Ravensbrück Women’s Concentration Camp – History and Remembrance
Permanent exhibition at the Ravensbrück National Memorial
Held in the building erected in 1940 that housed the camp commandant’s office, the main exhibition details the history of the concentration camp over two floors. In 34 rooms, which once served as office rooms, visitors find out about the fates of the prisoners, daily life in the camp and prisoner society. Murders, widespread deaths and medical experiments conducted at Ravensbrück Concentration Camp are all documented.
PROJECT DETAILS
- Client: Brandenburg Memorials Foundation
- Display space: approx. 1300 m2
- Completion: April 2013
- Collaboration partners: Arnd Criegee, Anat Frumkin
- Cooperation: Zolghadri GmbH - LICHT Technik Design
SERVICES
- Design concept
- Exhibition graphics
- Implementation planning
- Construction management
- Cost control
Beyond the history of the women’s concentration camp, the exhibition also addresses the history of the men’s camp, which was set up at the site in 1941, as well as that of Uckermark “youth protection camp” and the numerous satellite camps that were added between 1942 and 1945, symbolic of slave labour, exploitation, and the involvement of Ravensbrück in the Nazi armaments industry. The site’s post-history, remembrance and retrospection round off this mammoth topic.
The exhibition pays tribute to the people imprisoned here and their suffering. Maintaining this focus in the commandant’s building, which is used within the context of the exhibition both as an exhibit in itself and as a synonym for perpetration, while also visibly countering the dominance of its architecture and the severity of the crimes through the modest, delicate display system was not without its challenges.
Fotos: © Olaf M. Teßmer, Berlin | © creaspace, FRERICHS GLAS GmbH
More than 500 exhibits, many of which are extremely small and all of which differ in terms of material and conservational needs, assume a strong narrative voice in this dramatic interplay. Based on sketches, portraits and interviews with contemporary witnesses, individual experiences merge into a consolidated display presenting a multitude of voices. At the same time, the subtlety of the design lends prominence to the memories contained within the objects, images and stories.