The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive

Content Warning: This section references acts of racism and violence that occurred during the Holocaust, including murder.

“Nazis deliberately conflated ‘foreign’ fashion with Jewishness. Attacks on so-called decadent women and Paris fashion served the dual purpose of creating antipathy towards the French and stoking antisemitism. Somehow it was made to seem the fault of Jews if German women wore ‘tarty’ red lipstick and were slaves to fashion’s whims. The contempt was misogynistic as well as antisemitic: it perpetrated the idea that unless women conformed to externally policed standards of dress and behavior, they were automatically sexualized and demonized as whores.”

Hitler’s plan of world dominance required citizens to buy into the Aryan ideal. This ideal not only possessed certain physical traits—the infamous “blonde hair and blue eyes” trope—but conformed to conservative standards of dress, underscoring The Politics of Clothing. Nazism promoted ultra-traditional gender roles alongside (and in support of) its racist ideology; racially “pure” women’s chief job was to produce more racially pure children. The idea that “Jewish” fashion was corrupting German women speaks to a more basic anxiety about what people those women might be sleeping with. Meanwhile, weakening the economic power of Jewish businesses was a vital step in dehumanizing the population. Of course, the idea that non-Jewish-made clothing was superior was merely a guise—SS officers and their wives wore fine fashions made by the Jewish prisoners of the Upper Tailoring Studio.

“From 1 September 1941, all Jews would be compelled to wear a large yellow Star of David on their outer clothing. If coats and jackets were removed, the next layer needed a star also. From sewing boxes and sewing kits came the needles and thread needed to complete this humiliating task. Some fastened the star with loose tacking stitches so it could be unpicked in a hurry when ‘passing.’

Clothing became contaminated by state-approved stigma. With a yellow star, Renee’s jacket would no longer be simply part of a teenage girl’s outfit but a garment that made her a target.”

The tarnishing of the Jewish symbol was visible proof of antisemitism. What Jewish people should have been able to display with pride now portrayed them as inferior. This symbol marked Jews as targets, fulfilling the Nazis’ goal of preventing their assimilation. That some Jews attempted to “pass” (i.e., blend into society due to “non-Jewish” physical traits) underscores the acts of resistance that helped people survival.