It is a popular belief that people are most likely to demonstrate their deepest self, be it immeasurably bad or good, in the extreme conditions. This was certainly the case in the concentration camp Ravensbrück. Stories from this camp should never be forgotten. There, women behaved and reacted in ways that make the word “human” still sound like something to be proud of. I, myself, was privileged to meet a few of them.
Ravensbrück was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945. Many Poles who were kept there were political prisoners, arrested for their activity in the underground resistance movement. Many were very strong morally and intellectually. Since 1939, about 132,000 women and children in total from different nations were incarcerated there and it is estimated that 92,000 of them died in the camp by starvation, executions, overwork, and despair. Some inmates were used in medical experiments during which they were subjected to amputations and bone transplants or infected with gas gangrene or other bacteria. Every act of disobedience was likely to be punished by torture or death.
Yet, there were still women willing to sacrificially stand up for the others. Countless examples of their heroism could be brought up here and many of them never came to light. These below-mentioned, however, are enough to amaze us with the power of their spirit.
It is hard to imagine, but young girls formed a scout team with the motto “Survive and help others survive”, and named themselves “The Walls” (Mury) – to signify their separation from the difficult camp reality. Their work provided assistance to those in need, although any activity of this kind was officially strictly forbidden. In the blocks where the scouts lived, the individual teams were entrusted with the care of the sick and those who did not receive parcels. The scouts working in the kitchen “organized” additional food for the youngest and hardest working people. Their help was not limited to material matters. They tried to influence others with purposeful smiles and kindness. These were extremely important values in the collective life, when it was so easy to get short shorts in overcrowded blocks of flats. Their kindness often unloaded the heavy atmosphere and had a soothing effect. In spite of such unfavorable conditions, special scouting ceremonies took place, such (as the scouts promised) national feasts or Christmas.
Often the only way to provide food to starving friends was to offer their own portion which in those circumstances amounted to gigantic sacrifice. Some were even willing to give their life for one another. In her book “And I’m afraid of dreams”, Dr. Wanda Półtawska (Ravensbrück’s prisoner and close friend of pope John Paul II) recalls Władysława Dąbrowska, who necessarily wanted to swap numbers with her younger colleagues to save them from going to death. She said that they must survive and testify about the bestial experiments to which they were subjected. She explained that she was already “old” (in fact, she was 36) and even came up with the idea that she had cancer just to make it easier for them to agree to the swap.
After the camp’s liberation, Kamila Sycz stayed there to take care of the sick, even though the whole area was said to have been mined. She knew that this could, in all probability, mean death after all the torments she had endured in previous years. Luckily, she survived but never called herself a hero, insisting that all she did was help those who were even more vulnerable.
“Lilies grow even in the swamp” – said blessed Natalia Tułasiewicz, a teacher who had been killed in Ravensbrück just before the war ended. She couldn’t have a better proof to support her words.
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