Conclusion

The Holocaust was, and still is, an incredibly traumatic moment in world history, Jewish history, and especially Polish-Jewish history. This trauma is reflected in the change in tombstone styles. 

Judaism is a very gendered religion, something that was reflected in tombstones before World War II. One could look at tombstone in a Jewish cemetery in Poland and, without reading the name, know whether the person buried there was male or female. This was no longer the case after World War II. Following the Holocaust the vast majority of the gendered symbols - lions, three or five-armed candelabras, etc. - disappeared from tombstone art. The Star of David and the menorah, two of the most well-known symbols of Judaism were equally prevalent on the tombstones of men as they were on the tombstones of women. Similarly, for the most part, inscriptions no longer highlighted the role of women as wife and daughter, or the role of men as upstanding members of society.

One reason for the disappearance of certain symbols and the crossing of gender boundaries could simply be that there was an entire generation who simply didn't know the language of Jewish tombstone art. Many tombstones were smashed and used as paving materials, most likely several of the old stone carving families were killed, and perhaps it was simply easier to get a generic, mass-produced, tombstone. While those reasons are likely contributing factors to the change in tombstone styles, it seems unlikely that any of them are the dominant cause.

This shift in symbolism and epitaphs suggests that following the trauma of the Holocaust, gender simply wasn't as important. What did it matter if the deceased was a strong man or a charitable woman in life? They either survived the Holocaust, or they didn't. They were Jewish, and that is how their family wished to remember them.