Ravensbruck
Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women
By: Sarah Helm
Paperback | 22 March 2016
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A masterly and moving account of the most horrific hidden atrocity of World War II: Ravensbruck, the only Nazi concentration camp built for women
On a sunny morning in May 1939 a phalanx of 867 women-housewives, doctors, opera singers, politicians, prostitutes-was marched through the woods fifty miles north of Berlin, driven on past a shining lake, then herded in through giant gates. Whipping and kicking them were scores of German women guards.
Their destination was Ravensbruck, a concentration camp designed specifically for women by Heinrich Himmler, prime architect of the Holocaust. By the end of the war 130,000 women from more than twenty different European countries had been imprisoned there; among the prominent names were Genevieve de Gaulle, General de Gaulle's niece, and Gemma La Guardia Gluck, sister of the wartime mayor of New York.
Only a small number of these women were Jewish; Ravensbruck was largely a place for the Nazis to eliminate other inferior beings-social outcasts, Gypsies, political enemies, foreign resisters, the sick, the disabled, and the "mad." Over six years the prisoners endured beatings, torture, slave labor, starvation, and random execution. In the final months of the war, Ravensbruck became an extermination camp. Estimates of the final death toll by April 1945 have ranged from 30,000 to 90,000.
For decades the story of Ravensbruck was hidden behind the Iron Curtain, and today it is still little known. Using testimony unearthed since the end of the Cold War and interviews with survivors who have never talked before, Sarah Helm has ventured into the heart of the camp, demonstrating for the reader in riveting detail how easily and quickly the unthinkable horror evolved.
Far more than a catalog of atrocities, however, Ravensbruck is also a compelling account of what one survivor called "the heroism, superhuman tenacity, and exceptional willpower to survive." For every prisoner whose strength failed, another found the will to resist through acts of self-sacrifice and friendship, as well as sabotage, protest, and escape.
While the core of this book is told from inside the camp, the story also sheds new light on the evolution of the wider genocide, the impotence of the world to respond, and Himmler's final attempt to seek a separate peace with the Allies using the women of Ravensbruck as a bargaining chip. Chilling, inspiring, and deeply unsettling, Ravensbruck is a groundbreaking work of historical investigation. With rare clarity, it reminds us of the capacity of humankind both for bestial cruelty and for courage against all odds.
About the Author
Sarah Helm is the author of A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII and the play Loyalty, about the 2003 Iraq War. She was a staff journalist on the Sunday Times (London) and a foreign correspondent on the Independent, and now writes for several publications. She lives in London with her husband and two daughters.
On a sunny morning in May 1939 a phalanx of 867 women-housewives, doctors, opera singers, politicians, prostitutes-was marched through the woods fifty miles north of Berlin, driven on past a shining lake, then herded in through giant gates. Whipping and kicking them were scores of German women guards.
Their destination was Ravensbruck, a concentration camp designed specifically for women by Heinrich Himmler, prime architect of the Holocaust. By the end of the war 130,000 women from more than twenty different European countries had been imprisoned there; among the prominent names were Genevieve de Gaulle, General de Gaulle's niece, and Gemma La Guardia Gluck, sister of the wartime mayor of New York.
Only a small number of these women were Jewish; Ravensbruck was largely a place for the Nazis to eliminate other inferior beings-social outcasts, Gypsies, political enemies, foreign resisters, the sick, the disabled, and the "mad." Over six years the prisoners endured beatings, torture, slave labor, starvation, and random execution. In the final months of the war, Ravensbruck became an extermination camp. Estimates of the final death toll by April 1945 have ranged from 30,000 to 90,000.
For decades the story of Ravensbruck was hidden behind the Iron Curtain, and today it is still little known. Using testimony unearthed since the end of the Cold War and interviews with survivors who have never talked before, Sarah Helm has ventured into the heart of the camp, demonstrating for the reader in riveting detail how easily and quickly the unthinkable horror evolved.
Far more than a catalog of atrocities, however, Ravensbruck is also a compelling account of what one survivor called "the heroism, superhuman tenacity, and exceptional willpower to survive." For every prisoner whose strength failed, another found the will to resist through acts of self-sacrifice and friendship, as well as sabotage, protest, and escape.
While the core of this book is told from inside the camp, the story also sheds new light on the evolution of the wider genocide, the impotence of the world to respond, and Himmler's final attempt to seek a separate peace with the Allies using the women of Ravensbruck as a bargaining chip. Chilling, inspiring, and deeply unsettling, Ravensbruck is a groundbreaking work of historical investigation. With rare clarity, it reminds us of the capacity of humankind both for bestial cruelty and for courage against all odds.
About the Author
Sarah Helm is the author of A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII and the play Loyalty, about the 2003 Iraq War. She was a staff journalist on the Sunday Times (London) and a foreign correspondent on the Independent, and now writes for several publications. She lives in London with her husband and two daughters.
