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Ravensbruck
Ravensbruck: Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women | Sarah Helm
A masterly and moving account of the most horrific hidden atrocity of World War II: Ravensbrck, the only Nazi concentration camp built for women On a sunny morning in May 1939 a phalanx of 867 womenhousewives, doctors, opera singers, politicians, prostituteswas marched through the woods fifty miles north of Berlin, driven on past a shining lake, then herded in through giant gates. Whipping and kicking them were scores of German women guards. Their destination was Ravensbrck, a concentration camp designed specifically for women by Heinrich Himmler, prime architect of the Holocaust. By the end of the war 130,000 women from more than twenty different European countries had been imprisoned there; among the prominent names were Genevive de Gaulle, General de Gaulles niece, and Gemma La Guardia Gluck, sister of the wartime mayor of New York. Only a small number of these women were Jewish; Ravensbrck was largely a place for the Nazis to eliminate other inferior beingssocial outcasts, Gypsies, political enemies, foreign resisters, the sick, the disabled, and the mad. Over six years the prisoners endured beatings, torture, slave labor, starvation, and random execution. In the final months of the war, Ravensbrck became an extermination camp. Estimates of the final death toll by April 1945 have ranged from 30,000 to 90,000. For decades the story of Ravensbrck was hidden behind the Iron Curtain, and today it is still little known. Using testimony unearthed since the end of the Cold War and interviews with survivors who have never talked before, Sarah Helm has ventured into the heart of the camp, demonstrating for the reader in riveting detail how easily and quickly the unthinkable horror evolved. Far more than a catalog of atrocities, however, Ravensbrck is also a compelling account of what one survivor called the heroism, superhuman tenacity, and exceptional willpower to survive. For every prisoner whose strength failed, another found the will to resist through acts of self-sacrifice and friendship, as well as sabotage, protest, and escape. While the core of this book is told from inside the camp, the story also sheds new light on the evolution of the wider genocide, the impotence of the world to respond, and Himmlers final attempt to seek a separate peace with the Allies using the women of Ravensbrck as a bargaining chip. Chilling, inspiring, and deeply unsettling, Ravensbrck is a groundbreaking work of historical investigation. With rare clarity, it reminds us of the capacity of humankind both for bestial cruelty and for courage against all odds. From the Hardcover edition.
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Big Bad Wolf came to Taiwan for the first time. Most people came for kids' books and here are all I got. Why is it that they are able to sell books at such a low price?

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Bookdragon69
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Pickpick

Heartbreaking and horrifying but should be read by every woman. It‘s a shame that this book and stories of these women are not known more. The killing, even to the very end, even after Hitler is dead and they are surrounded by the Russians and Allies, is something I will never understand.
There is no comparison to what happened to them.
Makes me proud and scared(because it it a mans world most of the time) to be a woman.

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Sophoclessweetheart
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Big bookmail today! And so many pretty HBs too! Four of these are arcs I‘ve received for review but the end two are just treats, because. 💛 Ursula Flight is an arc I won on Readers First. The other three are from Allison and Busby- fast becoming a favourite publisher for all the historical fiction! Spy anything good? #bookhaul #bookmail #booklover #arc #bookblogger #bookish #bibliophile #wwII #wwI #17thcentury #holocaust #shoah

RaimeyGallant Score! 7y
Sophoclessweetheart @RaimeyGallant Thank you so much 😊 7y
ephemeralwaltz Nice haul!! 7y
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Sophoclessweetheart @ephemeralwaltz Thank you Clara 😁💛 7y
Jess7 The cover of the tattooist is soooo pretty! 😍😍 7y
tammysue Nice! 💜 7y
Sophoclessweetheart @Jess7 @whatshesreadingnow Thank you 😊 They‘re all pretty and blue 😹 7y
40 likes1 stack add7 comments
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lmcd
Pickpick

This is a horrific and vivid account, but so well done. I am in awe of these women. This is such an important piece of women‘s history. Sarah Helm wrote a thoroughly engrossing book about a nearly unimaginable crime committed by so many. Yes, it is hard to read, but this should be required reading.

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dragondrool

Bought this and a mystery from the bargain table. And then I got home to find my 20% Off coupons in the mail. Guess I'll have to sacrifice and browse the bookstore again. 😃

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BookishFeminist
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Today is #HolocaustRemembranceDay.

