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November 1938
German began the construction of Ravensbruck. The S.S. sent over 500 male prisoners from Sachenhausen to construct the camp. -
December 1938
There are 5 departments of leadership: the commandant’s office, political department, protective company, administration, and camp doctor. SS Colonel Günther Tamaschke becomes the first camp commandant at Ravensbrück. -
May 1939
The SS transfers 900 women from Lichtenburg concentration camp to Ravensbrück concentration camp. They are the first women interned in Ravensbrück. -
January 1, 1940
SS Captain Max Koegel takes the place of Günther Tamaschke as camp commandant. -
April 1941
SS made a small men's camp adjacent to the Ravensbrück main camp. -
Spring 1942
SS began sending prisoners they "selected" as unfit for work at Ravensbrück to a sanitarium in Bernburg, which, equipped with gas chambers, killing all people with physical and mental disabilities. The SS killed nearly 2,000 Ravensbrück prisoners this way during the spring of 1942. -
Summer 1942
SS medical doctors begin subjecting prisoners at Ravensbrück to medical experiments. They attempted to treat wounds with chemicals to prevent infection. They also tested things like amputation, sterilization, and transplanting bones. Most of the prisoners subjected to the experiments died. -
August 20, 1942
SS Captain Fritz Suhren replaces Max Koegel as camp commandant. -
Late 1942-1944
Camp authorities initiate a second round of killings at gas chamber centers. During this phase, around sixty transports leave Ravensbrück for the gas chamber centers at Hartheim. Transports carried between 60 to 1,000 prisoners. The SS also killed by sending prisoners to Auschuwitz or by lethal injection in the infirmary. -
Early March 1945
The SS began evacuating Ravensbruck. They sent 2,100 male prisoners to Sachsenhausen. -
Late March 1945
The SS sent about 5,600 female prisoners from Ravensbrück to the Mauthausen and Bergen-Belsen. -
April 1945
SS forced about 20,000 female prisoners, and most of the remaining male prisoners, on an evacuation on foot to Mecklenberg. -
April 29-30, 1945
Soviet forces liberate Ravensbruck.
