The Lilac and the Lab Coat: Abjection and the Resistance of Female Victims and Perpetrators in Lilac Girls

Abstract

Martha Hall Kelly’s Lilac Girls provides a complex portrayal of women’s roles in World War II, focusing on the intersections of suffering, power, and resistance. This paper applies Julia Kristeva’s abjection theory to examine how the novel depicts the abjection of female bodies, the psychological trauma of victims, and the moral corruption of perpetrators. Kasia, a Polish prisoner subjected to brutal medical experiments, represents the physical and psychological abject, forced into a state of suffering that renders her neither fully alive nor fully dead. Zuzanna, her sister and a fellow prisoner, embodies a quieter form of abjection—psychologically fractured, medically violated, and emotionally suppressed, her sterilization and forced role as a recorder of Nazi atrocities reflecting a deeper internalization of dehumanization. Her calm acceptance masks the psychological toll of being both subject and witness to medical violence, making her a unique embodiment of internalized abjection. In contrast, Herta, a Nazi doctor, embodies a different aspect of abjection, one in which a woman enforces dehumanization yet ultimately becomes consumed by it. Her moral disintegration under the guise of scientific duty illustrates the danger of normalized cruelty This study explores how Lilac Girls juxtaposes these figures, revealing how women can resist or internalize abjection in war. By highlighting survival, defiance, and testimony, the novel reframes abjection as not only horror but also a site of potential empowerment.