Just So Stories

How an intrepid band of Frenchwomen resisted the Nazis in Hitler’s all-female concentration camp

Scribe Publications

July 2025

ISBN (13):9781761381461

RRP:$36.99

My confession here is that I’ve had this for ages, well and truly long before its release date, and it’s been on my bedside table as I dip in and out of it, book-cheating with less intense reads.

But, trust me on this, this is worth spending time on. For one thing, I didn’t even know that there was an all-female concentration camp. I knew, of course, that the French resistance had many female members, some of whom were captured by Nazis, some of whom were murdered by Nazis but this was, in many ways, unknown history for me. And I have no doubt that much of this would be unknown for others because, in the patriarchy that was (and still is), it was the men of the Resistance who were mostly made known after the war.

Germaine Tillion, Anise Girard, Genevieve de Gaulle, and Jacqueline d’Alincourt – these four are the main focus of this history. All were from different Resistance networks but all of them ended up in Ravensbrück which was a labour camp reserved for women.

These were not just prisoners from Resistance cells, but comprised those incarcerated for a variety of reasons: Jewish, Roma, Jehovah’s Witnesses [detect a pattern here?]… in fact, anyone deemed asocial by the Nazi regime.

As with all the Nazi camps it was a place of horror where beatings, interrogations, cruelty, deprivation and dehumanisation was the daily order. And as with all the Nazi camps, deaths were in horrendous numbers. But remarkably, these four women survived. Not only that but after the war, they came together again, and together they crafted campaigns to not only enable themselves to rise above their trauma but to present new solutions, working towards peace, to the world. And, for their efforts, were all recognised with the highest honours.

It is a demanding read, but certainly it is a worthwhile one. In the parlous times we are living in, it behoves us all to be looking to the past to see how we can possibly influence the future, which in many ways is looking bleaker than ever. It is inspirational and humbling.

I would gladly recommend it to anyone who seeks to know more about this period, or is interested in the struggle women have had for recognition – or those who seek peace in our time. 5 ✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️ rating – and, by the way, as I found out during reading [because I had heard of Ravensbrück, just didn’t realise it was women only, or I had forgotten] – this is where Corrie ten Boom was sent, for aiding the Frank family in hiding.