The extraordinary true story of a small group of Frenchwomen, all Resistance members, who banded together in a notorious all female concentration camp to defy the Nazis and stay alive—from the New York Times bestselling author of Madame Fourcade's Secret War
Decades after the end of World War II, the name Ravensbrück still evokes horror in the minds of those who know about this infamous all-women’s concentration camp. Particularly shocking was the discovery that sometimes-lethal medical experiments were performed on some of the inmates. Ravensbrück was atypical in other ways as well, not just as the only all-female German concentration camp, but because 80% of them were political prisoners. Among them was a tight-knit group of women who had been active in the French Resistance.
Already well-practiced in sabotaging the Nazi occupation of France, these women joined forces to defy their German captors and keep each other alive. Calling themselves the maquis (guerillas) of Ravensbrück, the sisterhood’s members, amid unimaginable terror and brutality, subverted Germany’s war effort by refusing to do the work they were assigned. Knowing that they risked death for any infraction did not stop them from defying their SS tormentors at every turn—even staging a satirical musical revue about the horrors of the camp.
After the war, when many in France wanted nothing more than to focus on the future and forget about those who’d resisted the enemy, the women from Ravensbrück refused to allow their achievements, needs, and sacrifices to be erased. They banded together once more, first to support one another in healing their bodies and minds, and then to continue their crusade for women's rights—an effort that would result in important political and financial recognition for female Resistance members and war victims, and for all French women, finally gaining the right to vote.
Lynne Olson is the New York Times bestselling author of Madame Fourcade’s Secret War, Last Hope Island, Those Angry Days, and Citizens of London. She has been a consulting historian for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. She lives in Washington, D.C.
To inquire about booking Lynne Olson for a speaking engagement, please contact the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau at speakers@penguinrandomhouse.com.View titles by Lynne Olson
The extraordinary true story of a small group of Frenchwomen, all Resistance members, who banded together in a notorious all female concentration camp to defy the Nazis and stay alive—from the New York Times bestselling author of Madame Fourcade's Secret War
Decades after the end of World War II, the name Ravensbrück still evokes horror in the minds of those who know about this infamous all-women’s concentration camp. Particularly shocking was the discovery that sometimes-lethal medical experiments were performed on some of the inmates. Ravensbrück was atypical in other ways as well, not just as the only all-female German concentration camp, but because 80% of them were political prisoners. Among them was a tight-knit group of women who had been active in the French Resistance.
Already well-practiced in sabotaging the Nazi occupation of France, these women joined forces to defy their German captors and keep each other alive. Calling themselves the maquis (guerillas) of Ravensbrück, the sisterhood’s members, amid unimaginable terror and brutality, subverted Germany’s war effort by refusing to do the work they were assigned. Knowing that they risked death for any infraction did not stop them from defying their SS tormentors at every turn—even staging a satirical musical revue about the horrors of the camp.
After the war, when many in France wanted nothing more than to focus on the future and forget about those who’d resisted the enemy, the women from Ravensbrück refused to allow their achievements, needs, and sacrifices to be erased. They banded together once more, first to support one another in healing their bodies and minds, and then to continue their crusade for women's rights—an effort that would result in important political and financial recognition for female Resistance members and war victims, and for all French women, finally gaining the right to vote.
Lynne Olson is the New York Times bestselling author of Madame Fourcade’s Secret War, Last Hope Island, Those Angry Days, and Citizens of London. She has been a consulting historian for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. She lives in Washington, D.C.
To inquire about booking Lynne Olson for a speaking engagement, please contact the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau at speakers@penguinrandomhouse.com.View titles by Lynne Olson
