 Active camp brothel in Gusen, Austria (c. 1942) | |
In World War II, Nazi Germany established brothels in the concentration camps (Lagerbordell or Freudenabteilungen "Joy Divisions") to increase productivity among inmates. Their use was restricted to the more privileged Aryan prisoners, primarily the Kapos, or "prisoner functionaries", and the criminal element. Jewish inmates were prohibited from using the brothels according to rules against racial mixing. In the end, the camp brothels did not produce any noticeable increase in the prisoners' productivity levels but, instead, created a market for coupons among the more privileged camp prisoners.[1]
The women forced into these brothels came mainly from the women-only Ravensbrück concentration camp,[2] except for Auschwitz, which used its own prisoners.[3] In combination with the German military brothels in World War II, it is estimated that at least 34,140 female inmates were forced into sexual slavery during the Third Reich.[3]
- ^ "Camp Brothel". Wollheim Memorial. Accessed June 30, 2011.
- ^ New Exhibition Documents Forced Prostitution in Concentration Camps - Der Spiegel - 15 January 2007
- ^ a b Nanda Herbermann; Hester Baer; Elizabeth Roberts Baer (2000). The Blessed Abyss: Inmate #6582 in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp for Women (Google Books). Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 33–34. ISBN 0-8143-2920-9.