Synopsis
From the moment they met in 1940 in Ravensbrück concentration camp, Milena Jesenska and Margarete Buber-Neumann were inseparable.
Czech Milena was Kafka's first translator and epistolary lover, and a journalist opposed to fascism. A non-conformist, bi-sexual feminist, she was way ahead of her time. German Margarete, though born to a middle-class family, became swept up in the fervour of the Bolshevik Revolution, when she met her second partner, Communist Heinz Neumann. Margarete was exiled to the hell of the Soviet gulag. Two years later, traded by Stalin to Hitler, she ended in Ravensbrück, the only concentration camp built for women.
Milena and Margarete loved each other at the risk of their lives. But in the postwar survivors' accounts, lesbians were stigmatized, and survivors kept silent. This book explores those silences, and finally celebrates two strong women who never gave up and continue to inspire. As Margaret wrote: "I was thankful for having been sent to Ravensbrück, because it was there I met Milena."
Czech Milena was Kafka's first translator and epistolary lover, and a journalist opposed to fascism. A non-conformist, bi-sexual feminist, she was way ahead of her time. German Margarete, though born to a middle-class family, became swept up in the fervour of the Bolshevik Revolution, when she met her second partner, Communist Heinz Neumann. Margarete was exiled to the hell of the Soviet gulag. Two years later, traded by Stalin to Hitler, she ended in Ravensbrück, the only concentration camp built for women.
Milena and Margarete loved each other at the risk of their lives. But in the postwar survivors' accounts, lesbians were stigmatized, and survivors kept silent. This book explores those silences, and finally celebrates two strong women who never gave up and continue to inspire. As Margaret wrote: "I was thankful for having been sent to Ravensbrück, because it was there I met Milena."
Details
21 January 2027
9781785127113Imprint: Ithaka
Reviews
'Riveting, mesmerizing important work... A magnificent work of contextualization that opens new doors of understanding'
A compelling, beautifully written story of resilience, friendship and survival
