Cohesion and rupture: the Jewish family in East European ghettos during the Holocaust

A study based mainly on Jewish wartime and, to a lesser extent, postwar records (diaries, personal archives, memoirs, Jewish Council records, etc.) in three large ghettos: Warsaw, Łódź and Kovno. Focusing on these three cities, examines the impact of ghetto existence on the Jewish family in Eastern Europe. The Holocaust challenged the very basis of family cohesion. Ghettoization exacerbated the material disparity between Jews, causing a deterioration of moral standards in the ghettos. The ghetto saw a reduction in the position of men as chief providers and raised the position of women; sometimes, children became the main providers. Some families were disrupted, while many others tried to retain some form of "normal" family life. Starvation and forced labor greatly aggravated family relations. The most crucial factors affecting family life were the deportations to the death camps and the mass murders. In an atmosphere of dread, the family could be either a source of support or a burden. Concludes that the impact of the Holocaust on family relations was ambivalent and contradictory.