While lesbianism could be found in any of the camps, since women were put in bunkers together, the camp of Ravensbrück was particularly known for its lesbianism. Ravensbrück was the women’s concentration camp, and so many stories have come out after the Holocaust of the same-sex relationships that went on in the camps.
The concentration camps were a very scary and unpredictable place. If women weren’t sent directly to the gas chambers, they were often separated from their families and children. The women relied on friendship with each other for comfort and survival.⁸³
Women were in extremely close quarters to each other, sleeping three or more to a bed, so they were often found cuddling together for warmth and companionship. Some women’s relationships, however, went beyond that of friendship. Emotional and physical relationships formed within the camps.
Many of the prisoners told stories of these relationships. One prisoner recalls that, “As they lay crammed together in their beds, they could not avoid seeing and hearing the lovemaking, ‘sometimes shameless and unrestrained.’ On occasion, if one got up at night to use the toilet, one had to wait because the ‘little couples’ (Pärchen) were in the small compartment with the doors locked.”⁸⁴
This was a common story among many prisoners. Others recalled finding couples together, embracing, kissing, having sex, not only in bed at night but behind the blocks too. In other memoirs, prisoners describe having crushes on other prisoners, and thinking of fantasies between them. These fantasies would sustain the women and make them happy. Sometimes, the fantasies even became reality, and for a brief time, the women would have love and joy in their lives.⁸⁵
Not all of the women in relationships or engaging in same-sex sexual relations identified as bisexual or lesbian, but they engaged in this behavior to ease the loneliness and tension of the camps. However, it was documented that some prisoners had “firmly established identities as lesbians or bisexuals before ever arriving at Ravensbrück.”⁸⁶
This behavior within the camps was not punished by the guards. The [Fascists] just let this behavior happen since these women could not be producing children anyway, and it was not thought of as making them “weak”, as was the case with male homosexuality. The women could still do the work they were assigned even with these little “pet” relationships, as they were seen.
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