Resistance in Ravensbrück

[Text: While imprisoned in Ravensbrück concentration camp, Rebecca Teitelbaum worked in the office of the Siemens ammunitions factory. Her nephew, Alex, describes how Rebecca managed to secretly make and share a recipe book with others in her barrack.] 

Alex Buckman: One day when she was working, she was working a different shift, sometimes during the day, in the afternoon, in the evening. And when she saw one time, she saw a roll of brown paper. And then she had an idea in her head, and it was a dangerous idea, but she was determined. And at night, she saw that there weren’t that many supervisors. And then she stole a piece of brown paper, and she put it in her dress. And then she stole a little pencil and a pair of scissors. And at night, she ran towards her barrack, very nervous, because she knew that if somebody would stop her with all these stolen goods, she would be in trouble. And they probably would make an example of her, maybe either shoot her or hang her. But she did it. And she came into her barrack, and on the side were the bunk beds, three floors up, very large ones, where 10 or 12 women would be able to sleep on each level. And then there was nothing in the middle of her barrack. And she sat on the floor, and she took this piece of paper that she had, was a large piece of paper, and she started to cut little pieces not bigger than this. And then she started to write. And the women in her barrack wanted to know what she was writing, and she just continued about 10, 12 pieces. So, what did she write? She wrote recipes. Recipes of foods, of meals that she did for her husband and her daughter before the war.  

And she started to read them to the other women, and they all thought of home, and they all started to cry together. With the help of other women who gave her some of their own recipes, and many of hers, she wrote 110 recipes. And even though food was very important to stay alive in the concentration camp, she actually traded some of her food for needles and thread.  

And she made a book, so she could keep it. But she was afraid that people would steal it, and or, not only steal it for themselves but also steal it so that they could give it to the people in charge of the barrack so they would get an extra ration of food.