Intrepid Insider guides took some time out from their busy Summer schedule for a visit to the former women's concentration camp of Ravensbrueck, approx. 80 Km north of Berlin.
This Soviet SU-100 Tank Destroyer stands at the road to the memorial commemorating the liberation of the camp in April 1945.
This was the largest women's concentration camp within Germany, and the second largest women's camp in the Nazi campo system after Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was built in 1938 by prisoners from the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
The first women prisoners, approx. 900 of them, arrived in May 1939 from the Berlin-Lichtenberg camp. Up to 1945 it was to hold approx. 50.000 prisoners from over 30 countries, although the majority came from Poland, the Ussr and germany. Included were political prisoners, Jews, Roma and Sinti, Jehovah's Witnesses and others persecuted by the Nazis.
Here a photo of the Commandant's house. There were three commandants at the Ravensbrueck camp - Günther Tamaschke, Max Koegel and Fritz Suhren. Daily supervision was carried out by female SS guards. Ravensbrueck was also a major training center for female concentration camp guards from 1942.
Living conditions were severe due to overwork, overcrowding, random punishment, starvation and disease. There were approx. 18 barracks in all, including a infirmary, prison and punishment block. The gas chamber was built in 1945, and approx. 5-6.000 prisoners were murdered there before liberation on 30th April 1945.
Sick and weak prisoners were selected for murder by shooting, lethal injection or gassing. Thousands were sent to the Bernburg and Hartheim killing centers, two sites more associated with the T4 Euthanasia programme. In all there were approx. 28.000 prisoners murdered in the Ravensbrueck.
Medical experiments were conducted mostly on yourng Polish women from 1942 including infecting wounds, bone and muscle as well as amputations and forces sterilisation. Many women died or suffered permanent disabilities.
Many women were forced into prostitution from 1942 often being promised release for their 'services'. These promises were of course nevered honoured.
Women prisoners were used as forced labour in agriculture, textiles and armaments. Siemens ran a sizeable sub-camp nearby producing electrical equipment for the war effort including V-2 rocket components. By 1944 the Ravensbrueck controlled over 40 subcamps with a combined total of more than 70.000 female workers at any one time.
The memorial now contains many powerful memorial sculptures. Pictured here are representations of main prisoner categories with each figure wearing a coloured triangle. A nail driven through each heart symbolises the suffering and murder inflicted by the Nazi regime.
The greater camp complex contains many still intact factory buildings where prisoners were forced to work. Scattered throughout are many infoboards with information of the history of individual prisoners. They are a chronicle of suffering, sacrifice, solidarity and survival. They are also a powerful reminder of the exploitation and resilience of Ravensbrueck's prisoners.
Visiting Ravensbrueck in Summer gives one access to the many factory buildings and the Siemens sub-camp is usually closed during the Winter months. It is a camp memorial that has been improving its research and associated exhibitions steadily over the years. It is a full day trip, and a very worthwhile one.
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