A masterly and moving account of the most horrific hidden atrocity of World War II: Ravensbrück, the only Nazi concentration camp built for women On a sunny morning in May 1939 a phalanx of 867 women—housewives, doctors, opera singers, politicians, prostitutes—was marched through the woods fifty miles north of Berlin, driven on past a shining lake, then herded in through giant gates. Whipping … gates. Whipping and kicking them were scores of German women guards.
Their destination was Ravensbrück, a concentration camp designed specifically for women by Heinrich Himmler, prime architect of the Holocaust. By the end of the war 130,000 women from more than twenty different European countries had been imprisoned there; among the prominent names were Geneviève de Gaulle, General de Gaulle’s niece, and Gemma La Guardia Gluck, sister of the wartime mayor of New York.
Only a small number of these women were Jewish; Ravensbrück was largely a place for the Nazis to eliminate other inferior beings—social outcasts, Gypsies, political enemies, foreign resisters, the sick, the disabled, and the “mad.” Over six years the prisoners endured beatings, torture, slave labor, starvation, and random execution. In the final months of the war, Ravensbrück became an extermination camp. Estimates of the final death toll by April 1945 have ranged from 30,000 to 90,000.
For decades the story of Ravensbrück was hidden behind the Iron Curtain, and today it is still little known. Using testimony unearthed since the end of the Cold War and interviews with survivors who have never talked before, Sarah Helm has ventured into the heart of the camp, demonstrating for the reader in riveting detail how easily and quickly the unthinkable horror evolved.
Far more than a catalog of atrocities, however, Ravensbrück is also a compelling account of what one survivor called “the heroism, superhuman tenacity, and exceptional willpower to survive.” For every prisoner whose strength failed, another found the will to resist through acts of self-sacrifice and friendship, as well as sabotage, protest, and escape.
While the core of this book is told from inside the camp, the story also sheds new light on the evolution of the wider genocide, the impotence of the world to respond, and Himmler’s final attempt to seek a separate peace with the Allies using the women of Ravensbrück as a bargaining chip. Chilling, inspiring, and deeply unsettling, Ravensbrück is a groundbreaking work of historical investigation. With rare clarity, it reminds us of the capacity of humankind both for bestial cruelty and for courage against all odds.
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A massive book, this is a thorough and well researched history of a little known concentration camp: Ravensbruck. Ravensbruck was the only camp solely for women – in that aspect it was unique. It was also populated not just by Jews, but by women from 22 countries and all walks of life. Professors, students, prostitutes, SOE agents – they all were interred in Ravensbruck.
The story is heart wrenching and soul searing. During their imprisonent, the women faced the same treatment as at men’s camps: starvation, forced abr, beating, gassings, and summary executions.
Read, so that you too will never forget.
These woman, my heart breaks for them, their suffering, their families, for their going through what no one should ever have to suffer, starvation, beatings, being literally worked to death. Because they did not believe the same as their jailors. And the beatings were dealt out by women on women. The lessons we need to learn so as to stop repeating history….
Sarah Helm does a deep dive into the inception, building, running and final liberation of one of Nazi Germany’s most horrific concentration camps. While terrifying and heartbreaking in its clear description of the torments suffered by those incarcerated within its walls, it also provides insight into the courageous acts of bravery performed by many of those same women.
Excellent read
I didn’t finish. The atrocities just became too much. If you can stomach it, it’s a great read.
A tragic and haunting book of the horrors that happened to women in WWII. This doesn’t appear in school textbooks. You need to know this forgotten part of history
It show again a tragic story of how people can be so in human and caring as well as unbelieving
Serious look at the at a well German camp reminds never forget
A detailed story of the only female concentration camp in Nazi:Germany. Very informative and haunting.
A sad and haunting tale of history during Hitler’s reign of terror.
I was touched! I was shocked! How could I not know that Ravensbruck existed! Now I do and believe everyone needs to become familiar with the suffering and courage this all woman’s concentration camp gives to history. The author takes her time and gives you the full picture of women living and dying, sharing , protecting, and killing!
Historical, informative……I’ve read a lot on WWII, I was amazed to realize how much I didn’t know, Ravensbruck was very detailed, with a lot of first person account. A lot of research went into this book.
This one will get to you in so many ways.
A true history of a Nazi concentration camp during WWII….for women only.
The barbarity of the Nazis and the pain they inflicted on the women prisoners will stay with you long after the story is told. Its tragic and humbling that human beings could do this to women is something I will never wrap my arms around.
Some of the women who didnt make it and those who did are all my heroes.
Sarah Helm the author is a researcher beyond compare. Wonderful writer.