Midwifery under German Occupation in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto and in Western Poland

Abstract:The aim of Germanizing the western parts of Poland, which were annexed to the German Reich in 1939, shaped the planning of obstetric services. Occupation policies such as “racial segregation” determined healthcare policy and biopolitics as well as midwifery practice. This paper takes a closer look at the female-dominated sphere of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood as one of the key points of biopolitics and Germanization and as the sphere in which policies became crucial to women and their bodies. This will shed light on the gender-specific aspects of occupation and race policies in western Poland and their impact on everyday life for midwives. By highlighting the highly divergent and increasingly antagonistic experiences and perspectives of Jewish, German and Polish midwives within the local settings of the city of Łódź/Litzmannstadt and within occupied western Poland, I hope to contribute to an “integrated history” of the occupation.