Inside horrifying Nazi death camp for women where prisoners were injected with petrol and infected with syphilis in warped human experiments… and then raped by their liberators

The communicative of Ravensbruck, nan only Nazi attraction campy exclusively for women, has agelong remained connected nan margins of Nazi history.

56 miles northbound of Berlin and surrounded by a conifer wood and a glistening bluish lake, Ravensbruck was concealed by 15 ft gangly walls topped pinch barbed wire. 

For six years, nan camp's inmates were subjected to immoderate of nan astir sadistic quality experiments 1 could imagine, and treated arsenic quality guinea pigs for immoderate of history's astir depraved war crimes.

Today, nan camp's rickety woody barracks are agelong gone, and each that remains is simply a hauntingly quiet field. 

But 80 years on, nan horrific crimes and uncomfortable truths enacted location connected an estimated 132,000 women mostly spell unspoken. 

Worked to death, starved, beaten, hanged, shot, gassed and moreover poisoned is what nan thousands of inmates that passed Ravensbruck's gates endured.

More than 20 per cent of nan full situation organization were Jewish women, and nan remainder were 'inferior beings', classified by Hitler's Third Reich arsenic degenerates - Gypsies, guidance fighters, Jehova's Witnesses, governmental enemies, prostitutes, nan sick, abnormal and 'mad' women. 

They came from much than 20 countries including Hungary, France, Holland, nan Soviet Union and Britain.

Inside nan barrack blocks, which were ridden by disease, nan women were tightly crammed together and made to emergence arsenic early arsenic 3 successful nan morning, and forced to guidelines for hours successful their bladed striped uniforms during nan icy German winter. 

Treated arsenic if they were animals, galore women were herded disconnected to activity arsenic slaves, lugging dense rocks, sewing subject uniforms and making electrical equipment. 

Ravensbruck, which opened successful 1939, had been designed to termination its inhabitants. Those who were excessively sick aliases excessively exhausted to activity were 'selected' for extermination. 

The sounds of gunshots from nan woods that embattled nan campy would people a caller motion of executions.

In fact, conscionable a fewer years ago, remains of Polish women killed successful Ravensbruck were discovered astatine a adjacent cemetery successful bluish Germany by a squad from Poland's Institute of National Remembrance. Nine urns and 2 metallic plaques were uncovered, believed to incorporate nan remains of nan women who had been killed astatine a tract adjacent nan attraction camp.

Also, Himmelfahrt, aliases 'heaven-bound' trucks would regularly get astatine nan campy - collecting groups of women to return them to chartless destinations. 

These would later move retired to beryllium nan state chambers of concealed Nazi extermination centers successful Germany and Austria. 

Behind nan hellhole connected world that was Ravensbruck was Head of nan SS Heinrich Himmler.

The camp's conditions took a darker move arsenic he encouraged spine-chilling aesculapian experiments.

Overseeing these unspeakable studies was nan camp's sadistic doctor, Walter Sonntag. 

He began testing ways of sidesplitting disconnected prisoners - injecting petrol aliases phenol into their veins was his preferred method. 

He is besides said to person enjoyed extracting patient teeth of nan female prisoners without anesthetic.

Instructed by Himmler himself, Sonntag looked for a measurement for soldiers to person intersexual intercourse successful brothels without contracting venereal diseases. 

The reason? Himmler believed that regular activity made for amended soldiers. 

So, nan expert experimented connected prostitutes successful Ravensbruck successful hunt of a cure for sexually transmitted diseases for illustration syphilis and gonorrhoea.

No records stay of really these warped quality experiments were carried out, though everyone successful nan campy was alert they were happening. 

Those who survived, however, are impervious of nan atrocity. 

There is patient grounds of a bid of nan macabre aesculapian tests that began successful nan summertime of 1942. 

86 women were selected for these experiments, which involved cutting into and infecting their limb bones and muscles pinch viruses, arsenic good arsenic cutting nerves and introducing pieces of wood aliases solid into tissues, and fracturing bones. 

74 of nan women utilized successful these experiments were Polish.

Another group of experiments studied nan anticipation of transplanting bones from 1 inmate excessively another. 

Called by nan Nazis 'Kaninchen', aliases 'rabbits', 5 women died arsenic a consequence of nan aesculapian trials.  Six pinch unhealed wounds were executed, and nan remainder survived pinch imperishable beingness damage. 

Between 120 and 140 Romani women were besides sterilized successful nan camp.

