Women Concentration Camp Memorial Ravensbrueck by train, full-day

Train ride to Fuerstenberg at the Havel river
A ~1-hour ride by regional train to the spa town
En route, you will get an introduction to the Third Reich’s expanding concentration camp system.
Hundreds of different camps were constructed – only a few were for women.

Bizarre: Spa Town in stunning nature beside the camp
We will pass through Fürstenberg/Havel located at a lakeside opposite the camp's location. It was highly visible to locals and tourists—especially on days when smoke rose from the crematorium.
A dark and nightmarish place in the middle of stunning nature.

Visit the commandant’s villa
The former commandant's villa on the hilltop marks the start of the memorial site tour. He lived here with his wife and children—an idyllic family life right beside the terror camp.
Brainwashed minds felt no mercy.

Enter the incredibly large main camp area
The roll-call square lies at the center of the vast camp complex.
You will get an impression of the tremendous size of the camp, which was built to imprison tens of thousands of women.
We'll see where dozens of barracks once stood, the site of the SS canteen, and factory halls on the horizon—home to up to 50,000 imprisoned women at its peak. By far the largest concentration camp for women.

Inside the detention prison
The next stop is inside this huge building. Some very famous “special prisoners” were held here. It was as well used for punishments. Like solitary confinement in total darkness for weeks.

Wall of Nations – so many different victim groups
Once the visual barrier between the camp and the town, today it is a central part of the memorial and culture of remembrance.
Over 120,000 women and children from 30+ nations—including Poles, Soviets, French, and Jews—were imprisoned here between 1939 and 1945. Here is space for various forms of commemoration

Feel impressed by “The Bearing” memorial for Olga
A monument on a tall column looking over the beautiful lake towards the idyllic town.
See the impressive sculpture commemorating Olga Benario-Prestes, a German-Brazilian communist and resistance fighter.
It is a stark accusation across the lake towards the town.
It shows her carrying a collapsed fellow prisoner after forced reed-cutting labor by Schwedtsee lake.
It symbolizes resistance and solidarity among international women prisoners.

The horrifying site of the shooting wall and the adjacent crematorium. Mass muder happened here especially towards the end of the war.

Depressing testimonies: shooting wall and crematorium
Next, we visit the horrifying site of the shooting wall and the adjacent crematorium.
Mass killings took place here as well, increasing dramatically toward the end of the war.

Original former staff houses of the female guards
Although the world initially did not want to believe it – women can also be terrible perpetrators.
A quite shocking learning for the world after liberation.
You will see how they lived a relatively comfortable life directly beside the camp.
You will learn who these women were, what motivated them, and what happened to them after the war.

Go into the huge former command fortress
The former camp headquarters, which now houses an excellent museum and documentation center.
Get an introduction in this massive building and learn about the White Buses.

Time for individual exploration – or just relaxing
You will have some time to explore the main exhibition in the former command building as well as the site on your own. You can follow the hints introduced during the tour.

Let’s go back to Berlin
The tour ends with the return journey by train to Berlin Central Station..