The Historiography of the Holocaust

368 Lisa Pine
holes, using needles made out of wooden splinters and threads pulled out of
the one blanket allocated to them. 21
Michal Unger’s analysis of the Lódz ghetto considers why the mortality rate
there was higher for men than for women. 22 Men’s work was often harder than
women’s and this accounted in part for the higher mortality of men. Yet,
Unger demonstrates that although they were paid less than men, women
coped better with the harsh conditions of ghetto life, for example, making
soup out of potato skins, baking ‘cake’ from ersatz coffee, mending clothing
and displaying an ability to adapt to their changing situation. This is given as
part of the explanation for the difference between women’s and men’s mortality
rates. Once the women in the ghetto started to work outside the home, they
continued to do all their housework as well. Unger’s article also shows that it
was often young women – particularly if they were single parents – that were
the first to be deported to the death camps. Such women and their children
were the poorest group in the ghetto and a drain on scarce resources, hence a
disproportionate number of them were targeted for deportation. 23
Ofer’s research on the experiences of women in the Warsaw ghetto reaches
similar conclusions about women’s experiences. Her sources – diaries and interviews
– reveal a ‘tremendous endeavour to carry on everyday life’ and beyond
that a strong will to survive. Ofer highlights women’s resourcefulness, inventiveness
and resilience in trying to obtain food for their families. Some women
bartered their household goods in exchange for food; others went outside the
ghetto walls to purchase goods that they could resell in the ghetto. Their
knowledge of Polish and connections with Poles aided them in this. 24 Some
women engaged in smuggling, taking great risks in order to procure food for
their families. Others worked in factories and soup kitchens. Yet others used
sex, forming relationships with men in positions of power in order to survive. 25
Weitzman examines the experiences of Jews who survived in Poland outside
the ghettos. Most of these Jews were women, some working as couriers for the
resistance, but the majority individuals who were not part of an organization
and were endeavouring to survive. 26 It was illegal for Jews to live outside the
ghettos, hence living on the Aryan side meant living under the constant fear of
being recognized and handed over to the Gestapo, which would result in
death. Despite the risks involved, some Jewish men and women decided to
escape from the ghettos and try to pass on the Aryan side. In a gendered
analysis, Weitzman suggests that men were more likely to make the decision to
pass on their own, while women were more likely to have been influenced or
aided by a family member to pass. More women than men were helped by
non-Jewish friends or contacts in their decision to escape and pass. Once on
the Aryan side, men confided less in others and received less help than
women. 27 One of the reasons that more women than men passed, or even took