How Ravensbruck prisoners risked the gas chamber to make their secret, handmade gifts.

One of the most striking things about visiting the Ravensbruck Memorial Museum in Furstenberg, Germany today is that the barracks are gone. A few concrete buildings survived. The crematorium, enormous warehouses, the punishment block and the administration building.

Today that administration building and other remaining buildings house a fascinating collection of exhibits created by the museum staff. They examine every aspect of the camp’s life, but one of my favorite parts of the exhibits is the many small objects on display, handmade by the prisoners from whatever scraps they could “organize,” to show their love and devotion to each other. 

While researching Lilac Girls I learned that the women who made these gifts did so at great risk. Random block checks were frequent and the punishment for any prisoner found with anything unauthorized in their bunk was swift and extreme.

According to the museum,”Agnes Bartha made this figurine was based on a rabbit she had fashioned at Easter in 1945 in the Genshagen satellite camp, from the artificial snow nets from the Daimler-Benz plant. She wanted to raise the spirits of her fellow prisoners with a small party. When she was a child, her Jewish family had always given her chocolate Easter bunnies on the Christian holiday.”

The women risked some combination of punishment. Solitary confinement in total darkness in the cell block, days without food and water and 25 lashes was not uncommon for the smallest offense, such as hiding an old newspaper or paper and pencil.

According to the museum, this drawing by Maria Berezowska dated 2 September 1943, “refers to the experimental operations carried out at Ravensbruck concentration camp. The “laboratory rabbit” depicted bears Stephanie Sieklucka’s prisoner number. Seventeen days earlier, Sieklucka and four other prisoners had been forced to undergo operations at the cell building. The drawing was probably made in an attempt to cheer her up.”

As the camp structure deteriorated and the camp became overcrowded with women prisoners from the countries Hitler invaded, it became easier for he women to “organize” scraps to create their treasures with.

 But though the camp staff relaxed the rules at the overcrowded camp, a gas chamber was built at the camp in the spring of 1945 adding increased danger to the possibility of being caught with unauthorized goods. Still, the women of Ravensbruck continued to create their lovely, handmade gifts for their fellow prisoners.

Years later the survivors still refer to the women they were imprisoned with as their sisters and these gifts speak volumes about their affection for each other. They show that the Nazis could dehumanize the women but never succeeded in taking away their need for friendships.

The women made dominoes, rosary beads and other gifts from precious bread.

Find out more about the Ravensbruck Memorial at their website here: http://www.ravensbrueck.de/