joy division en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
Calque of German Freudenabteilung. Popularized in the novella House of Dolls (1955), now considered largely fictional by many historians, although brothels did exist in some Nazi concentrations camps.
Meanings
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(historical, qualifier:World War II) A Nazi concentration camp brothel and its battalion of conscripted sex slaves.
Here they kept close watch over the girls' bodies to keep them whole, undamaged. Here, when a girl was flogged she was not permitted to return to the Joy Division. She was immediately tossed on the van and—Off to the crematorium!
1955, Ka-tzetnik 135633 [pseudonym; Yehiel De-Nur], translated by Moshe M. Kohn, House of Dolls, New York: Simon & Schuster, →OCLC, page 174:As the girl, in the present moment, beseeches him to “look,” in a flashback Sol is forced by the commandant to look as various members of the “joy division,” and then specifically his wife, service SS guards.
2013, Jacqui A. Miller, “The Pawnbroker”, in Carlos E. Cortés, editor, Multicultural America, SAGE Publications, →ISBN, page 1686:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| joy divisions | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
Relateds
Translations (1)
de Freudenabteilung (Translations)