“… there was nothing sheep-like about their nature. They stole and they fought.” Die Auswirkungen vorangegangener Verfolgungserfahrungen auf Gruppenauseinandersetzungen in Groß-Rosener Frauenaußenlagern

As of March 1944, almost 26,000 Jewish women from more than ten different pre-war European countries were being held in the women’s satellite camps of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. They had been deported to these camps to supply forced labor for the German armaments industry. How did people with varied backgrounds and experiences interact in the extreme situation of imprisonment in a concentration camp? How did they organize their cohabitation and communication? This article strives to explore answers to these and other questions regarding the interaction between prisoners within the forced community of the camp.