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Camp Brothel

Beginning in July 1943, the SS forced female inmates from the women's concentration camp in Ravensbrück to work as prostitutes in the camp brothel. By the cynical calculations of the SS, the sexual exploitation of the women would increase the work performance of male inmates.

View of the so-called Sonderbau, a simple wooden barracks in which the SS had set up the camp brothel. From the inside, curtains are halfway up the windows.
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Barracks of the camp brothel, 1943. Photo: identification service of the Buchenwald concentration camp. ©Musée de la Résistance et de la Déportation, Besançon
View into one of the sleeping rooms of the camp shelf. On the left is a padded sleeping cot. Small pictures hang on the wall. In the back you can see a window with a plant arrangement in front of it. Above the window is a hanging plant in a pot that is attached to the ceiling.View into one of the sleeping rooms of the camp shelf. On the left is a padded sleeping cot. Small pictures hang on the wall. In the back you can see a window with a plant arrangement in front of it. Above the window is a hanging plant in a pot that is attached to the ceiling.
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Dormitory, camp brothel. Photo: SS photography, 1943. Musée de la Resistance et de la Deportation, Besançon
The picture shows concrete slabs and a metal grid embedded in the ground. At the edge between trees is an information sign.
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The location of the camp brothel was not marked until the 1990s, 2022. Photo: Lukas Severin Damm. ©Buchenwald Memorial

Surrounded by a wooden fence, the "Prisoner Special Building", as the SS called it, differed from the other barracks in the camp. With curtains and flowers, it appeared pleasantly furnished. This stood in sharp contrast to the suffering endured by the women here. The SS had selected over a dozen women from Ravensbrück, promising them better food, a portion of the earnings, and early release. Each had to service an average of five men every day.

The establishment of brothels in concentration camps was part of an award system for enhancing inmate productivity. Award certificates could be used to purchase additional food and necessary items or to pay for a visit to the brothel. Only a few, usually those from the group of already privileged prisoner functionaries, received discounts.

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