In 1939, the SS had the largest women’s concentration camp in the German Reich built in Ravensbrück near Fürstenberg. In 1941, a men’s camp was added, and in 1942, Uckermark “juvenile protective custody camp” was taken into operation.
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After the liberation, the Soviet Army took over much of the former concentration camp and used it as a barracks. From 1948, former prisoners attempted to preserve at least the area around the crematorium and turn it into a place of remembrance.
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The “Ravensbrück National Memorial” was opened in 1959 and was one of the GDR’s three national memorials. The bronze sculpture “Burdened Woman” (“Tragende”) was at the heart of the memorial’s design on the banks of lake Schwedt. Until 1994, the grounds of the former concentration camp were used for military purposes.
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In 1993, the Memorial became part of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation. In 2013, the new permanent exhibition “The Ravensbrück Women's Concentration Camp: History and commemoration“ was opened in the presence of former detainees.
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