Love and Miracles

This article presents an in-depth literary analysis of two feminine personal narratives, survivors of the Salonika Holocaust, in an attempt to isolate the unique feminine voice that can be discerned from the narratives through the perception of the body and the female self-image. The two narratives offer two opposite models of behavior: one active, one passive. Aliza Baruch found her future husband in the camp and took care of her brother. Later she gave birth to two children even though she suffered sterilization experiments in Auschwitz. Aliza ascribes her survival to her determined nature, and to the force of love she felt within herself. Mary Nahman, who arrived at Auschwitz married and pregnant, perceived herself as a child who was not conscious of her surroundings but was a recipient of help from everybody. She ascribes her survival to external forces, divine assistance and miracles

Art · Brother · Jewish studies · Judaism · Literature · Narrative · Perception · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · The Holocaust · Theology · Anthropology · Gender Studies · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Middle East Politics and Society · Philosophy · Psychology