I just ordered a copy of Hoppets Hamn, or Harbor of Hope. It is a Swedish documentary directed by Magnus Gertten which uses archive images of the thousands of concentration camp prisoners, including many Ravensbruck survivors, the women at the center of my novel Lilac Girls. It’s a moving film which shows how the survivors came to Malmö Sweden in the spring of 1945 and how the city was mobilized to care for them.
Camp survivors arriving in Malmo. Many of these women were rescued by Count Folk Bernadette of Sweden in his famous white busses and taken back to Sweden for rehabilitative care before returning home.
The white busses en route to rescue
(Above) Rare sights, two survivors with their babies. Only a handful of children survived Ravensbruck.
Ravensbruck survivors on the boat
Women arriving, some still in striped camp uniforms
Happy to be free
You can watch the film trailer at http://harbourofhope.com. Film is in Swedish, in Euro DVD format.
