Ravensbrück

Ravensbrück, Nazi German concentration camp for women (Frauenlager) located in a swamp near the village of Ravensbrück, 50 miles (80 km) north of Berlin. Ravensbrück served as a training base for some 3,500 female SS (Nazi paramilitary corps) supervisors who staffed it and other concentration camps. There were 34 satellite camps attached to Ravensbrück, many of them at military industrial plants.

Set up in 1938, it was designed to accommodate 6,000 inmates, but by the end of World War II it housed more than 36,000. About 50,000 women died at Ravensbrück from disease, starvation, overwork, and despair. Some inmates were used in medical experiments. For example, in 1942 and 1943 selected inmates were infected with gas gangrene or other bacteria and given a series of “cures” that often resulted in death or crippling. In 1944 inmates were subjected to experimental bone transplants and amputations.

Killing techniques at Ravensbrück evolved over time. At first, prisoners were shot in the back. Later, women were transported to a T4 Program killing centre or to Auschwitz for gassing. Prisoners at Ravensbrück were also killed by lethal injection and cremated in the nearby resort town of Fürstenberg. In late January or early February 1945, some 2,200 women were killed in gas chambers constructed next to Fürstenberg’s crematorium.

In early April 1945, the camp was evacuated and about 24,500 prisoners began a death march. As Allied troops approached, German prisoners were set free, and 500 women were handed over to the Red Cross. The camp was liberated by the Soviet army on April 29–30. Some 3,500 female prisoners were still alive.