Viewing the Holocaust through the Lens of Women's Memoirs

This paper is focused on the analysis of women and the way, how they construct their experience of the holocaust. Three Czech women`s autobiographical texts are explored. The main analytical concern is gender as a concept which is negotiated within the categories of "power/lessness" and "survival strategy". The research is based on the modified usage of the method of narrative analysis which is originally designed for oral historical interviews. The aim of the paper is to break the "typical woman holocaust testimonial" and to explore different ways of construction of women`s identity as authors and at the same time the main characters of the memoirs. The author argues that gender order which the women participate on and which they also actively construct determines the topics being articulated in memoirs and how the women`s experience is being interpreted. The main emphasize is put on epistemological issues of autobiographical texts analyses and the concepts concerning the holocaust memory. Broad holocaust usage is used since the women as the authors of the memoirs apply the holocaust experience also on their other "life cycle stages". The whole paper is primarily based on sociological and historiographical context. Key words: gender, order, holocaust, identity, politics of memory, power, survival strategy,..