Reviews
If This Is a Woman: Inside Ravensbruck - Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women by Sarah Helm
bibliowrecka's review
5.0
Whew. It took me forever to finish this book and sometimes I felt like I was forcing myself to read it. Not because it was bad; in fact it's one of the best books I've read this year. It was just too much to take in large doses. Anyone who's gone through the American public school system has almost certainly read plenty of books about/set during the Holocaust (In fact, there's a great YA book called Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust that's about a Jewish teen who's sick and tired of being seen as some sort of expert representation of her people every time it comes up at school). But the story of the Ravensbruck women's concentration camp was one I'd never heard before, until I read Elizabeth Wein's Rose Under Fire, which is partially set there. After that book wrung my heart, I spotted this one on the new books shelf at my library and picked it up on a whim. And let me tell you, I thought Wein's fiction was heavy reading, but this is something else entirely, because it's all true, and very heavily researched and footnoted. Helm tracked down dozens of women who survived Ravensbruck as well as lots of documentation of the lives of many who weren't so fortunate. This also marks the first major examination of Ravensbruck in the west after the fall of the Iron Curtain, which kept a lot of information locked up in East Germany for years.
The information is laid out mostly chronologically, moving from the camp's founding with almost entirely German prisoners just before war broke out, to later years when Polish, Hungarian, and other nationalities dominated the camp. Ravensbruck was not a death camp like Auschwitz or Treblinka (although in later years it did have a crematorium and many women were worked to death while there or shipped on to camps where they were gassed). In fact, at least in the early years, women who were sent to Ravensbruck from other camps commented on how clean and well-fed and housed its inmates were, comparatively. Still, the guards were brutal and the labor was backbreaking, and as the war went on the camp became more and more crowded and the "good" conditions disintegrated quickly. Helm follows several women who spent years in the camp, from beginning to end, and their stories give you a great picture of the camp in all its stages.
By far the hardest stories for me to read were those of the "Rabbits" - Polish prisoners who were selected to be guinea pigs in experiments led by the camp doctors. Elizabeth Wein tells a fictionalized version of their story in Rose Under Fire, so I was already familiar with them, but Helm interviewed many of the survivors and goes into harrowing detail of the surgeries and experiments they went through. Supposedly the doctors were testing the effects of gangrene on wounded soldiers by cutting open the women's legs and deliberately introducing contaminants. In practice the experiments were run very unscientifically and no useful data ever emerged, so it was basically just another form of torture for the prisoners. Several women died, and survivors were left permanently disabled. One of the rabbits, a young Polish girl, found a way to smuggle letters written in invisible ink (composed of her own urine) out to family members back home and helped get the word out about what was happening to them. They all lived under the fear that eventually the camp leaders would kill them all to make sure word never got out, and in fact, this was attempted, but other prisoners helped to hide and protect the Polish rabbits. This section is where I bogged down the most simply because it was so hard to read.
It was also hard to read the stories of the Soviet Red Army women who found themselves in the camp, both because of their experiences there and because of what happened to them afterwards back in Russia. Stalin's government was especially harsh on Russian prisoners of war, and many of the women who had already survived one prison camp were convicted again of collaboration with the enemy and sent to the Gulag. Those who weren't had to remain quiet about their Ravensbruck experiences for fear of the same thing happening to them, and some even turned on their former comrades in an effort to save themselves.
There are so many other stories from this book I could share, but this is already a long review. If This Is a Woman is a remarkably well-written and thoroughly researched book that sheds some much-needed light on a facet of World War II atrocities that hasn't gotten enough attention. Highly recommended, if you have the time and the stomach for it.
