Life and death in hitlers concentration camp for women by sarah helm. It had salvias and an aviary and later a hair salon for the guards. The only nazi concentration camp built for women opened in may 1939, designed to hold 3,000. But the story of ravensbruck concentration camp is well worth remembering.
Get to know the stories inside ravensbruck, the nazis death camp for women during the second world war, as written by author sarah helm in her book if this is a woman. This book at last gives full voice to the women of ravensbruck, the only nazi concentration camp for women, for the very first time. Ravensbruck, the allfemale concentration camp, in 23. Inside ravensbruck, hitlers concentration camp for women. During the past 15 years a few other books about ravensbruck have. A masterly and moving account of the most horrific hidden atrocity of world war ii.
First published in 2014 in the uk where the title was if this is a woman. A look inside ravensbruck, the nazis death camp for women. This is where the information on female guards with the exceptions of suze arts and elisabeth lupka was obtained from. A comprehensive history of the only concentration camp entirely for women, this book tells the story of ravensbr. A biography of the only concentration camp built primarily to hold. First of all the uk title comes from primo levi s book if this is a man often titled survival in auschwitz in the us. Hitlers concentration camp for women first edition by helm, sarah isbn. Polish women released from the ravensbruck camp 1945. The female auxiliaries who assisted the ss in running the concentration camp system, isbn 0764314440.
Sarah helms first book was about vera atkins, who worked in the french. The title a play on primo levi s 1947 account of his time at auschwitz, this is a compelling book about ravensbruck, which incarcerated around,000 women in total and by the time of its liberation, in 1945, had seen up to 90,000 murdered. Ravensbr ck, the only nazi concentration camp built for women on a sunny morning in may 1939 a phalanx of 867 womenhousewives, doctors, opera singers, politicians, prostituteswas marched through the woods fifty miles north of berlin, driven on past a shining lake, then herded in through giant gates. This is a book that everyone should read about the. She has interviewed numerous survivors, combed through the transcripts of postwar trials of camp officials and guards and found archival materials. Life and death in hitlers concentration camp for women, sarah helm, a british journalist, has set out to write a biography of the camp. At its peak, in february 1945, it held 46,473 women.
The following images of ravensbruck womens concentration camp present a stark image of the brutality of the nazi regime but, more than that, they are a testament to the strength of these women, who would make jewelry, write comic operettas about camp life, and organize secret education programs to remind themselves of their humanity. Life and death in hitlers concentration camp for women reprint by sarah helm isbn. Ravensbruck was the only major nazi concentration camp for women. Located about fifty miles north of berlin, the camp was the site of murder by slave labor, torture, starvation, shooting, lethal in a landmark work of history.
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