Survivors, Maria Broel-Plater, Władysława Karolewska, and Maria Kuśmierczuk went connected to attest against Nazi doctors astatine nan Doctor's Trial successful 1946, which aimed to bring starring German physicians who participated successful Nazi warfare crimes to justice. 

Also, astatine nan tallness of Hitler's Holocaust, arsenic millions were being murdered successful Nazi decease camps, 4 daring young women risked their lives to expose nan twisted experiments Nazi scientists were conducting connected campy inmates. 

The sordid specifications of nan experiments were broadcast to nan world aft nan women sent coded letters to their families successful which they described their horrific curen successful invisible ink concocted from their ain urine.

One of these Second World War heroines was a Polish female called Krystyna Czyz whose hometown of Lublin was invaded by German troops successful September 1939 erstwhile she was conscionable 15 years old.

In 1941, aft torturous interrogation from Gestapo officers who suspected her family of disobedience, she was taken to nan Ravensbruck. 

The pursuing twelvemonth and nether nan supervision of Karl Gebhardt, nan individual expert to SS leader Heinrich Himmler, Nazi doctors began dragging inmates into their laboratories to behaviour sick aesculapian tests.

Among nan 74 quality subjects was Krystyna and 3 different women called Wanda Wijtasik, Janina Iwaska and her sister Krystyna Iwaska.

All 4 of them suffered excruciating symptom astatine nan hands of nan camp's physicians who punctured their soma pinch shards of unwashed surgery solid to deliberately origin them infection.

Although their ain individual trauma was unbearable, nan women resolved to find a measurement to select nan sordid specifications of nan camp's experiments retired into nan world.

Yet they were only allowed to nonstop 1 missive to their families each period and nan contented would beryllium heavy censored truthful that only messages reporting a bully campy life would beryllium permitted to walk from nan compound.

But nan women hatched an ingenious scheme to constitute hidden messages into their letters which would not beryllium spotted by nan campy guards.

They realised that if they dipped their scribing instrumentality successful urine, nan words would quickly vanish from nan page arsenic nan liquid loses its colour.

However, erstwhile nan urine is heated up it reappears and frankincense reveals nan words connected nan page.

Between 1943 and 1944, nan women risked their lives to nonstop 27 of these letters successful nan dream of highlighting nan sick maltreatment of campy inmates to nan world.

But their scheme relied connected their families figuring retired nan dull letters contained a coded connection and discovering really to decipher nan existent meaning. And by immoderate miracle, they did. 

On May 1944, much than a twelvemonth aft nan first coded missive was sent, nan contents of nan women's messages were broadcast to nan world.

An English power bulletin said: 'In nan attraction campy for women successful Ravensbruck, nan announcer said nan Germans are committing caller crimes.

'The women successful this campy are being submitted to vivisection experiments and are being operated connected for illustration rabbits.'

In 1945, erstwhile nan camp's conditions could't perchance get immoderate worse, Himmler decided that Ravensbruck should person its ain state chamber. 

The campy had go overcrowded to breaking constituent and he needed abstraction for much prisoners. 

A impermanent enclosure was built conscionable extracurricular nan campy wall, wherever women - up to 150 astatine a clip - were pushed inside, earlier a canister of state would beryllium sucked in. 

The gassing of inmates continued up until nan extremity of nan war. Over 1 play alone, 2,500 women were killed successful nan chambers. 

The purpose was to destruct grounds of what occurred wrong nan hellish campy earlier nan Allies arrived. Prisoner files were burned, on pinch their bodies. 

But location were still thousands of women near connected tract connected April 30, 1945, erstwhile nan surviving inmates woke up to nan roar of Russian artillery. 

While SS guards fled, nan Ravensbruck women faced a caller scary - rape. 

After entering Germany territory, nan Russian Red Army engaged successful a intersexual rampage, and this did not exclude nan starved inmates - a last humiliation to nan courageous women who had survived nan Nazi decease camp.

After nan war, Nazi warfare crime tests were held successful 1946 against 16 Ravensbruck attraction campy unit and officials. All of them were recovered guilty. 

Some 3,5000 women guards had worked successful Ravensbruck complete six gruesome years. Inflexible harshness towards prisoners had been expected from nan guards, who accepted without mobility nan campy accuracy that nan prisoners were a load connected nan Fatherland.

The crimes they were accused of were truthful gruesome that 1 of nan prosecutors was physically sick erstwhile he first publication done nan evidence. 

Sonntag, who had carried retired nan horrifying experiments connected nan female inmates, was convicted of warfare crimes and executed successful 1948.