Koncentracja jako metoda wyniszczenia (Ravensbrück)
Concentration as a Method of Extermination (Ravensbrück)

Summary/Abstract: Czarnecka examines the phrase “concentration camp” and highlights the semantic lack of symmetry between the two parts. This, she argues, reflects the fact that concentration is still an understudied aspect when it comes to scholarship on camps and the records pertaining to them. Examining source materials (prisoners’ accounts) concerning FKL Ravensbrück Czarnecka tackles the problem of concentration as a method of extermination. She presents women’s experience of the camp through forced physical proximity and various aspects related to it: the homogenisation of society, the devastation of intimacy, the psychological impact of having no physical space and the way in which this deprivation affected their attitudes, the spreading of dirt and disease. The extreme concentration in Ravensbrück in 1944 and 1945 led to an extreme chaos where all structures, including camp structures, collapsed.

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