The Reality of Life and Death in the Death Camp Auschwitz–Birkenau: The Struggle of Orthodox Rabbis with the Problem of Holocaust Agunot

BS"D
Abstract: The Reality of Life and Death in the Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination Camp: The Orthodox Rabbis` Handling of the Holocaust Agunot
Shortly after the end of the war, many survivors sought to rebuild their lives and, possibly even compensate for the great destruction and their immense loneliness, by starting families. A huge wave of marriages were officiated in the DP camps and in the centers of survivors around the world. At this stage the agunot issue arose in regard to those survivors who were married before and during the war, and who were left with no real knowledge regarding the fate of their spouses during the war. The rabbinical courts for the regulation of agunot status, which were set up in the DP camps and around the world for the purpose of discussing male and female agunot from the Holocaust, faced many difficulties.
One of the fascinating and predominant discussions that the rabbis engaged in after the Holocaust revolved around the deaths of spouses in the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. This major extermination camp, where more than one and a half million Jews were murdered between 1942 and 1944, was a huge halakhic obstacle for the rabbis. During this lecture, we will discuss the expansive halakhic discussion surrounding life and death in the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, the stages of selection and prisoners’ life in the camp, and the difficulties that this reality posed for rabbis in the Agunot courts. Exposure to the halakhic debate and testimonies collected in the post-war Agunot courts will allow us to take a closer look at the difficulties that faced DPs in restarting to rebuild their lives after the Holocaust, as well as the unique nature and contribution of the collection of testimonies and halakhic debates, in order to research the process of the Final Solution.