The information is laid out mostly chronologically, moving from the camp's founding with almost entirely German prisoners just before war broke out, to later years when Polish, Hungarian, and other nationalities dominated the camp. Ravensbruck was not a death camp like Auschwitz or Treblinka (although in later years it did have a crematorium and many women were worked to death while there or shipped on to camps where they were gassed). In fact, at least in the early years, women who were sent to Ravensbruck from other camps commented on how clean and well-fed and housed its inmates were, comparatively. Still, the guards were brutal and the labor was backbreaking, and as the war went on the camp became more and more crowded and the "good" conditions disintegrated quickly. Helm follows several women who spent years in the camp, from beginning to end, and their stories give you a great picture of the camp in all its stages.
By far the hardest stories for me to read were those of the "Rabbits" - Polish prisoners who were selected to be guinea pigs in experiments led by the camp doctors. Elizabeth Wein tells a fictionalized version of their story in Rose Under Fire, so I was already familiar with them, but Helm interviewed many of the survivors and goes into harrowing detail of the surgeries and experiments they went through. Supposedly the doctors were testing the effects of gangrene on wounded soldiers by cutting open the women's legs and deliberately introducing contaminants. In practice the experiments were run very unscientifically and no useful data ever emerged, so it was basically just another form of torture for the prisoners. Several women died, and survivors were left permanently disabled. One of the rabbits, a young Polish girl, found a way to smuggle letters written in invisible ink (composed of her own urine) out to family members back home and helped get the word out about what was happening to them. They all lived under the fear that eventually the camp leaders would kill them all to make sure word never got out, and in fact, this was attempted, but other prisoners helped to hide and protect the Polish rabbits. This section is where I bogged down the most simply because it was so hard to read.
It was also hard to read the stories of the Soviet Red Army women who found themselves in the camp, both because of their experiences there and because of what happened to them afterwards back in Russia. Stalin's government was especially harsh on Russian prisoners of war, and many of the women who had already survived one prison camp were convicted again of collaboration with the enemy and sent to the Gulag. Those who weren't had to remain quiet about their Ravensbruck experiences for fear of the same thing happening to them, and some even turned on their former comrades in an effort to save themselves.
There are so many other stories from this book I could share, but this is already a long review. If This Is a Woman is a remarkably well-written and thoroughly researched book that sheds some much-needed light on a facet of World War II atrocities that hasn't gotten enough attention. Highly recommended, if you have the time and the stomach for it.
eleneariel's review
4.0
(advance copy provided to me by Netgalley)
This one gets 4-stars only because I rate based on how much I enjoy the reading of the book, not on literary merit alone. And make no mistake: this is a hard book to read. It's long, yes, but more than that - it's soul-rending. What was done to these women, from the Polish rabbits to the slave laborers, is practically inconceivable, and it does not make for pleasant reading.
But you should read it. Why?
Because it's true. Because the world needs to know. Because we should never, never forget. Because they deserve for us to keep these atrocities in mind so that they never, please God, happen again.
And also because this book IS a 5-star for literary merit; because the writing is tight, the research impeccable, the organization flawless.
This one gets 4-stars only because I rate based on how much I enjoy the reading of the book, not on literary merit alone. And make no mistake: this is a hard book to read. It's long, yes, but more than that - it's soul-rending. What was done to these women, from the Polish rabbits to the slave laborers, is practically inconceivable, and it does not make for pleasant reading.
But you should read it. Why?
Because it's true. Because the world needs to know. Because we should never, never forget. Because they deserve for us to keep these atrocities in mind so that they never, please God, happen again.
And also because this book IS a 5-star for literary merit; because the writing is tight, the research impeccable, the organization flawless.
louisefbooks96's review
5.0
I found this the most remarkable read of my life - the stories of these thousands upon thousands of women were remarkable amazing and down right heartbreaking. There is little well known about the concentration camp of Ravensbruck - much due to people not believing survivors or survivors themselves not wanting to talk about it either.
However the story which Sarah Helm has produced truly emerged in its cases - and it dumbfounds how this could have happened and when. I would recommend this to simply everyone who wants to know what happened and who should know what happened. I want everyone to know this as well it is important these brave courageous women do not become a forgotten memory and part of history.
