Competing for the Youth: Jewish Scout Identity, Religion, and Gender during the Holocaust in France

This article examines Jewish youth identity, gender, and ideology during the Holocaust in France in order to understand how young people responded to persecution. The author’s attempts to understand the youth perspective reveals that these adolescents’ experiences were distinct and varied, and each...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Balint, Barnabas (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2023
In: Holocaust and genocide studies
Year: 2023, Volume: 37, Issue: 3, Pages: 390-403
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:This article examines Jewish youth identity, gender, and ideology during the Holocaust in France in order to understand how young people responded to persecution. The author’s attempts to understand the youth perspective reveals that these adolescents’ experiences were distinct and varied, and each traversed complex and multifaceted paths through the war. Always in perpetual negotiation with other elements of their identities—such as their ideology, religion, and gender—for many, youth movements greatly impacted how they developed and matured into adulthood. Coming of age during the Holocaust meant not only enduring persecution, but also traditional discourses on the place of young people in society. Charting the trajectories of individual young people and Jewish youth groups within the context of the war, the Holocaust, and French Jewish history reveals their radicalized and accelerated wartime development. In researching this phenomenon, it becomes possible to decenter entrenched narratives of persecution and resistance and enhance our understanding of wartime gender roles, the impact of Judaism, and the various ideologies that informed these youths’ lives.
ISSN:1476-7937
Contains:Enthalten in: Holocaust and genocide studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/hgs/dcad052