In the summer of 1999, I travelled to Germany for a volunteer project. Our group, known as the "International Work Camp" was coordinated by Council Travel of the US and the German Organization, Vereinigung Junger Freiwilliger. We had people in our camp from the US, Finland, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Austria, France and Germany. Some of our expenses were sponsored and funds raised by the mens political anti-fascist group, Kreisverbandes Bundes der Antifaschisten and the Gedenkstatte Ravensbruck. It was their hope that students from around the world could come together and build the ex-concentration camp, Retzow, into a memorial and educational path. Our group was a rennovative, archeological and study-part, volunteer effort.

Our work camp was in the Federal State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Deutchsland. The city or village was Rechlin and the town was Boeck. We camped on the south bank of the Muritz See. Our accomodations were modest.

For 3 weeks, we lived in tents provided by the German Civil Service Department, we ate most foods that would not parish--since I dont eat meat, that meant that I had to gain an affinity for tomato and cucumber on bread--for most lunches and dinners. We were provided one token daily which gave 3 minutes of warm shower water. The shower area was a community bathroom of our--privacy was only a memory at this point.

We had to cyle on really, really old bikes, around 18 miles per day roundtrip to and fro Retzow. About 14 miles of the ride was through dirt pathways with potholes and tons of small rocks. When we arrived each day at Retzow, we worked for 6-8 hours. My favorite tool became the pick axe--for which I became most handy at using! We were all severely bitten by mosquito's--some of the girls had bleeding scabs from the bites. Some of the girls contracted poison ivy--I told them what it was, but, for the most part, they think Americans are kind of dumb. Even though I felt more exhausted than I had ever been in my life, I never once felt the urge to complain.

Before I tell you more about my experience, I want to give a brief background on the concentration camps Retzow and Ravensbruck. In Germany, they refer to a concentration camp as a KZ--Konzentrationslager. In present day Germany, these ex-KZ's are now museums and memorials--Gedenkstatte.

The KZ-Ravensbruck was the largest concentration camp for women. It was built in 1938 by male inmates from the KZ-Sachsenhausen. The camp opened in 1939 and women from the KZ-Sachesenhausen and the KZ-Auschwitz were transported to Ravensbruck. In Ravensbruck, prisoners were exploited through forced labor for the war effort--to include production for companies like Siemens and Heinkel. Eventually, the camp housed people from all over Europe--132,000 women and children, 20,000 men and 1,000 female youths from custody camps. Although Ravensbruck was not an extermination/death camp, over 92,000 of the inmates died there between 1939 and 1945. The reasons for death were: disease, starvation, exhaustion, medical experiments, beatings, shootings and later, the gas chamber. When the gas chamber was installed in 1944, 5-6000 inmates were immediately exterminated. On April 30th,1945, the Red Army liberated the prisoners left in the camp and also those who were on the infamous Death March.

There were 70 known sub-camps, or satellite camps of Ravensbruck. One of those camps was Nebenslager-Retzow. Retzow used to be a barrack-camp for German Air Force soldiers. In 1944, the Allies bombed the near-by Air Force Base, Rechlin. A tremendous amount of damage occurred to the base. It was decided to convert Retzow into a sub-camp of Ravensbruck. Women were transported from Ravensbruck to do hard labor. They were forced to clear the remains of destroyed military buildings and dig ground to secure the Air Force Base Rechlin. The women who could not withstand the hard work were transported back to Ravensbruck for extermination. It is estimated that 2000 women were inmates at Retzow. In the last few weeks of the war, Retzow became a reception camp for inmates from Auschwitz. On May 2nd, 1945, 2 days after Ravensbruck was liberated by the Red Army, so was Retzow--along with the women from Retzow who were also on the Death March.

As I had mentioned earlier, our group was working at Retzow. For the archeology part, we unearthed the foundations of barracks, piping, entrances, toilets and SS bunkers. We had to carfefully document each finding through diagrams and charts. The importance is historical since not much is known about Retzow. The documentation also aids in coordinating with surviving inmate testimonies. Sometimes I felt guilty as I stood upon the same ground where others survived miserably or died. My guilt was in thinking that perhaps I will get some disease by touching the remnants of the barracks or the soil from the area. Or, perhaps the lice had remained dormant and I would get these bugs on me. These thoughts quickly passed and I continued on with my work.

