Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People Who Were the Women of Ravensbrück? Lynne Olson on Courage in Captivity
Dec 24, 2025
Lynne Olson, a bestselling author and historian, dives into the remarkable stories of the French women who formed a sisterhood in Ravensbrück, Hitler's largest concentration camp for women. She highlights their courage and resilience against the Nazis, emphasizing the power of community in survival. Olson explores how overlooked narratives from history resonate with today’s struggles against authoritarianism. She calls for modern acts of resistance and stresses the importance of recognizing women's contributions in historical movements.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Forgotten All-Female Camp
- Ravensbrück was Hitler's only all-female concentration camp and its story was largely forgotten after Soviet liberation.
- Lynne Olson highlights the camp's scale and the French women's collective resistance and survival strategies.
Liberation By Soviets Hid The Story
- Ravensbrück received far less attention because Soviet troops liberated it and Western journalists weren't present.
- Its location in the postwar Soviet zone further suppressed wider knowledge and documentation.
Goldmine Of Survivor Interviews
- Olson relied heavily on 28 hours of interviews recorded by an American filmmaker in the 1990s.
- Those transcripts became the emotional core of her book and revealed personal memories and the camp's sisterhood.
