In August 1944, due to overcrowding in the blocks, the SS erected a tent between Blocks 24 + 26. At times, over 4,000 people were confined within the primitive shelter. There were no side walls to the tent, only a large pitched roof and covering of straw on the floor. When it rained, pools of water formed over the whole area and afterwards, the scene resembled a quagmire. The straw was infested with fleas, further adding to the discomfort of the women and children held there, who also had to cope without toilet or washing facilities. During February 1945, the SS surrounded the tent area with searchlights and machine guns - it had always been fenced in, however. Shortly after this security measure was introduced, the gypsy children were forcibly removed, literally torn screaming from their mothers. The adults soon followed though, as they too were removed from the tent. Approximately 1,000 people every month died during the existence of the tent, which continued until it was dismantled over the course of two days in late February or early March. Former Kommandant Fritz Suhren, who took control of the camp in the summer of 1942, holding the position until the evacuation of the camp almost three years later, stated during his trial that he felt a certain degree of pride having managed to acquire two large tents during a period when acquisation of material was very near impossible. No documents ever recorded the prisoner lists or orders concerning the population of the tent at Ravensbrück. Pictured below is the scene today, the former tent was located just beyond the stone remnants in the foreground of the photograph. In the background, the store houses near the transport sector are visible, including the cattle car housing an exhibition addressing the transports that arrived at f.KL-Ravensbrück.
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