ABSTRACT
In studies on the everyday toil and festive joys of men and women, the young and the old, individuals emerge as actors on the social stage. But the historiographic perspective also sharpens our sights for history's victims and the multiple contours of their suffering. One representative example is the case of the brutal torture and murder of tens of thousands of women, as well as many men and children that accompanied the waves of witch-hunting hysteria which swept across the early modern era. That topic has become a major subject for research and representation, extending far beyond the narrow confines of the immediate professional discipline. In particular, feminists regard the memory of historical oppression as an indispensable ingredient in a process leading to a better understanding of how one's own individual identity has been shaped and constructed. These investigations attempt to give a human face to the victims of German fascism the hounded, exploited, and murdered millions.
