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Info / context to the poem
Over and over again, women were plunged into deep moral conflicts by forced labor in the armaments industry, since they were forced to participate in military armament and aggression against their own people at home and for the enemy. Despite the many attempts to organize and carry out sabotage in the factories, many felt their actions, which they were forced to do under constant threats to their own lives, were a betrayal of their loved ones and their nation.
Maria Rutkowska wrote: "This poem was written in the Neubrandenburg factory, where prisoners were forced to work in the armaments industry. It is dedicated to all mothers and reflects their moral agony. It is dedicated in particular to Klara Jezierska, who was executed for sabotage at Ravensbrück."
(C. Jaiser)
Subcamp Neubrandenburg
The city of Neubrandenburg in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was an important armaments production site during the Nazi era. In the Mechanischen Werkstätten (Mechanical Workshops MWN), around 6,000 prisoners had to perform forced labor for German military production. As part of the inclusion of female concentration camp prisoners from Ravensbrück, the first subcamp was built on Ihlenfelder Strasse in 1943. In 1944, a second underground camp was built in the forest south of Neubrandenburg's city limits so as not to endanger production during bombing raids. In the confined space of the "Waldbau," there were six to seven factory buildings, some above-ground structures and about five prisoner barracks, some of which were dug into the ground, in which about 2,000 female concentration camp prisoners had to live and work.
© Photo: Carsten Büttner, zeitlupe | Stadt.Geschichte & Erinnerung
Dr. phil. Constanze Jaiser
Literature scholar and theologian
Publications on the subject, include:
Poetische Zeugnisse. Gedichte aus dem Frauen-Konzentrationslager Ravensbrück. Stuttgart/Weimar 2000
Europa im Kampf 1939-1944. Internationale Poesie aus dem Frauen-Konzentrationslager Ravensbrück. Berlin 2009
Ein Schmuggelfund aus dem KZ – Erinnerung, Kunst und Menschenwürde. Berlin 2012