The Ravensbrück concentration camp was the largest concentration camp for women during the time of National Socialism . Construction started in 1938 in the municipality of Ravensbrück which is today the city of Fürstenberg/Havel. The location amongst the lakes of Brandenburg to the north of Berlin is very attractive .
Thanks to the availability of cheap labour, a number of companies located themselves nearby, and indeed were able to apply for their facilities elsewhere to become subcamps.
The camps was captured by the Red Army on 30 April 1945. At the time of liberation, there were only between two and three thousand prisoners, the rest having been shipped out on death marches.
Between 1939 and 1945, a total of around 132,000 women and children, 20,000 men and 1,000 female youth from 40 nations and ethnic groups were registered in the Ravensbrück concentration camp and the youth concentration camp and later Uckermark extermination camp. The total number included around 15,000 Jews and around 4,000 Sinti and Roma from various countries. The camp was staffed by around 1,000 SS of which almost 550 were guards. It is assumed that 28,000 prisoners died in this concentration camp. The memorial book for the victims of the Ravensbrück concentration camp 1939-1945 holds the names of 13,161 women, men and children. This number does not include the undocumented victims of the death marches.
Survivors of the Ravensbrück concentration camp have come together to form national prisoner associations . The International Ravensbrück Committee was founded as the umbrella organization for these associations
My history channel is based on my own research and generally comes from places I have visited and or original research. I live in a motorhome and as such spend most of my time travelling between Poland, Germany and Italy which is why there is a tendency to produce material from these countries, and sometimes material that is not available in English. My speciality is in World War Two, and in particular, the Holocaust although as you can see, I have opinions on a lot of other historical subjects too.
https://www.facebook.com/historysite/
Production of independent researched history is time consuming and expensive. Please consider supporting me on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/alanheath
13 Comments
maybe its all just a big misunderstanding and those camps were called that because they were build as adhd clinics
𝕽𝖆𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖘𝖉𝖗𝖚𝖈𝖐
My grandmother was here, I dont know how she survived! She was partisan resistant from ex Yugoslavia.
I knew a lady who was here, she was detained here for much of the war, just because she remained friends with Jewish people in Hamburg Altona and was confronted by the Gestapo and ordered her here. Brave lady.
Excellent.
If my memory serves me well there was a children's camp by the back of the camp that cannot be visited.
Cynically, a big chunk of land appendent to the camp is still private property belonging to Siemens.
I also recall that the gas chamber was a seprerate purpose built wooden hut build along the wall near the crematorium.
I actually stayed there the night when I visited in the late 2000s. One of the ex-SS barracks served as a hostel. I haven't checked if that's still the case.
As mentioned in the video, one of the most startling aspects of Ravensbrück is how scenic the lake area is with the cosy little town just across.
Thanks!
Hoess complained that female staff transferred from Ravensbruck to Auschwitz were lazy because at Ravensbruck prisoners did everything. Cooking, cleaning, laundry… Absolutely everything.
Himmler wanted it that way for German women so it was, in a way, SS policy.
An interesting post, but Winter looks on the way.
Thanks Alan. 🙏🇦🇺
Enjoyed this stroll Allan, your knowledge is extraordinary. Cheers.
Thanks for the tour. I knew the name and its reputation as a concentration camp for women, but only through your video have I seen it. The beautiful lake presents quite a contrast with the horror of the place.
Hi Alan, your videos just get better and better, keep up this excellent content, i wondered is this a pay to view place?
И да привысь фпс до 150-160 так лучше видео топ
For whoever is interested, the latest episode of the "On Auschwitz" podcast (episode 38) goes into more detail on female supervisors who served in KL Auschwitz after having trained in Ravensbrück.
Looks better than most Butlins camps I’ve ever seen! Any mass graves anywhere?