The Second World War is arguably the most documented event in human history. Countless books and films have chronicled virtually every aspect of the global conflict from 1939-1945, but one chapter that’s never been closely examined is the role of Jewish women during the war.
Dr. Tamar Ketko is determined to change that.
A World War II historian, author and lecturer who serves as director of the humanities and culture department at the Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts in Tel Aviv, Dr. Ketko will speak on Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. at Pikesville’s Beth El Congregation about “Jewish Women in World War II — The Unknown Story.”
The free event is a collaboration between the Rabbi Mark G. Loeb Center for Lifelong Learning at Beth El, the Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University, and the Louise D. and Morton J. Macks Center for Jewish Education.
Jmore recently spoke with the Israeli-born Dr. Ketko, 59, who served as an historical researcher and consultant on the 2008 documentary “Blessed is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh.”
Jmore: What exactly is the unknown story of Jewish women in WWII?
Dr. Ketko: The story of the Jewish people in World War II is mostly known as the Holocaust. Very little recognition has been given to the involvement of Jewish soldiers among the armies of all the nations that opposed the Germans and their allies.
Even less attention has been paid to the approximately two million women who served in combat roles with all military units in World War II in various tasks — in resistance, as professional soldiers and as partisans.
Here is what is seldom, if ever, discussed: 7.5 percent of the women who served in combat roles, a total of 150,000, were Jewish women.
How did that happen, considering the prevailing sexist attitudes of those times?
When the war started, women were desperately needed to fill administrative jobs to release men for combat. In the United States, one of the campaigns was called, “Free a Man to Fight.” After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was established. About 400,000 women served in uniform in combat and non-combat roles in the U.S. Armed Forces. Sixteen were killed by enemy fire. More than 15,000 of them were Jewish women.
In Britain, women were conscripted into war work, and by 1943 they numbered 600,000 in full army service. Five percent or more of them — 3,000 — were Jewish. In France and The Netherlands, more than 18,000 Jewish women were in resistance units, acting as espionage agents and underground activists.
In the Soviet Union, some 80,000 Jewish women served as doctors, paramedics, pilots, espionage agents, parachutists. Unlike in the West, some of these Jewish women were machine gunners, tank crew members and artillery commanders.
What about pre-state Israel, which at that time was under British rule?
The highest percent of Jewish women in military enlistment in the world — about 10 percent — occurred in what is now Israel. Some were trained as officers for the Auxiliary Territorial Service and other Jewish women served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. They were intelligence lookouts, mapping experts, coders and decoders of cables, and operators of radar stations.
Toward the end of the war, many of the ATS “girls” were sent to Italy and Austria as drivers of ambulances, heavy trucks and tanks. They drove convoys in the Western Desert [of Egypt], often under bombardment and continuous battles.
Could these Jewish women of WWII be viewed as early feminists?
We all know that some six million Jews died in the Holocaust. Consequently, most of the time, Jews are presented as victims. World War II threatened our very existence. Hitler set out to annihilate Jews from the face of the earth.
But there is another side to this tragic story, and that is Jews as valiant. That’s why I’m focusing on part of this unknown story — Jewish women who served in all military units in World War II. These 150,000 Jewish women, in fact, helped to save our people. They also made a most critical and significant historical step in women’s liberation and development in all aspects.
Then, between 1945 to 1947 [at the end and in the aftermath of the war], Jewish women helped Holocaust survivors to organize their lives with no family or place to go, and so many needed medical and mental care. For the youngsters, Jewish women created temporary schools and trained these children for their next adventure: to be illegal immigrants in Palestine.
The experience of service in the British Army [in pre-state Israel] was ultimately of great importance in the establishment of the Israel Defense Forces’ Women’s Corps. As soon as the Israeli War of Independence broke out in 1948, most of the ATS and WAAF officers were called up for active duty in the IDF. The women who served as soldiers and fighters for Israeli independence are an example for all women’s movements and organizations today.
So what’s the legacy of Jewish women during WWII?
Talking about the Jewish women soldiers in World War II not only reveals their stories but also initiates a change in the general point of view about the Jewish people. While yes, we were victims, [but] we also were and are brave soldiers. We fought for freedom, justice and peace in World War II, as we did in all the Israeli wars.
Unfortunately, we still do. I served in the [Israeli] army as an educational officer. I have three children; all three are officers. As their mother, I know this: underneath their military uniforms, no matter when and where, always beats that same Jewish heart – the heart of their grandmother and grandfather and their families that were murdered in Auschwitz. And all those who never gave up. In this violent, racist and alienated reality we live in, we must carefully study this story again and again.
This is not just their story. This is our story.
Beth El Congregation is located at 8101 Park Heights Ave. For information, visit bethelbalto.com or call 410-484-0411.
Dr. Ketko will also speak about “Being Educated in the Third Reich — The Discovery of Nazi Textbooks” on Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. at Towson University, College of Liberal Arts, 251 University Ave., Room 4310. The talk will be presented by the Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University and the Peggy Meyerhoff Pearlstone Professorship, in partnership with the Jewish Museum of Maryland, the Baltimore Jewish Council and The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore. For information, visit towson.edu/bhi/events or call 410-704-7118.
Peter Arnold is an Olney, Md.-based freelance writer.
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