Whole Dissertation Hajkova 3

Abstract This dissertation explores the prisoner society in Terezín (Theresienstadt) ghetto, a transit ghetto in the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia. Nazis deported here over 140, 000 Czech, German, Austrian, Dutch, Danish, Slovak, and Hungarian Jews. It was the only ghetto to last until the end of Second World War. A microhistorical approach reveals the dynamics of the inmate community, shedding light on broader issues of ethnicity, stratification, gender, and the political dimension of the “little people” shortly before they were killed. Rather than relegating Terezín to a footnote in narratives of the Holocaust or the Second World War, my work connects it to Central European, gender, and modern Jewish histories. A history of victims but also a study of an enforced Central European society in extremis, instead of defining them by the view of the perpetrators, this dissertation studies Terezín as an autarkic society. This approach is possible because the SS largely kept out of the ghetto. Terezín represents the largest sustained transnational encounter in the history of Central Europe, albeit an enforced one. Although the Nazis deported all the inmates on the basis of their alleged Jewishness, Terezín did not produce a common sense of Jewishness: the inmates were shaped by the countries they had considered home. Ethnicity defined culturally was a particularly salient means of differentiation. The dynamics connected to ethnic categorization and class formation allow a deeper understanding of cultural and national processes in Central and Western Europe in the twentieth century. The society in Terezín was simultaneously interconnected and stratified. There were no stark contradictions between the wealthy and majority of extremely poor prisoners. Rather, this dissertation shows a nexus of ethnicity, linked to culture and habitus, and power and class -- we can view the ghetto as a social space. Thanks to a dominant master narrative, the Terezín community was inclusive and coherent, even if various groups had very different access to i resources. Therefore, we should view society in ghettos and concentration camps, as a society in it’s own right, rather than a deviant version of our own with atomizing social ties. ii Acknowledgements I enjoyed writing each part of this dissertation, and yet the loveliest part to write is this last one: revisiting those moments with mentors, friends, and colleagues. History can be a lonely job -- too lonely with a topic like mine -- and people have been the high point. First of all, I would like to thank my doctoral advisor, Doris Bergen. I first came to Toronto when she had been there only for few months; I came as stray cat with strong ideas, from a different continent, and from a different program. The last seven years seem like a life time but also only as if it had been just yesterday: I learned from her so much from her. The time has been exciting and has flown by quickly. Working with Doris is a privilege; she goes far and beyond in doing the best for her people. She spares no pain to help us. Doris invested all of her mental and other energy to further this dissertation and my career, and for that I thank her. In Toronto I was also able to work with Lynne Viola, who taught me so much about being a scholar, teacher, and a human being. Her work on the Soviet Stalinist world showed me new ways to think about society, which never ceases. Lynne, wry, funny, and brilliant, has been incredibly generous with her time and understanding, and for that too I wish to thank her. Derek Penslar took me on knowing very little about Jewish history -- or why it matters -- and he changed that thoroughly. His metaphor about the iceberg has taught me so much about concise writing. Jennifer Jenkins has become my role model in careful reading, intellectual excitement, and new ways to think about the Germans and their history. I would like to thank her and also Omer Bartov and Michael Marrus for being my external examiners. I would also like to thank the Soviet and Russian reading group, which I had the pleasure of co-organizing in 2011/12 -- it was fun, engaging, collegial, thought provoking, and of course: comradely. In Toronto, I finally must mention Deborah Barton: Deb has copy-edited this entire dissertation several times; she did an incredible job in no time and bore my grammatical attacks against her mother tongue and mood swings in iii good humor. She also sent me New Yorkers across the ocean to help me though another of those long winters (they come with the writing, it seems). Cheers to her! In Pittsburgh, I would like to thank Lara Putnam and Bruce Venarde, whose teaching was key for my thinking about ethnicity, culture, and class. I spent over two and half years on the road researching this work, and without the