The Memorial’s collections – archive, library, repository, photograph and media collection – are ideally suited for research. They were started in 1958/1959, when the first camp museum was being established at the cell building. Former prisoners donated many objects from the time of their imprisonment, including drawings, miniatures and letters.
The collections include archival stocks and museum exhibits relating to the women’s camp, the men’s camp and the Uckermark “juvenile protective custody camp”, personal effects of individual former prisoners as well as documents on the history of the Memorial.
The collections focus on the history of the Ravensbrück concentration camp during and after the war, particularly in relation to women’s and gender studies issues, and they are always being expanded. The Memorial’s reference library contains specialist literature as well as numerous interviews with survivors.
