I am also a We: Archiving the Women’s Silence in Partition and Holocaust Narratives

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyse the women narratives which reside in the shadows of Partition of India (1947) and Holocaust of World War II (1941-1945) which find no acknowledgement within historical folds of the respective events. Doing so raises a pertinent question, as to why women irrespective of their status of being a first world woman or a third world woman share a same fate during moments of crises and even otherwise. There is a widespread criticism that a gendered reading of Partition and Holocaust often deviates one from understanding the history and actuality of the political causes behind such occurrences. But discussing the experiences and memories of women who endured rape, violation, and sexual abuse during these massacres does not belittle the collective suffering borne by Sikh, Hindu, Muslim and Jewish population. Rather, it adds another dimension to history which deepens our understanding of these historical junctures which forces women across the globe to live in silence.