Industry Reviews
"Brilliantly presented. . . . Elegantly crafted. . . . Under Helm's sympathetic hand, the women of Ravensbr�ck come alive once again." --The Washington Post "Moving. . . . Absorbing. . . . When acts of resistance are described, inspirational." --The New York Review of Books
"Fascinating. . . . Achieves just the right balance of judgment, fearlessness and restraint." --San Francisco Chronicle
"A sense of urgency infuses this history. . . . [Helm's] book comes not a moment too soon." --The Economist
"A profoundly moving chronicle." --The Guardian (London)
"Ravensbr�ck helps us understand how thoroughgoing an onslaught on humanity Nazi Germany perpetrated, and how central to its identity was its implacable urge to enslave and kill those it considered undesirable. . . . Ravensbr�ck gives us an agonizing sense of the dark heart of the Nazi ethos." --The New York Times Book Review
"Illuminates the attempted escapes, executions, and impossible courage of women history conspired to forget." --O, The Oprah Magazine
"A remarkable and riveting narrative." --Minneapolis Star Tribune
"A groundbreaking, detailed biography. . . . There's much to absorb here, from talks of inhumanely cruel punishment to examples of camaraderie, resilience and courage." --The Jewish Week
"Compelling. . . . Powerful. . . . Devastating. . . . What one is left with at the end of this momentous book is a sense of the power of human nature, both for good and for evil." --The Irish Independent
"Using material once locked behind the Iron Curtain, Sarah Helm has performed a tremendous feat of historical rescue. This book at last gives full voice to the women of Ravensbr�ck, the only Nazi concentration camp for women, for the very first time." --Anne Applebaum, author of Gulag, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
"An important cautionary tale. . . . A revelation. . . . Helm describes an amazing social structure that, despite all, arose in that encapsulated place, run for and mostly by women. The courage of the prisoners in the face of overwhelming cruelty was extraordinary." --Lynn H. Nicholas, author of The Rape of Europa, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award
"Ravensbr�ck is a book everyone should read. . . . Beautifully written. . . . Helm has done an amazing job with an enormous and enormously painful topic." --PopMatters
"A beautifully written history of events that offers additional insight into Nazism and those caught in its path. . . . This book deserves significant attention." --Publishers Weekly (starred)
"Chronicles the history of this much-ignored site for women. . . . Helm delivers a gripping story of the women who outlasted them and had the strength to share with the author and us sixty years later." --Kirkus Reviews
"Fascinating. . . . Achieves just the right balance of judgment, fearlessness and restraint." --San Francisco Chronicle
"A sense of urgency infuses this history. . . . [Helm's] book comes not a moment too soon." --The Economist
"A profoundly moving chronicle." --The Guardian (London)
"Ravensbr�ck helps us understand how thoroughgoing an onslaught on humanity Nazi Germany perpetrated, and how central to its identity was its implacable urge to enslave and kill those it considered undesirable. . . . Ravensbr�ck gives us an agonizing sense of the dark heart of the Nazi ethos." --The New York Times Book Review
"Illuminates the attempted escapes, executions, and impossible courage of women history conspired to forget." --O, The Oprah Magazine
"A remarkable and riveting narrative." --Minneapolis Star Tribune
"A groundbreaking, detailed biography. . . . There's much to absorb here, from talks of inhumanely cruel punishment to examples of camaraderie, resilience and courage." --The Jewish Week
"Compelling. . . . Powerful. . . . Devastating. . . . What one is left with at the end of this momentous book is a sense of the power of human nature, both for good and for evil." --The Irish Independent
"Using material once locked behind the Iron Curtain, Sarah Helm has performed a tremendous feat of historical rescue. This book at last gives full voice to the women of Ravensbr�ck, the only Nazi concentration camp for women, for the very first time." --Anne Applebaum, author of Gulag, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
"An important cautionary tale. . . . A revelation. . . . Helm describes an amazing social structure that, despite all, arose in that encapsulated place, run for and mostly by women. The courage of the prisoners in the face of overwhelming cruelty was extraordinary." --Lynn H. Nicholas, author of The Rape of Europa, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award
"Ravensbr�ck is a book everyone should read. . . . Beautifully written. . . . Helm has done an amazing job with an enormous and enormously painful topic." --PopMatters
"A beautifully written history of events that offers additional insight into Nazism and those caught in its path. . . . This book deserves significant attention." --Publishers Weekly (starred)
"Chronicles the history of this much-ignored site for women. . . . Helm delivers a gripping story of the women who outlasted them and had the strength to share with the author and us sixty years later." --Kirkus Reviews
ISBN: 9780307278715
ISBN-10: 0307278719
Published: 22nd March 2016
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number of Pages: 784
Audience: General Adult
Publisher: ANCHOR
Country of Publication: US
Dimensions (cm): 20.32 x 13.21 x 4.06
Weight (kg): 0.68
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