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

Violette Lecoq

1912 - 2003 France. Worked for the Red Cross as a nurse from 1939 on. She was active in the French Resistance and helped French soldiers to escape, but she was betrayed and arrested by the Gestapo, and then deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1943. Because she spoke German, she worked as a nurse at the Tbc-block. In April 1945 she could be evacuated by the Swedish Red Cross. The drawings she had made in Ravensbrück were used as evidence in court after the war, for example in the Ravensbrück Trials in Hamburg in 1946/47 against members of the security staff of the Ravensbrück concentration camp.

Jeanne Letourneau

1895 - 1979 Angers, France. Studied art in Paris and then worked as a drawing teacher at a girls' school in Angers. Jeanne Letourneau was arrested on March 13, 1943 and deported to Ravensbrück as a "political" prisoner. In February 1945, she was transferred to the Rechlin subcamp, and in 1945, shortly before liberation, she was returned to Ravensbrück. "I weighed 33 kilograms and was 80 years old," she wrote about her physical condition at the time of her liberation. After her return, she wrote an account of her time in Ravensbrück concentration camp, which she accompanied with her drawings. She taught again at the Angers high school until 1955.

Nina Jirsíková-Gurska

1910 - 1979. Dancer, costume designer and choreographer at the theater in Prague. After the ballet piece "The Fairy Tale of Dance", which the German occupiers considered a provocation in 1941, the theater was closed and Nina Jirsíková was arrested. She was deported to Ravensbrück, where she had to work in the furrier's shop and in the Siemens factory. In the camp, Nina Jirsíková drew satirical sketches and even a fashion journal, which was supposed to strengthen the will to live of the female prisoners. She also danced in secret and staged performances and plays. After 1945 she returned to Prague and worked in the theater again.

Felicie Mertens

Born 1911, Belgian, comes from a working-class family. When she was arrested and deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp, she had to leave her daughter Yvette behind. In the camp she made drawings and wrote poems. Felicie Mertens, who suffered from a serious heart condition, found shelter in the plumbers' squad. Charlotte Müller and other women working there stood up for her and helped hide her notebook of drawings. In addition to the two poems from the camp period contained in the collection "Europa u boji", there is a later published booklet of poems and drawings by her in the library of the Ravensbrück Memorial. These were written after her liberation from the concentration camp.

Suzanne Emmer-Besniée

Born in Paris in 1885. From 1909 she exhibited at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. In 1923 she married the architect Maurice Besniée, who died in 1938. Her son Jean Besniée joined the French Resistance in 1940. In July 1943, he was arrested, as was Suzanne Emmer-Besniée, apparently having denounced herself in the hope of saving her son. In January 1944 she was deported to Ravensbrück. She was 59 years old (no. 27335). Her son died in March 1944 at the age of 20 as a result of torture, even before he arrived at Buchenwald concentration camp. Despite her advanced age, Suzanne Emmer-Besniée was sent to the Rechlin satellite camp in 1945, where she was assigned to heavy earthwork. At the time of her liberation, she was physically completely exhausted, weighed about 30 kilos and had swollen legs. Shortly thereafter, she documented her terrible experiences in powerful drawings. After the war, she resumed her life in the studio, where she gave drawing lessons. She died in Paris in 1973.

France Audoul

1894 - 1977. Francine Jeanne Etiennette Audoul-Martinon was born in Lyon, where she studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. As a member of the Résistance, she was deported to Ravensbrück (No. F 27.933). With stolen scraps of paper and pencils, she was able to make 32 sketches of camp life and portraits, which she was able to hide with the help of some friends and take back to France after liberation. After 1945 she resumed her artistic activity and participated in numerous exhibitions. In 1966, the camp drawings were published in the book Ravensbrück - 150 000 femmes en enfer.