Abstract
Religious activities were not permitted in the camps and hence such practices were carefully hidden and practitioners were subject to severe punishment and even death if caught. This is undoubtedly a factor in the formation of small tightly-knit communities of prisoners who shared not only similar religious traditions but also ethnic backgrounds. It was rare for such activities to be transnational or trans-ethnic. Several studies of spiritual resistance in the camps have demonstrated the key role that religious and cultural activities played in the maintenance of individual and collective identities as well as higher survival rates for some prisoners. Jewish writers speak of Kiddush Ha Hayyim, the sanctification of life, as an important component in Jewish resistance both in the ghettos and the camps. Christians, too, exhibited powerful forms of resistance in their continuation of traditional religious and cultural practices. Fasting in Auschwitz for Yom Kippur, keeping some elements of Shabbat observance, crafting rosaries out of the meager bread rations, confession of sins to priest-prisoners, or clandestine celebrations of the Mass were powerful reassertions of individual and communal identity in a context that was designed to eradicate such identities. This paper focuses on four types of spiritual resistance – prayer and fasting, the creation of religious texts, the crafting of devotional objects, and the carving out of worship space. The clandestine production of such items points to both the vulnerability and the resilience of the micro-communities that formed in the camp.
Presenters
Eileen LyonProfessor, History, State University of New York at Fredonia, New York, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Religious Community and Socialization
KEYWORDS
Holocaust; Resistance; Prayer; Identity
