Ravensbruck

Ravensbrueck:  Today I visited Ravensbrueck, The Olympic Stadium, and Track 17.  Ravensbrueck is noted for being the largest women’s camp, totaling 130,000 women.  It is the size of 160 soccer fields.  Compared to other camps, there was a little number of Jews as compared to a large proportion of Polish, Soviet, and French, and Jehovah Witnesses.  Himmler (head of concentration camps) wished the Nazis were as fanatic and resolute in their beliefs as the Jehovah Witnesses.  If that were the case, they surely would be unified and strong!  The Jehovah Witnesses could be released if they renounced their religious beliefs.  Very few did.  No wonder Himmler admired them….Just not enough to consider them human with rights.   The camp sits on a beautiful lake overlooking a quaint church.  Prisoners fantasized swimming across the lake as their escape route, but lack of strength prevented this.  One such woman made this a reality.  When she got to the other side, she exchanged her discarded prisoner garb for local dress and ran to Poland.  Can you believe that years after the war, she returned to the house and gave back the borrowed clothes to its owner?  Most women were not so lucky.  They were found, brought back, tortured, and killed.  What’s worse is that the other prisoners in her block were punished, as well.  Even though they were mad as hell at the escapee, they did not seek vengeance. 

From 1933-1939, prisons were not designed for the Jews.  Ravensbrueck served to provide the German war economy with prisoner labor.  In 1938, 40% of the female prisoners were classified as “anti-social” ; however, no one can really define its meaning. Prisoners who worked directly with the SS got better food because the Nazis needed them more. And the best hiding places for the children were in the hospital.  I thought that would be the last place the children would hide since the prisoners (I HATE calling them prisoners...because that implies that they were guilty.....I will make an effort to use another word)  in the hospital were the first to be killed because they were not considered “useful.”  However, the SS officers would avoid the hospitals because they, themselves, did not want to catch any diseases.

It was not until 1945 that the SS constructed a gas chamber near the camp crematorium.  The Germans gassed about 6,000 prisoners before liberation in 1945. There’s a whole section dedicated to the houses of the SS officers, female guards, and Commandants.  The houses were so beautiful that even the Nazi families lived there.  Captain Max Koegel and his wife enjoyed the life of luxury from 1940-1942. 

Olympic Stadium:

In 1931, Germany was asked to host the Olympics.  It was time to reunite Germany back into society. After World War I,  Goebbels (the minister of propaganda) saw this as a remarkable opportunity to present the Fatherland in a wonderful, glowing light.  In 1936, he presented foreign visitors the “New Germany”.  Before the games, discriminatory signs such as “Dogs and Jews are forbidden” were removed.  Two-thirds of Americans saw through this falsehood and begged the US not to participate in these games because of moral reasons.   Debates ensued up until the event.  Some argued that athletics have nothing to do with politics.  Roosevelt caved in and said everything was “fine”….I’d love to know his definition of “not fine.”  And so the Americans went to Germany and participated.   If politics didn’t play a role in sports, why were two Jewish Americans benched? 

A little smile inched across my face when I saw Hitler’s rage when the African-American Jesse Owens medaled!  Hitler was so set on winning that he even let a Gypsy participate in boxing.  He won, too!  After the show was over, Hitler sent him to Dachau to undergo experiments which disfigured him forever. 

Track 17

Gruenwald, Germany…the train station where the Jews of Berlin were deported to ghettos and concentration camps.  The last stop before Hell!  Even as Germany was losing the war, Hitler still had Jews deported and killed.  He was on a mission. Whether he won or lost the war, annihilation of the Jews was his number one priority.

Look at the beautiful house the SS officers lived in.

Ravensbruek had crematory ovens.  Some question why I am putting these graphic, vivid, morbid pictures on my blog.  I question why not?  There are many ignorant deniers to the Holocaust saying it is Jewish propaganda and a farce.  I am here to show you that it is not.  These pictures are from my camera showing the inside and outside of murdering machines.  Humans did this to other humans!   The Nazis did not start out as  animals or monsters but men and women who had families, jobs, homes, and degrees.  They were some of the most civilized people in history.  What the hell happened to make them do this?  This is the core question that needs to be addressed.  If this mentality can happen to ordinary people, I'm afraid to death of what can occur in the future.  These pictures must be shown as a reminder that if we let it and are not aware of the signs of evil and corruption, this madness can occur to anyone.

Ashes emerge from this chimney.

This is the garb worn by the woman prisoners.  Ironic how my reflection is shown.  It could have been I wearing these clothes.

Looks like a picture from a fairytale.  The houses tucked in the corner surrounded by flowers, trees, and greenery belong to the head SS officers and their families. 

House belonged to SS Nazi Max Koegel and wife Anna.

Beautiful winding steps leading up to an enormous bedroom

 contrasted with the slabs of wooden barracks that the innocent prisoners slept in.

This is Track 17.  This is the last place the Jews had their freedom and some sense of normalcy.  In the middle of the night, they covertly were sent to ghettos and concentration camps never returning.

For instance, on Feb 2, 1945, 23 Jews were transported to Ravensbrueck and Sachenhausen.  The war ended in April.  Instead of worrying about their families and escape, the Nazis were still thinking about murdering Jews.