The Russian liberators of the camp raped others. Some Ravensbruck prisoners got out in precarious pre-liberation rescues negotiated with Himmler. Easter 1945 brings the hurried "selection" and gassing of an extra 2500 at a nearby "Youth Camp".Ī December 1944 Allied communique had invited prisoners of war to "stay put … for an orderly repatriation".
The bulging camp, comments one survivor, descends into "fantastic irrational chaos". Shootings escalate from about 40 a month to 50 a night. Late 1944 he orders "2000 people monthly" to die "with retrospective effect for six months". His Ravensbrück of 1943 culls the unfit while boosting slave labour consignments to famous German firms. The Reichsführer orders gruesome experiments on so-called "rabbit" prisoners.
Next of kin may have the ashes for a fee. When transports begin for death by gassing (code 14f13), other prisoners prepare bogus death letters. He decides to approve each flogging, so there's a form for that. He visits the camp, having a mistress nearby. Schutzstaffel (SS) Reichsfuhrer Himmler appears here as a satanic micro-manager. Heinrich Himmler fires her for halting two 1943 executions. Her moral ambivalence animates other early chapters. It is 1957 and she is begging to explain herself to a former prisoner. The first chapter begins with Ravensbruck's chief female guard. She consistently highlights the group and personal dynamics. Hence, she uses scene-setting descriptions ("screech of wheels in icy ruts") and recreations of direct speech ("Links, rechts," shout the guards). If This is a Woman: Inside Ravensbruck by Sarah Helm.Īlso, the author intends that readers should be able to persist with what is inevitably a long and horrifying tale.
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