For the rennovative part, we removed weeds, brush, vines, etc., in order to make an educational path for visitors to the site. This was the most difficult work by far. Often I would stop and use all of my senses to try and pick up something from the past. Could I hear what they heard, smell what they smelled, feel what they felt? No, all I could hear was the wind whisping thru the trees leaves and smell the smell of the summer fields. I could stop and take a break, drink water, eat an apple, smoke a ciggarette--all without being beaten or shot. During the 2nd week, I came down with an awful cold--so bad that I was dizzy and faint. I chose to continue to work. I tried to imagine feeling 10 times worse and having to work 10 times as hard--even then, Im sure I still didnt get it.

One thing that I I could imagine was the stench of the rotting straw sacks that the inmates had to use for bedding. There was a dairy on the way to Retzow and each day we would ride past--all I could smell was the rotting bails of hay. It was so revolting that I did the dry heave thing for the first two days, while riding by. Trying to imagine what the stench of diarreah and vomit would be similar to--my closest guess would be like entering into most gas station (and I use the term loosely) restrooms.

The study part consisted of learning about the camps, Nazi-Germany, current day problems with racism and neo-fascism. We met with time witnesses; Some resisters and one survivor--Frau Tattenbaum. Mrs. Tattenbaum was imprisoned at Ravensbruck for the crime of being ½ Jewish by ethnicity. She was used in a medical experiment, but would not discuss it with us. It did something to her feet--she still has pain even today. She talked about the towns people of Furstenburg spitting and throwing rocks at her and the rest of the inmates when they walked to and from their worksite. She kept saying intermittantly that she was not political..."Im not political, I'm not political". I could still feel her fear. I was enraged that this demon would haunt her forever--she will never be totally free. She said that she still doesnt know why she was spared and why the others were not. Sometimes she feels very guilty for being one of the prisoners that lived. She prefers to be called an ex-prisoner and not a survivor. But, to me she was and is a survivor--she is a beautiful woman with a beautiful heart.

I was surprised by the amount of media attention that our work camp was getting. There were several newspapers doing stories about our camp, radio news reporters, TV news reporters. Even the Landtagsprasident and the Stadtprasidenten came to meet our group at the Retzow site. One day, a highschool group of kids came to help us with our work. Everyone seemed so interested and supportive--or so it seemed.

Appearantly, the homes directly accross the street from the memorial Retzow were old SS Officer housing and some of the relatives and descendents of those officers still resided there. They wanted us to leave the land alone and told us so when they asked what we were doing there. Part of the land on the memorial is now owned by a farmer and he told us in no uncertain terms that we had better not disturb his portion of the land. It is unfortunate because one old bunker and one barracks foundation is on his land. I dont think that the state will be able to acquire it from him--not even under the pretense of the memorial. One day, my friend Martin and I were digging a hole in which to put a sign--directing people to the memorial from the street. Suddenly and abruptly, two German police officers speed up to us and asked in a stern voice what we were doing. Appearantly, one of the townspeople prom Retzow called them to stop our efforts. The poleitzei were done questioning us and allowed us to continue our work.

For the duration of our work camp, I became very good friends with Martin, he was a Civil Servant assigned to work at Ravensbruck and help our group. He invited me to come and stay in his flat at the end of our work camp. He was living on the site of the ex-KZ Ravensbruck. The first night at his flat, we went into town, had dinner and went to a festival. On the way back to his flat, we had to walk down the main entrance road of Ravensbruck. It was so dark and eery! This is where the new prisoners were accepted into the camp--their first site to the camp. At the main gate, a security officer had to let us in. The security is tight because there is a problem with the neo-nazis desecrating memorials of this type in Germany. When we entered, I looked to the left and saw the old SS high ranking officer housing. One window in a house was broken and a tattered drape swayed in the wind as a ghost--it sent chills down my spine.

People kept asking why I went to do this project. They said, "You're not Jewish, why do you care?" They said, "that kind of thing wont ever happen again, did you just go to see it?" My response; no, Im not Jewish but do I have to be--to care? Besides, there were many other people that were imprisoned and exterminated that were not just Jewish. My response--tell me in a logical argument why it could not happen again? My response--part of the answer of my soul comes in the form of the following quote by a German Pastor, Martin Niemoeller, who spent 8 years in Hitlers prisons: He wrote:

"In Germany, they came first for the Communists and I didnt speak up because I wasnt a Communist. Then, they came for the Jews, and I didnt speak up because I wasnt a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didnt speak up because I was a Protestant. And, then, they came for me, and by that time, no one was left to speak up."

By: Patricia M G M