David Cesarani

Partners in Crime

Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields

By

Chatto & Windus 258pp £18.99 order from our bookshop

In a post-feminist era featuring Lynndie England and female suicide bombers it may no longer be shocking to hear that women at war are as capable of atrocity as men. In 1945, however, the Anglo-American public was disgusted by the spectacle of female SS auxiliaries who had presided over atrocious conditions in Auschwitz, Ravensbrück, Belsen and Buchenwald concentration camps. They seemed to personify the Nazi corruption of morality to the extreme of inverting time-honoured gender roles. Women were supposed to be givers of life, nurturers and carers, but the Third Reich had produced a monstrous regiment of sadists and murderers. 

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'I was dumbfounded by the view of the Berlin Wall from the eastern side. It seemed inconceivable that in under thre… ,
    • RT : Danger for ‘local’ staff, access in exchange for silence (and logos) - all sounds familiar in this fascinating look… ,
    • 'He has long been eclipsed by Vermeer, though his interiors are arguably more ambitious.' David Gelber on the Dutc… ,
    • 'The wicked are truly revolting and the rage is wholly understandable' on new thrillers by John Le… ,
    • In @aaciman's sequel to 'Call Me By Your Name', 'Erotic urgency has merged with middle age’s frugality of heart', s… ,
    • 'The repression of free speech in Uganda is common. Reporters Without Borders’ 2019 Press Freedom Index ranks Ugand… ,
    • RT : The Topeka School is out today! I reviewed it for and I'm psyched to see him talking at the Tate tonigh… ,
    Follow Us