Ravensbrück

Last weekend, I returned to Berlin with the intention of conducting interviews for the Brudnick Center on Conflict and Violence at Northeastern. This lens brought me to Fürstenberg, where I met Sabine, a local member of the community and archivist in the collections department at the former Nazi concentration camp, Ravensbrück. A concentration camp is essentially a labor camp for the criminals. We, of course, know that this definition was only loosely adopted during the Third Reich, as most inmates’ only crime was being born in a certain country or into a certain religion. Germany itself only had concentration camps and labor camps. Extermination camps, such as Auschwitz and Treblinka, had the primary goal of, you guessed it, mass extermination. Treblinka, located northeast of Warsaw, is responsible for the death of approximately 900,000 people, and it only interned approximately 20,000 prisoners. That is to say that almost one million were sent straight to the gas chambers, making this the agenda of this extermination center.

Map of extermination, concentration and brothel camps in the Nazi occupied area

Ravensbrück, although it did not have the primary goal of extermination, provided its prisoners with some of the worst living and working conditions imaginable. Ravensbrück was first established in 1939 as a men’s and women’s camp and soon turned into the largest all-female concentration camp in Nazi Germany. Until the time of its liberation by the Soviet army in 1945, 132,000 women had been registered as inmates. Most women, especially in the mass liquidations of larger camps in Poland, such as Auschwitz, passed through Ravensbrück before being sent to work in other concentration camps as the Nazis grew frantic over the approaching Allied troops. Notable prisoners include French princess, Anne de Bauffremont-Courtenay, author, Corrie ten Boom, Polish Countess, Karolina Lankoraska and 131,997 other women from 40 different countries.

Map showing the amount of prisoners from each country registered at Ravensbrück

Why, with such horrendous conditions, massive numbers of prisoners and notable inmates, has Ravensbrück been frequently overlooked by the Holocaust tourist community? Different theories exist, but I cannot help but taking a feminist approach: female Holocaust survivor stories do not tend to be as “popular” as their male counterparts, and so, a place devoted to educating it's visitors on the female prisoner experience, would also be overlooked for predominately male concentration camps, such as Sachsenhausen. The result, unfortunately, is a lack of funding that has disallowed the Ravensbrück Memorial from reaching its potential as a museum.

Ravensbrück Memorial created an exhibition focused on the life of women in Ravensbrück and during the Holocaust, in general. The exhibitions place an emphasis on artifacts and audio and visual testimonies to personalize the trauma endured, educating visitors on the unique suffering of  women during the Holocaust, some of which are still unknown by the majority of the population. I will be the first to admit that I did not know about Ravensbrück prior to my visit last summer during a Dialogue of Civilizations. I knew of Sachsenhausen and Auschwitz and Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen and all those big names, but I failed to learn about the largest women's concentration camp during World War II. The exhibition successfully presents information about female prisoners in various concentration camps and creates a dialogue that would otherwise not exist.

Certain pieces of information thoroughly impacted my view of Holocaust education, because what I was reading on the walls of the Museum, are things that should be obvious lessons in any curriculum on the Holocaust. For instance, rarely are brothels spoken about in the discussion of concentration camp organizational structures. By order of Henrich Himmler, in some camps, including Auschwitz I and Dachau, female prisoners were assigned to a prostitution Kommando. In fact, the brothel in Auschwitz I was  in Block 24, the location of the current Museum Archives Department and, subsequently, my office. Male survivors testify that they could earn “passes” or “tokens” to be redeemed at the camp’s brothel. The testimony of these survivors suggest that these women received special treatment, including better food and living conditions. One survivor went as far to say he did not feel pity for these women because of this special treatment.

Bonus voucher to be redeemed at the camp brothel

In my ignorance, I also neglected to give thought to the trauma exposed to women’s reproductive systems. Women who were raped by SS or by male inmates in the camp brothels, had their pregnancies immediately terminated. Brothel workers returned to work the day after an abortion surgery. In some cases, an abortion was not necessary, as SS officers selected to rape Jewish girls who would be sent to the gas chambers the following morning. Sterilization also occurred in mass numbers, especially at Auschwitz. This mainly took the form of electrocution followed by a series of blood tests and the eventual removal of reproductive organs. Women selected for these tests and surgeries would have to return to their work details following surgery.

Women faced additional difficulties of sanitation, especially during their time of the month. Women, just like men, we're giving one shirt, jacket, one pair of pants and one pair of undergarments. Women did not receive extra undergarments during menstruation, and faced punishment for dirtying their only uniform. Malnutrition and starvation, however, resulted in the termination of a woman’s menstruation cycle, sometimes permanently. This brought up some controversial debates after the War, as women sought compensation for their sufferings, including becoming infertile as a result of forced sterilization or starvation.

Ravensbrück was also unique in the prevalence of female SS guards. Female SS officers patrolled many other concentration camps, but Ravensbrück had a disproportionally high population of women in uniform. The Memorial devoted an entire house for an exhibition on the brutality and eventual trials of female SS officials in Ravensbrück and beyond. The SS conjure images of beefy German alpha males, but even blonde Aryan 20-somethings carried a pistol and are responsible for the murder of hundreds of innocent lives. There aren't statistics on male versus female SS brutality rates, although survivors speak of the crimes committed and beatings conducted of each gender, depicting equal levels of horror.

I could write much more on the female experience during the Holocaust, especially at Ravensbrück, but time and space do not permit. If you are at all interested in the fate of women during the Holocaust, please do not hesitate to contact me. I find almost too much enjoyment in talking, learning and educating anyone and everyone about the Holocaust. Sabine expressed how the lack of interest, especially seen in the number of volunteer applicants, prohibits the Ravensbrück Memorial from reaching its goals of educating as many visitors as possible. She was very interested in the co-op program at Northeastern, and I hope to establish a connection for future students interested in assisting in any of the departments at Ravensbrück. This process, however, requires interested students to come forward, so if an international co-op at an incredible non-profit educational center is a future plan of yours, please reach out.

I find that it is the duty of our generation to uncover experiences that have been hidden for 70+ years and ensure that every Holocaust story has the opportunity to be shared.