Following Austria's integration into an enlarged Germany in March 1938 antisemitism became a mainstream element of government policy: in 1938 Max Torton was arrested and taken to the Dachau concentration camp.
Meanwhile, Evelyn joined Hashomer Hatzair, a Socialist-Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement which at the time was strongly focused on preparing young people for emigration to Palestine.
[4] In an interview given in 2001 she said that the pioneering spirit and shared objectives which she experienced as a member of Hashomer Hatzair, together with the comradeship and the sense of belonging, did much to form her.
Evelyn Torton Beck studied comparative literature and received her BA (first degree) from Brooklyn College in 1954, which was also the year of her first marriage.
[6] Starting in 1972 Beck spent twelve years teaching Comparative Literature, German, and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin, becoming an associate professor in 1977 and promoted to a full professorship in 1982.
[8] In 1982 she published "Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology", a compilation of poems, essays, reminiscences and short stories.
At the same time the volume proudly celebrates the creative force which the contributing authors can call upon from their own Jewish witness.
[9] In 1984, she returned to the East Coast, accepting an invitation to create and then head up the Institute for Gender studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.
[10] Evelyn Torton Beck collected material for a book on the theme "Wounds of Gender: Frida Kahlo and Franz Kafka" over many years.
[10] The qualification was awarded for an interdisciplinary dissertation under the title "Physical Illness, Psychological Woundedness and the Healing Power of Art in the Life and Work of Franz Kafka and Frida Kahlo".
Summarized by one commentator, "the thesis focuses on the Jewish dimension of [Kafka's and Kahlo's] work and its impact on their split sense of self".
She was invited to discuss Freud’s legacy on The Diane Rehm Show and was heard on NPR with a critique of the epithet "Jewish American Princess" on which she wrote.
As of 2015, she was editing a collection of her essays and revising her book-length manuscript Physical Illness, Psychological Woundedness and the Healing Power of Art in the Life and Work of Franz Kafka and Frida Kahlo.