]. Its publication was an early case of the [[Nazi exploitation]] genre of popular literature, known in [[Israel]] as [[Stalag fiction]]. |
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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.<ref>[http://hunza1.tripod.com/borowski/book.html hunza1.tripod.com]</ref> |
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==Literature and scholarly references== |
==Literature and scholarly references== |
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Revision as of 14:05, 12 March 2010
 1982 edition paperback cover | |
| Author | Ka-tzetnik 135633 |
|---|---|
| Translator | Moshe M. Kohn |
| Language | English translation from the original Hebrew |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster (first English edition) |
Publication date | 1955 |
| Publication place | Israel |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
The House of Dolls is a 1955 novella by Ka-tzetnik 135633. The novella describes Joy Divisions, which were allegedly groups of Jewish women in the concentration camps during World War II who were kept for the sexual pleasure of Nazi soldiers.
Origins
The origin of Ka-tzetnik's story is not clear. The author suggests that the subject of the book was his younger sister, who did not survive the Holocaust. However, he did not have a sister.[1]
Between 1942 and 1945, Auschwitz and nine other camps contained camp brothels, used to reward cooperative non-Jewish inmates. The book however ist fictional and not a factual report.
While De-Nur's books are still a part of the high-school curriculum, modern Israeli critics like Na'ama Shik consider The House of Dolls pornographic fiction,[2] not least because sexual relations with Jews were strictly forbidden to all Aryan citizens of Nazi Germany. Its publication was an early case of the Nazi exploitation genre of popular literature, known in Israel as Stalag fiction.
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.[3]
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."[4]
Na'ama Shik, researching at Yad Vashem, the principal Jewish organisation for the remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust, considers the book as fiction.[2] Nonetheless, it is part of the Israeli high school curriculum.
The success of the book showed there was a market for Nazi exploitation popular literature, known in Israel as Stalags. However Yechiel Szeintuch from the Hebrew University rejects links between the smutty Stalags and K. Tzetnik's works which he insists were based on reality.[2]
Popular culture
- Joy Division was a British post-punk band from 1976 to 1980, who took their name from the reference in this book. An early song, "No Love Lost," contains a short excerpt from the novella.
- Love Camp 7 (1968), considered to be the first Nazi exploitation film, is set in a concentration camp "Joy Division."
References
- ^ [1] Tom Segev, Breaking the Code, Haaretz, April 23, 2009.
- ^ a b c Israel’s Unexpected Spinoff From a Holocaust Trial, Isabel Kershner, New York Times, September 6, 2007
- ^ Yudkin, Leon (1993). "Narrative Perspectives on Holocaust Literature". In Leon Yudkin, ed. (ed.). Hebrew Literature in the Wake of the Holocaust. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. pp. 13–32. ISBN 0-838-63499-0.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Lenten, Ronit (2000). Israel and the Daughters of the Shoah: Reoccupying the Territories of Silence. Berghahn Books. pp. 33–34, 66 n. 4. ISBN 1-571-81775-1.
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.