Book of Recipies

An act of courage that gave voice to the women of Ravensbrück.

Book of recipes, handwritten by Rebecca Teitelbaum, in Ravensbrück concentration camp, 1944-1945. One hundred and ten pages, 11cm X 15.5cm.

Story of the Artifact

Women prisoners at work in the shoe repair workshop of Ravensbrück concentration camp.

Rebecca Teitelbaum worked as a forced laborer in the office of the Siemens ammunitions factory in Ravensbrück, a concerntration camp for women. In an effort to stave off exhaustion, cold and hunger, Rebecca and the other women in her barrack found comfort in remembering and sharing their favorite recipes from home.

At great risk, Rebecca stole paper and a pencil and recorded the recipes. Trading food for a needle and thread, she meticulously stitched and bound the pages into this small volume. Upon completion, the women found solace in reading aloud from its pages. The book helped transport the women of Ravensbrück from the reality of life in the camp.

In the last few days of the war, Rebecca was evacuated on a Red Cross truck. The truck was bombed and Rebecca was wounded and taken to a Copenhagen hospital. Her recipe book and a small bundle of letters were lost in the confusion. Two years later, a man appeared at Rebecca's door with her lost possessions. The man used information contained in the letters to trace her from Denmark to Belgium. In the end, Rebecca's book of recipes survived, while few of the women in her barrack did.

Background

Ravensbrück was one of the largest concentration camps in Germany, where approximately 132,000 women were imprisoned, many with children. About half died from hunger, medical experiments, executions, gassing or the death marches. As the Allies approached Ravensbrück in March 1945, 24,000 women were forced on death marches to Mecklenburg.

A small number of similar books were written by women in other camps, including Theresienstadt and Mauthausen. Rebecca's book is an extremely rare example, one of the few still in existence.

Rebecca Teitelbaum & son Abe who was born after the war, Brussels, 1947.