Ravensbrück - Nazis largest female concentration camp

The former Ravensbrück concentration camp (German KZ Ravensbrück) is located 90 kilometers from Berlin in the city of Fürstenberg on Havel (German Fürstenberg / Havel) in a very scenic location on the river bank. During its existence from 1939 to 1945 in inhuman conditions there were more than 130 thousand people. He would be the largest Nazi camp for women.

From the fate of prisoners (texts from the Soviet stand in the Ravensbrück concentration camp).

Olovyannikova Ekaterina IvanovnaBorn in 1916, partisan.

After the Nazi invaders, in front of Katya, burned her two young children, she went to the partisan detachment of N.I. Kravchenko, operating in the Grodno forests. During the mission, Katya was captured by the Gestapo and thrown into prison. Passed Nazi concentration camps: Majdanek, Sands. In March 1943, she was detained at Ravensbrück (camp number: 32739). In Ravensbrück, Katya refused to work at a military factory, for which she was included in the list of prisoners destined for destruction. April 20, 1945 Katya was placed on death row. A few days later Katya, along with other prisoners, was taken to destruction in the town of Fitlubbe. Red Army soldiers saved them from death on May 3, 1945.

Smelyanskaya Marina Isaakovna, Born in 1921.

In the early years of the war, Marina volunteered for the front. She was a medical instructor in communications and intelligence units. In July 1942, near Stary Oskol, its military unit was surrounded. After long wanderings in the forests, Marina was captured by the Nazis. With a group of prisoners of war who refused to work for the German military industry, she was imprisoned in the Ravensbrück concentration camp (camp No. 17442). Marina took an active part in the anti-fascist resistance of the camp prisoners. For disobedience and refusal to work, she was imprisoned in the penal block of the camp. Released from Nazi captivity in 1945 by the Red Army.

Chayalo Tamara Ivanovna, Born in 1917, doctor.

In the ranks of the Red Army T.I. Chayalo participated in the defense of Odessa and Sevastopol. During the evacuation of the wounded soldiers was captured. Passed Nazi concentration camps in Simferopol, Slavut, Rivne, Zoeste. For refusing to work at a military factory with a large group of Soviet women in February 1943, she was imprisoned in the Ravensbrück concentration camp (camp No. 17449). As a doctor, Tamara did a lot to alleviate the fate of prisoners. She was the initiator of the organization of sabotage, protests against the brutal massacres of women and children. In April 1945, it was liberated by the Red Army.

One of the houses of SS overseers.

On April 30, 1945, soldiers of the 2nd Belorussian Front liberated Furstenberg. In the Ravensbruck concentration camp, they found about 3 thousand doomed prisoners.

After the liberation, the former prisoners of the concentration camp vowed to fight against fascism so that nowhere else, what was in Ravensbrück would never be repeated. In 1957, they created the International Committee of Former Prisoners - an anti-fascist public organization.