However the story which Sarah Helm has produced truly emerged in its cases - and it dumbfounds how this could have happened and when. I would recommend this to simply everyone who wants to know what happened and who should know what happened. I want everyone to know this as well it is important these brave courageous women do not become a forgotten memory and part of history.
balancinghistorybooks's review
5.0
In If This is a Woman, Sarah Helm has written utterly phenomenal study. She tells of the atrocities of Ravensbruck, a German concentration camp during the Second World War, and the only one of its kind exclusively for women prisoners. It is the first book to write extensively about Ravensbruck, one of the final camps to be liberated by the Russians.
Only ten percent of Ravensbruck's prisoners were Jewish, contrary to a lot of other camps; the rest were arrested due to opposition to the Nazi Party, and were drawn from such groups as communists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and members of the Resistance in various European countries. There were also others deemed 'asocials', who ranged from lesbians to Gypsies. Among the prisoners were 'the cream of Europe's women', including various countesses, a former British golfing champion, and the niece of General de Gaulle.
Helm draws upon the published testimonies of Ravensbruck's prisoners, as well as seeking out those who survived the brutal conditions, and studying records of the court case which followed, aiming as it did to punish those who were in charge. Her research has been carried out impeccably, particularly considering that the majority of the papers relating to prisoners and conditions were burnt before liberation. Helm has aimed to create 'a biography of Ravensbruck beginning at the beginning and ending at the end, piecing the broken story back together again as best I could'. The death toll from the camp is unknown, but is estimated to be somewhere between 30,000 and 90,000.
Helm's writing style is immensely readable, and her research meticulous. If This is a Woman is such a well paced account, and the author never shies away from demonstrating how harrowing the conditions were, and how horrific the injuries and deaths which many within Ravensbruck faced. In trying to tell the individual stories of as many women as she possibly could, both prisoners and those who guarded them, she has added an invaluable biography to the field of Holocaust and Second World War studies.
If This is a Woman won the Longman-History Today Prize, which was incredibly well deserved. One can only hope that further accolades follow. If This is a Woman is, without a doubt, one of my favourite historical studies in terms of its far-reaching material and the sensitivity which has been continually demonstrated, as well as one of my books of the year.
Only ten percent of Ravensbruck's prisoners were Jewish, contrary to a lot of other camps; the rest were arrested due to opposition to the Nazi Party, and were drawn from such groups as communists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and members of the Resistance in various European countries. There were also others deemed 'asocials', who ranged from lesbians to Gypsies. Among the prisoners were 'the cream of Europe's women', including various countesses, a former British golfing champion, and the niece of General de Gaulle.
Helm draws upon the published testimonies of Ravensbruck's prisoners, as well as seeking out those who survived the brutal conditions, and studying records of the court case which followed, aiming as it did to punish those who were in charge. Her research has been carried out impeccably, particularly considering that the majority of the papers relating to prisoners and conditions were burnt before liberation. Helm has aimed to create 'a biography of Ravensbruck beginning at the beginning and ending at the end, piecing the broken story back together again as best I could'. The death toll from the camp is unknown, but is estimated to be somewhere between 30,000 and 90,000.
Helm's writing style is immensely readable, and her research meticulous. If This is a Woman is such a well paced account, and the author never shies away from demonstrating how harrowing the conditions were, and how horrific the injuries and deaths which many within Ravensbruck faced. In trying to tell the individual stories of as many women as she possibly could, both prisoners and those who guarded them, she has added an invaluable biography to the field of Holocaust and Second World War studies.
If This is a Woman won the Longman-History Today Prize, which was incredibly well deserved. One can only hope that further accolades follow. If This is a Woman is, without a doubt, one of my favourite historical studies in terms of its far-reaching material and the sensitivity which has been continually demonstrated, as well as one of my books of the year.
fionnbharr's review
5.0
I think this is a book everyone should read as none of these women, or what happened to them in Ravensbruck, should be forgotten.
More...