A tale of great enterprise and great fortitude and of wonderful female solidarity and nobility
of spirit in the bleakest of circumstances. For decades after World War II histories of the
French Resistance were written almost exclusively by men and largely ignored the contributions
of women. Many current overviews of the subject continue to underplay the extent and importance
of women's participation in the Resistance treating the subject in the words of one historian
as 'an anonymous background element in an essentially male story'. The Sisterhood of
Ravensbrück corrects that omission surveying the bond between four women - Germaine Tillion
Anise Girard Genevieve de Gaulle and Jacqueline d'Alincourt - who fought valiantly against
Nazi oppression. While the women belonged to different Resistance movements and networks they
were united by a common thread: they were arrested by the Gestapo underwent merciless
interrogations and beatings were jailed - and most significantly survived if just barely
the hell of Ravensbrück the only concentration camp designed specifically for women. In an
institution designed to dehumanise and kill the sisterhood maintained their sense of self and
joined together to face down death. Remarkably in the aftermath of World War II the women
once again joined forces to find a way to transcend the horrors of the war and turn it into
something good for themselves and the world. The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück is an illuminating
inspiring account.
