Jewish Women Prisoners of Ravensbruck

CONTENTS......Page 8
1. The origin of the project: my personal interest in Ravensbrück......Page 20
Notes......Page 26
Heterogeneity......Page 27
Obstacles to historical reconstruction......Page 28
Special obstacles to Jewish commemoration......Page 31
Memoirs and historical research......Page 34
Notes......Page 35
Six years of Ravensbrück......Page 38
Who should be considered Jewish?......Page 39
Gender questions......Page 43
The percentage of Jewish prisoners......Page 44
The sources......Page 46
Periodization......Page 51
Notes......Page 59
4. The first period......Page 65
No Jewish Alte Ravensbrückerinnen......Page 66
Official reasons for arrest: police documents and the reality......Page 73
The documentary basis for statistical estimates: filling the gaps......Page 77
Nationality, age groups, marital status, and occupations of the first-period prisoners......Page 80
Notes......Page 82
5. The second period – from Bernburg to Auschwitz......Page 86
Age groups......Page 88
The big deportation to Auschwitz......Page 89
Notes......Page 91
Prisoners with hidden Jewish identities......Page 92
The Special Categories......Page 94
Statistical summing-up of the third period......Page 102
Notes......Page 104
August 1944: the arrival of Hungarian and Polish Jewish women and girls from Auschwitz......Page 107
Three ghetto transports......Page 113
A huge transport from Auschwitz......Page 116
Direct deportations from Budapest: November 1944......Page 118
The direct transports from Slovakia......Page 126
The Frankfurt/Walldorf transport......Page 127
The arrivals of December 1944......Page 130
Summing-up the fourth period: national groups, age groups, and fates......Page 136
Notes......Page 145
Who was in Ravensbrück at the beginning of 1945?......Page 154
Major changes in 1945......Page 155
The documentary evidence concerning new arrivals in 1945......Page 157
Direct transports from Slovakia, France, and Italy......Page 158
The arrivals from the Auschwitz Todesmarsch and their fates......Page 161
Neustadt-Glewe......Page 169
Krupp-Neukölln: an exceptional labor camp......Page 176
The transport to Burgau: a death train of the last period......Page 187
The role of the Bernadotte-Aktion in the rescue of Jewish Ravensbrück prisoners......Page 197
Evacuation marches from Ravensbrück and its external camps......Page 206
Liberation policies......Page 212
Statistical summing-up of all fifth-period arrivals......Page 215
A late large transport of Jewish men to the women’s camp......Page 217
Notes......Page 219
Statistical summing-up of all five periods......Page 230
Ravensbrück and Auschwitz......Page 234
Women and girls of part-Jewish descent (Mischlinge) in Ravensbrück......Page 239
Non-Jewish prisoners married to Jews......Page 240
“Righteous of the Nations” in Ravensbrück......Page 241
Notes......Page 245
Why was there so little group-wide social organization among the Jewish prisoners of Ravensbrück?......Page 247
The crucial role of small-group or “camp-family” ties......Page 256
Individual and group contacts between Jewish and other prisoners......Page 262
Remembering the jailers......Page 265
What is heroism – everyday moral behavior......Page 267
Gender-specific issues......Page 269
Conclusions......Page 276
Notes......Page 277
Diagram 1 The First Period – Countries of Origin......Page 282
Diagram 2 The First Period – Age Groups......Page 283
Diagram 3 The Second Period – Countries of Origin......Page 284
Diagram 4 The Second Period – Age groups......Page 285
Diagram 5 The Third Period – Age Groups......Page 286
Diagram 6 The Third Period – Formal Citizenship......Page 287
Diagram 7 The Third Period – Fate......Page 288
Diagram 8 The Fourth Period – Countries of Origin......Page 289
Diagram 9 Fourth Period – Age Groups......Page 290
Diagram 10 The Fourth Period – Fate......Page 291
Diagram 11 The Fifth Period – Countries of Origin......Page 292
Diagram 12 The Fifth Period – Age Groups......Page 293
Diagram 13 The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück – Countries of Origin......Page 294
Diagram 14 The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück – The Five Periods, Countries of Origin......Page 295
Diagram 15 The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück – Age......Page 296
Diagram 16 The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück – The Five Periods, Age......Page 297
Diagram 17 The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück – The Five Periods, Fate......Page 298
Full-length published autobiographical memoirs......Page 301
Short memoirs, edited by others......Page 302
Autobiographical and biographical documents......Page 306
Research concerning the Jewish prisoners of Ravensbrück......Page 307
13. Lists of interviews......Page 309
List of major camps and ghettos from which Jewish prisoners of Ravensbrück came......Page 327
List of major camps to which Jewish prisoners of Ravensbrück were sent......Page 329
Nazi Camp......Page 331
Ravensbrück......Page 332
Photo of Ravensbrück......Page 333
Indices......Page 12
Archives and Documents......Page 335
Concentration Camps......Page 337
Names other than Victims and Survivors......Page 340
Victims and Survivors......Page 343
Index of Places......Page 347
Index of Subjects......Page 351