Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Clandestine photograph of a Polish political prisoner and medical experimentation victim in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 69343

Search this record's additional resources, such as finding aids, documents, or transcripts.

No results match this search term.
Check spelling and try again.

results are loading

0 results found for “keyward

    Clandestine photograph of a Polish political prisoner and medical experimentation victim in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp.
    Clandestine photograph of a Polish political prisoner and medical experimentation victim in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp.

Pictured is Bogumila Babinska (Jasiuk).

    Overview

    Caption
    Clandestine photograph of a Polish political prisoner and medical experimentation victim in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp.

    Pictured is Bogumila Babinska (Jasiuk).
    Date
    October 1944
    Locale
    Ravensbrueck, [Brandenburg] Germany
    Photo Credit
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Anna Hassa Jarosky and Peter Hassa
    Event History
    Prisoners in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp succeeded in taking several clandestine photographs in October 1944. The Germans sent a large transport from Warsaw to Ravensbrueck concentration camp following the suppression of the Warsaw uprising in the fall of 1944. While waiting to be processed as a new prisoner, one woman wanted to get rid of her camera and traded it to one of the victims of medical experimentation, a so-called "rabbit" in exchange for a piece of bread. The "rabbits" wanted to take photographs to document their mutilated legs. Joanna Szydlowska secretly took pictures of Maria Kusmierczuk and Barbara Pietrzyk from behind a barracks. If she had been caught she would have been subject to a death sentence. The women then discarded the camera but kept the film hidden in their barrack. All of the "rabbits" stayed in Barrack #32. On April 23, 1945, the Swedish Red Cross rescued a French prisoner named Germaine Tillion. She brought the film with her and developed it for the first time in Paris after the war. The French prisoners stayed in touch with their Polish comrades, and after the war, Germaine Tillion sent the negatives back to the victims of the operations. Two pictures were first published in the book titled "Ravensbruck " by Wanda Kiedrzynska. Helena Rafalska (Hegier) kept the film in her possession until she gave it to Anna Jarosky, the daughter of Jadwiga Dzido, another one of the "rabbits".

    [Source: Anna Jarosky, email dated 02/09/05]

    See https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005188.
    See Also https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005199.
    See Also "Ravensbruck Main Camp" in Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos Volume 1 Part B.

    Rights & Restrictions

    Photo Source
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    Provenance: Anna Hassa Jarosky and Peter Hassa

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Biography
    Bogumila Jasuik (born Bogumila Babinska) was born in 1915 to a Polish Catholic family. She grew up in Krzemieniec where her father worked as a teacher. After completing high school she went to study in Warsaw and graduated from the University of Commerce with a Master's degree in business. After the start of World War II, Bogumila began working for the Polish underground. In 1941 she was caught, arrested and sent to the Lublin prison where she was beaten and tortured. Then in September 1941 she was sent to the women's concentration camp of Ravensbrueck in a so-called special transport. She performed forced labor, twelve hours a day. Among her tasks, she manufactured straw shoes for the Germany army. She also was chosen as one of the 74 "Rabbits" or guinea pigs for sadistic medical experimentation. German doctors experimented on her twice in November and December 1942, making four cuts on the muscles of her thigh. Then, in the beginning of 1943, they cut open her shin bone. She suffered severe pain and high fever and was very sick for months to come. However, despite the pain, she still had to return to work following the operations and labored for 12 hours a day knitting socks for German soldiers. In 1943 she and her few close friends started to send illegal, invisible messages written in urine between the lines to their families in Warsaw and Lublin. Bogumila's uncle was a member of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa). Using couriers, he informed the Polish Government-in-exile in London and the Red Cross about these experiments. In August of 1943 Bogumila and the other "Rabbits" protested against the operations for which they were severely punished. The German camp personnel planned to execute them on February 4, 1945. Bogumila succeeded in hiding and survived thanks to the help of prisoners of various nationalities. When the Red Cross evacuated some Ravensbrueck prisoners to Sweden in early April of 1945, camp authorities would not allow the Rabbits to leave as they still tried to deny their existence. Instead, on April 28, 1945 they sent the Rabbits along with the other remaining prisoners on a death march. Though crippled, the women walked home without either water or food. After returning to Warsaw, Bogumila continued her professional career and married. She passed away in 1980 in Warsaw.
    Record last modified:
    2017-02-23 00:00:00
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/pa1156940

    Download & Licensing

    In-Person Research

    Contact Us