Jews, Suicide, and the Holocaust

This accessible study examines the Holocaust's "forgotten victims" - Jews and other victims who suicided from 1939 to 1945. Using diaries, survivor memoirs, and survivor interviews, the manuscript places suicide victims and their experiences into the traditional Holocaust narrative.

List of contents

Introduction 1. Suicide in the Holocaust Context: Some Considerations 2. Suicide in the Life and Death of the Warsaw Ghetto 3. "I had come to the end of my rope:" Suicide Ideation in Nazi Camps 4. Suicide in Auschwitz 5. By Their Own Hand: Suicide as Resistance to Nazi Persecution? 6. "Whatever his motives and intention, his death did not help us:" Jewish Attitudes Toward Holocaust Suicides. Conclusion

About the author

Mark A. Mengerink is Associate Professor of History at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX. His research interests include suicide and the Holocaust, how studying past atrocities impacts scholars' mental health, and how extreme metal music bands represent history in their music and lyrics.

Summary

This accessible study examines the Holocaust’s “forgotten victims” – Jews and other victims who suicided from 1939 to 1945. Using diaries, survivor memoirs, and survivor interviews, the manuscript places suicide victims and their experiences into the traditional Holocaust narrative.

Product details

• Authors: Mark A. Mengerink, Mark A. (Lamar University Mengerink
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 09.04.2025, delayed
• EAN: 9781138589759
• ISBN: 978-1-138-58975-9
• No. of pages: 216
• Series: Routledge Studies in Second World War History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > 20th century (up to 1945); 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, HISTORY / Jewish, Second World War, The Holocaust, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), Relating to Jewish people and groups, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General, HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century / Holocaust