Traces of youth: reconstructing Hungarian women’s lives during the Holocaust

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article reflects on archival, theoretical and methodological approaches to a set of prisoner registration cards from the Arolsen Archives. It argues that the cards make a unique contribution to the history of the Holocaust, which goes beyond their subjects’ experiences of the camp system. While historians have employed similar documents to chart the history of Jews in the concentration camps, this article suggests methodological ways for using the cards to tell a history of Jewish life, too. It reveals how the biographical nature of the cards provides personal information for those who would otherwise be dehumanized. In so doing, it builds on Dan Stone’s suggestion that it is possible to write a social history of the Holocaust using records from the Arolsen Archives, by identifying specific elements in the sources that achieve this. It also presents how digital humanities mapping tools can use data from the cards to visualize and analyse trends in their subjects’ lives and in the broader Jewish experience. Finally, it acknowledges the limits of the cards as sources and identifies how – when other sources are available – they can be combined with memoirs, testimonies and post-war documentation to illuminate archival silences and reveal personal agency. For many victims of the Holocaust, however, cards like these are the only remaining trace of their lives. As a result, this article suggests innovative approaches for using Arolsen Archive material to tell a social history of the Holocaust, thus challenging preconceptions about camp documentation.