Never forget. Never say it can't happen again. 🌹✡️

Here are some nonfiction books about the brave survivors and resistors during the Holocaust. It's some of the most harrowing stuff you will ever read, but incredibly important.

Hollie I will be at the Holocaust museum in about 3 hours. These are excellent books you've chosen for your post! 8y
Bookgirl Didn't even know and just bought Night yesterday. 8y
Cinfhen Thanks for posting and sharing 💔 8y
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Chrissyreadit Important list. Vital today. 8y
Broke_Girl_Reads Another incredible holocaust memoir is (edited) 8y
Shortstack I've got Maus II on hold at the library right now 8y
Oldschool_millenial Read vol. 1 of Maus b/c banned book (in addition to holocaust memoir). Yet to read vol. 2. This book is a survival story from the Bosnian Holocaust. The author/illustrator was one of Dad's art teachers/mentors, and the survivor (+ family) in the story is that teacher's friend. Small world. 8y
meichner87 Ravensbrück is so well-written. Sarah Helm did an amazing job there. 8y
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Fantasyfan
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This is my current #slowread I started it in December and am about 40% of the way through. It's so good but very dense and hard to read in big chunks.

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lmcd
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Have been working on this book for a while. It is excellent, but difficult to read/process. Have to step away from it periodically and come back once I've steeled myself a bit.

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Fantasyfan
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My current read. I thought it might be a little dark for Christmas time but it is more upfront and historical. And REALLY interesting. Going much faster than I thought it would.

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Alisnazzy
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66 books isn't too bad, when most of them were nonfiction and a certain son of mine became more mobile and more vocal 😅 Books and Litsy definitely helped keep me from completely losing it in 2016.

James 👍👏😀 8y
LauraBeth Not bad at all! 👏⭐ 8y
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DFrancie
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emmedeiros10
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Alisnazzy
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Pickpick

This book will haunt you in a way where you want to hold your loved ones tightly. You will learn about the other groups of prisoners who were targeted by the Third Reich, groups that are usually ignored by mainstream historians. It's a book that everyone needs to read, especially because of the current political climate. Read it. Now.

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Alisnazzy
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And it seems that we haven't learned from the past...

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Sad, but I am coming to the same realization myself. Just more repeating history. I'll keep my eye open for this one. 8y
Alisnazzy @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I bought this copy on New Zealand. Here in the states the title is Ravensbrück: Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp For Women. It's a must read, IMO 8y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Ambrosnazzy I already tracked it down and added it to my Goodreads list so I wouldn't forget about it or loss the title and author. It sounds very interesting and is not a story I've heard about before. 8y
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Alisnazzy @Riveted_Reader_Melissa it's so good. It's tough at times as any book about a concentration camp would be, but I think it's so important that this relatively unknown camp and the female prisoners' story is told. I wish more politicians would brush up their history 😒 8y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Ambrosnazzy Goodness Yes! I was just listening to Newt Gingrich discussing leaving NATO or 'renegotiating' our treaty's with some NATO countries that 'couldn't pull their own weight' on the CBS morning news This Morning! That any politician is considering that, & thinking about isolating the country more, is scary to me. I can only guess they don't know their history at all, but I'd rather not watch us repeat those lessons. 8y
Alisnazzy @Riveted_Reader_Melissa yup! I'm so scared for my son's future. I want to climb into his crib and just hold him and apologize for letting this happen 😔 8y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Ambrosnazzy I'm reading The New Jim Crow right now, and feeling very similar. That how did we get this bad, when did it become more widespread and not just a small group of fringe people, without more people noticing. It is really scary. We definitely need more and better education and history in schools. 8y
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Alisnazzy
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Just a little bedtime reading for my future bibliophile.

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Alisnazzy
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Front porches were made for reading. 💖

MrBook Excellent spots indeed. 8y
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Alisnazzy
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Only a third of the way through and this is already up there on the best history books I've ever read.

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Bookzombie
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Pickpick

This book is really hard to review. It took me a number of weeks to get through for many reasons. Overall, I think everyone should read this. It's not easy subject material, but it is so important for us to remember.

Bookzombie Also, I had never heard of this concentration camp until I read Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein, which I also highly recommend. 8y
remarabbit Definitely a hard read but it is a very good book. 8y
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une_abeille
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Pickpick

An amazing book. Everyone could and should read it.

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