Ravensbruck: Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women

by Sarah Helm

Book Overview

Months before the outbreak of World War II, Heinrich Himmler--prime architect of the Holocaust--designed a special concentration camp for women, located fifty miles north of Berlin. Only a small number of the prisoners were Jewish. Ravensbrück was primarily a place for the Nazis to hold other inferior beings: Jehovah's Witnesses, Resistance fighters, lesbians, prostitutes, and aristocrats--even the sister of New York's Mayor LaGuardia. Over six years the prisoners endured forced labor, torture, starvation, and random execution. In the final months of the war, Ravensbrück became an extermination camp. Estimates of the final death toll have ranged from 30,000 to 90,000. For decades the story of Ravensbrück was hidden behind the Iron Curtain. Now, using testimony unearthed since the end of the Cold War and interviews with survivors who have never talked before, Sarah Helm takes us into the heart of the camp. The result is a landmark achievement that weaves together many accounts, following figures on both sides of the prisoner/guard divide. Chilling, compelling, and deeply necessary, Ravensbrück is essential reading for anyone concerned with Nazi history.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307278719
• ISBN13: 9780307278715
• Release Date: March 2016
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 784 Pages
• Weight: 1.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Daunting, but worth it

So I waited for over a year after buying this to read it, always choosing another book instead; I was dreading it almost, because it is 650 pages of a hardback, and large pages at that, it takes me 2.5 minutes to read one single full page, so I didn't want to embark on the book and I worried that it would be boring or difficult to pay attention to. However, once I finally got the courage to open it I've found that I love it. It's really well written and expertly researched. Now my only complaint is that it doesn't mention Hermine Braunstiener at all and it doesn't go into detail on Irma Grese (look em up, absolute sickos). I feel like everybody and everything else about Ravensbruck was mentioned except those two women. If you aren't looking for great detail on them, this is a good book. If you are looking for great detail on them, I believe they're discussed in "Hitler's Furies".

Excellent writing for a story not easy to tell. This book is a collection of research and interviews

This book is a collection of research and interviews about the German concentration camp for women. Sarah Helm tells how Germany built and maintained this place for women who were asocials, political prisoners, habitual criminals, & to a lesser extent, Jews. I found the story fascinating & Helm’s ability at writing, acceptional.