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Search - Wearing the Letter P: Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany, 1939-1945

Wearing the Letter P Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany 19391945
Author: Sophie Hodorowicz Knab

An unflinching, detailed portrait of a forgotten group of Nazi forced labor survivors. — "My mother, who was a Polish forced laborer from 1942 to 1945, never talked to me about her life during the war. Now I know. With a great combination of scholarly research and moving first person accounts, Knab's "Wearing the Letter P" vividly describes the t... more »errible, heartbreaking ordeal that my mother and hundreds of thousands of Poles suffered. She expertly sheds light on a part of World War II that s been totally ignored."

Charles Belfoure, author of The Paris Architect

"In years to come, Wearing the Letter P will be the book to which readers turn to understand what the Germans did to the almost 2 million Poles who were taken to Germany as slave and forced laborers. Blending a thorough search of historical documents with the personal narratives of girls and women who were taken to Germany, Knab recreates the story of what happened to the woman of Poland like no other historian has done. If you want to know what happened, this is the book to read."

John Guzlowski, author of Echoes of Tattered Tongues: Memory Unfolded

Written by the daughter of Polish forced laborers, Wearing the Letter 'P' gives a voice to women who were taken from their homes as young as 12 years old and subjected to slave labor conditions, starvation, sexual exploitation, and forced abortions and child separation?all while Nazi propaganda depicted them as well-cared-for volunteers. An important contribution to World War II history, based on archival records from the U.S. and Europe, family records, war crime trials, and previously unpublished victim accounts.

For years Sophie Hodorowicz Knab's mother was unable to discuss or answer questions about this period of her life. Compelled to learn more about her mother's experience and that of other Polish women, Knab began a personal and emotional quest. Over the course of 14 years, she conducted extensive research of postwar trial testimonies housed in archives in the U.S., London, and in Warsaw to piece together facts and individual stories from this singular and often-overlooked aspect of World War II history. As mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters, female Polish forced laborers faced a unique set of challenges and often unspeakable conditions because of their gender. Required to sew a large letter "P" onto their jackets, thousands of women were taken from their homes in Poland and forced to work for the Reich across Germany for months and years on end.

Even before the invasion of Poland in September 1939, Hitler and his top officials had designated the Polish people as Untermensch, or "subhuman":

"Poland shall be treated as a colony; the Poles shall be the slaves of the Greater German world Empire. "

Knab explains how it all happened, from the beginning of occupation in Poland to liberation: the roundups; the horrors of transit camps; the living and working conditions of Polish women in agriculture and industry; and the anguish of sexual exploitation and forced abortions--all under the constant threat of concentration camps. Knab draws from documents, government and family records, rare photos, and most importantly, numerous victim accounts and diaries, letters and trial testimonies, finally bringing to light to the atrocities that they endured.

ISBN-13: 9780781813594
ISBN-10: 078181359X
Publication Date: 12/2/2016
Pages: 304
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Hippocrene Books
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

History >> Europe >> Germany
History >> Military >> World War II
History >> World >> Women in History
Uncategorized >> International & World Politics >> European

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Search - Wearing the Letter P: Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany, 1939-1945

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