TOPIC: Ravensbruck NAME: Alex Bakalich SECTION 1: Beginnings
Ravensbruck was a concentration camp for women established May 15, 1939. It’s located north of Berlin next to Lake Schwedt. The camp itself was protected by a wall with electric barbed wire. Its first transport arrived May 18, 1939. Ravensbruck first prisoners were mostly German anti-fascists & Jehovah’s witnesses. It was divided into five departments: commandant’s office, political dept., “protective custody”, administration, and medical. Only female guards were allowed to oversee the prisoners. From 1942-1943 Ravensbruck served as a training base for female SS guards. Irma Grese was one of the women who graduated this training program.
Ravensbruck was a compound of eighteen barracks. Two were prisoner hospitals, two were warehouses, one was a punishment block, and one more functioned as a prison until 1939. The rest were prisoners’ housing. Each prisoner barrack had three-tiered cots and one washroom. When Ravensbruck first opened hygiene was decent, but standards eventually deteriorated. Ravensbruck was built to house 6,000 prisoners, but it exceeded that. Eventually, there were up to 50,000 prisoners. Overcrowding became a major issue when a transport of Hungarian Jews arrived from Auschwitz in January 1945. This resulted in an increase of lice, cholera, and typhus.
The prisoners of Ravensbruck were divided into categories. Each division had a different colored triangle with a letter in the center that represented their nationality. Political prisoners wore red and Jews were yellow. However, Jews/ political prisoners either wore a red & yellow Star of David or yellow stripes on a red triangle. Jehovah’s witnesses received purple triangles. Criminals (common or Nazi law-breakers) wore green. Lesbians, prostitutes, and Gypsies all wore black triangles. SECTION 2: Event
Slave labor was one of the biggest industrial entities at Ravensbruck. Siemens Electric Co. (now the second largest electrical company worldwide) had workers produce parts for the V-1 & V-2 rockets. Prisoners also had to weave reed carpets, build buildings, and pave roads. Furstenberg, a small town located near Ravensbruck, employed those too old and weak as their slave labor force. Those prisoners knitted and cleaned barracks & latrines under extreme exploitation.
Prisoners at Ravensbruck were punished by various means. For sabotage, they were typically kept in solitary confinement. Other punishments included beatings, mauling by SS dogs, and whippings (Heinrich Himmler’s idea). A gas chamber or as the Nazis called it, Mittwerda, was built in February of 1945. It was part of Operation 14f 13 where prisoners were killed by deadly gases. The majority killed were Hungarian. Pregnant Jews were gassed and pregnant non-Jews received abortions. Polish/ Gypsy women were used in medical experiments starting around 1942. Doctors tested different ways of healing bones & wounds, creating bacterial infections, sterilization, and simulated battlefield leg wounds. SECTION 3: Results
After the war ended many staff members of Ravensbruck were put on trial. British courts between 1946 & 1948 found ten staff members guilty. Most of the people found guilty in the Soviet trials of 1948 were either pardoned or received a reduced sentence. Individuals were also tried and prosecuted. SS Captain Max Koegel was found guilty by an American court, but committed suicide in jail. French military courts found SS Captain Fritz Suhren & Hans Pflaum guilty in 1949. The Polish executed Maria Mandel.
NAME: Alex Bakalich
SECTION 1: Beginnings
Ravensbruck was a concentration camp for women established May 15, 1939. It’s located north of Berlin next to Lake Schwedt. The camp itself was protected by a wall with electric barbed wire. Its first transport arrived May 18, 1939. Ravensbruck first prisoners were mostly German anti-fascists & Jehovah’s witnesses. It was divided into five departments: commandant’s office, political dept., “protective custody”, administration, and medical. Only female guards were allowed to oversee the prisoners. From 1942-1943 Ravensbruck served as a training base for female SS guards. Irma Grese was one of the women who graduated this training program.
Ravensbruck was a compound of eighteen barracks. Two were prisoner hospitals, two were warehouses, one was a punishment block, and one more functioned as a prison until 1939. The rest were prisoners’ housing. Each prisoner barrack had three-tiered cots and one washroom. When Ravensbruck first opened hygiene was decent, but standards eventually deteriorated. Ravensbruck was built to house 6,000 prisoners, but it exceeded that. Eventually, there were up to 50,000 prisoners. Overcrowding became a major issue when a transport of Hungarian Jews arrived from Auschwitz in January 1945. This resulted in an increase of lice, cholera, and typhus.
The prisoners of Ravensbruck were divided into categories. Each division had a different colored triangle with a letter in the center that represented their nationality. Political prisoners wore red and Jews were yellow. However, Jews/ political prisoners either wore a red & yellow Star of David or yellow stripes on a red triangle. Jehovah’s witnesses received purple triangles. Criminals (common or Nazi law-breakers) wore green. Lesbians, prostitutes, and Gypsies all wore black triangles.
SECTION 2: Event
Slave labor was one of the biggest industrial entities at Ravensbruck. Siemens Electric Co. (now the second largest electrical company worldwide) had workers produce parts for the V-1 & V-2 rockets. Prisoners also had to weave reed carpets, build buildings, and pave roads. Furstenberg, a small town located near Ravensbruck, employed those too old and weak as their slave labor force. Those prisoners knitted and cleaned barracks & latrines under extreme exploitation.
Prisoners at Ravensbruck were punished by various means. For sabotage, they were typically kept in solitary confinement. Other punishments included beatings, mauling by SS dogs, and whippings (Heinrich Himmler’s idea). A gas chamber or as the Nazis called it, Mittwerda, was built in February of 1945. It was part of Operation 14f 13 where prisoners were killed by deadly gases. The majority killed were Hungarian. Pregnant Jews were gassed and pregnant non-Jews received abortions. Polish/ Gypsy women were used in medical experiments starting around 1942. Doctors tested different ways of healing bones & wounds, creating bacterial infections, sterilization, and simulated battlefield leg wounds.
SECTION 3: Results
After the war ended many staff members of Ravensbruck were put on trial. British courts between 1946 & 1948 found ten staff members guilty. Most of the people found guilty in the Soviet trials of 1948 were either pardoned or received a reduced sentence. Individuals were also tried and prosecuted. SS Captain Max Koegel was found guilty by an American court, but committed suicide in jail. French military courts found SS Captain Fritz Suhren & Hans Pflaum guilty in 1949. The Polish executed Maria Mandel.