Herstory in Historical Fiction: The Story of the Ravensbrück Ladies in Martha Hall Kelly's Lilac Girls

Abstract

In this thesis, Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly is analysed as a feminist historical novel that rewrites women and their historical experiences in the Second World War into herstory. The novel is a fictional retelling of the Ravensbrück Rabbits’ true story, and all the main characters are representative of or inspired by these women’s individual and collective experiences in World War II. The Ravensbrück Rabbits are Polish women subjected to experimental pseudo-medical operations in the Ravensbrück concentration camp during their imprisonment there as political prisoners. These operations caused irreparable harm that severely affected their quality of life. The Ravensbrück “rabbits” are called the Ravensbrück ladies in this work. Kelly’s approach to researching and writing the novel was journalistic, and the result is a realist feminist historical novel written from the postmodernist view of history as a subject open to interpretation. Kelly relays the story of one Ravensbrück lady and the two women who aided and injured her during the war and its aftermath. The story is told by the three main characters, Caroline Ferriday, Kasia Kuzmerick, and Herta Oberheuser, whose experiences in the war are interconnected by the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany. The novel is analysed in the context of its historical accuracy and in light of themes particularly applicable to women in World War II. These themes include family, with a special emphasis on motherhood and sisterhood, as well as hope, violence, love, and hatred. As a realist historical novel with a feminist agenda, the story of the Ravensbrück ladies is herstorical fiction that is faithful to the true story of these extraordinary women. Kelly inserts historical details of relevance that enrich the story and educate the reader further about herstorical elements in World War II history, that is to say, women’s stories that fill in the gaps of World War II herstory. Lilac Girls is shown this way as a herstorical novel that asserts these women’s place in World War II history. The story of the Ravensbrück ladies is known in Poland. Some of the works cited derive from the Polish Institute of Remembrance, whose thorough documentation has kept their story alive in their homeland. With the disappearance of this generation, Kelly tells their story in earnest, and the fictional elements are kept as authentic as the form permits.