help of many archivists who went far and beyond the call of duty I could have never written it in its current form. Among many people, I would like to mention: Vlasta Měšťánková from the National Archives in Prague and as well as her colleague Jan Kahuda; Alice Beránková from the Terezín Memorial; Marek Poloncarz from SOA Litoměřice, who took extensive time to answer my emails. Jana Šplíchalová and Pavla Neuner from the Jewish Museum in Prague accommodated my many requests, which I am sorry to say often came at the last minute. Pavla Frýdlová from Gender Studies in Prague allowed me to access her wonderful collection of interviews with women survivors. In Amsterdam, I think of the late René Kruis and would like to thank his colleague Hubert Berkhout from the NIOD. In Yad Vashem, Alla Dvorkin, Spartak Arbatov, and Alex Zangin were a source of help and understanding, and I am very happy that Yad Vashem will at least keep Alex now that Alla left for Washington and Spartak for Kiev. I would like to thank the entire wonderful team at Beit Terezin, for chatting, drinking coffee, exchanging notes, and listening to my many little woes, in particular to Sima Shachar. Daniela Ozacky was very helpful during my brief visit at the Moreshet archives: thanks! In Berlin, I would like to thank Silvana Krautz from the Entschädigungsbehörde: she administers the Berlin reparation files, a unique window into the fascinating lives of people who usually left no other testimony. Andrew Simon has been a friendly face at the WStLA. Thanks to him for all his help and conversations. I would like to thank Marek Jaros and Howard Falksohn from the Wiener Library in London. Astrid Mehmel from the Bonn Memorial has been incredibly helpful and generous and became a friend over the years and our exchange over all things Bonn and iv Philippson. Mike Simonsohn from the LBI in New York is a dream archivist; the New York Times should publish about him every month, if it were up to me. I have been very fortunate to receive very generous funding throughout the course of my PhD studies; the extensive travels this dissertation required (and I mean extensive) would have not been possible otherwise. Thanks are due to the Hamburger Stiftung zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Kultur, the University of Toronto Connaught Scholarship, the Vanier Graduate Scholarship, the Leo Baeck Fellowship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, and the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah. I would also like to direct my thanks to the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies of the USHMM for the Ben and Zelda Fellowship. As a fellow at the Museum, I had a wonderful, stimulating time, and met amazing colleagues who became friends, in particular Erika Hughes, Ursula Knoll, Richard Lutjens, Sarah Liu, Tara Kohn, and Joseph Pepa Toltz. I should also like to thank Michlean Amir, Martin Dean, Jürgen Matthäus, and Rob Williams at the Museum for the discussions, suggestions, and being there at conferences: seeing you again is always a high point! But perhaps the most important part of emotional and intellectual support came from my friends, who listened, read draft after draft, held my hand, advised over the phone, skype, and sometimes in person, photographed, copied, and read. My principal thanks go to Maria von der Heydt, who did all of the above and far more. The world would be a better place if there were more Marias. Imke Hansen was always there for me to talk things over, suggest new readings, or to confirm what needed to be confirmed. Andrea Genest has been a great support in times of need, read crucial bits in no time at all, and came up with some key interpretative frameworks. Justus von Widekind read, commented, corrected draft after draft, translated the tricky Theresienstadt poetry to English, took me out to dinners and cheered me up when things were dark. Silvia Goldbaum Tarabini Fracapane has been a wonderful colleague and friend, and she has been incredibly generous with everything about Danes in Theresienstadt and far more. v Conversations with her put so much into place, and demonstrated why the smallest group in one’s ghetto may be the key one. Martina Voigt, the absolute specialist on the deportation of Berlin Jews and their going into hiding, always had time for me and better yet: she had the answers. Lena Makarova, the expert on cultural life and children in Terezín, and her husband Sergei were extremely generous and passed on materials, information, and contacts, and perhaps most importantly, they were open to a newcomers’ perspective on a topic they have been working on since over quarter a century. Spasiba! Mike Beckerman was always up for exchanges about music in Terezín and bore my opposing views with a rare humor.

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