Meanings
plural joy divisions
- historicalWorld War IIA Nazi concentration camp brothel and its battalion of conscripted sex slaves.
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 16861 more example
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
Origin
- GermanFreudenabteilung
- Englishjoy division
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.
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Translations
German Freudenabteilung
- FreudenabteilungTranslations
Cite this entry
joy division. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/joy%20division
“joy division.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/joy%20division. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “joy division,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/joy%20division.
Source: joy division on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.