Historical Perspectives

The 80th anniversary of the liberation by the Red Army of the iconic concentration camps of Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen was celebrated in the presence of a dozen survivors of the Nazi hell. The largest number of women deported to Ravensbrück came from Eastern European countries, which were classified as Slavic subhuman countries. While the Ravensbrück camp was converted into barracks, those in Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald became special camps, set up in May 1945 in the SBZ (Soviet occupation zone in East Germany). Officially, this was to cleanse the rear of the Red Army of enemy elements, but in reality it was to deport, without trial, any opponents considered potential enemies. In these Spezlag camps, prisoners were slaves cut off from the world. In these camps of silence, more than 1,100,000 people died and were buried in mass graves or cremated before the USSR transferred them to the GDR. Some, such as the Bautzen concentration camp, served as prison annexes for the STASI (‘Stasi-Knast’) until the fall of the Wall.