Stalag fiction

Stalag (

Groups of Israeli publishers began to publish dime novel-format memoirs, describing abuse, particularly sexual abuse, in the concentration camps. Sold in magazine kiosks, the novels, ostensibly first-person memoirs, became best-sellers. According to filmmaker Ari Libsker, "the Holocaust pictures that I saw, as one who grew up here, were of naked women."^[3]

They disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared. Within two years of the appearance of the first publication, the publishers were accused by an Israeli court of distributing pornography and the books were discontinued.^{[citation needed]} Although still available underground, certain titles earned the ire of the establishment, and efforts were made to find and destroy them. The advent of the Internet has allowed for peer-to-peer file sharing and thus made censorship attempts far harder.

In 2003, the genre re-entered public debate in Israel with the research of popular culture analyst Eli Eshed. As a result of that research, Israeli filmmaker Ari Libsker featured the books in a documentary film, which was titled Stalags.^[4]

See also

• Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS
• Nazi exploitation
• Stalags (film)

References