Saving the Rabbits of Ravensbrück

CAROLINE FERRIDAY

The sisterhood of Ravensbrück survivors refused to forget the Rabbits even after the war. The women of the French resistance brought the story of the continued suffering of the Rabbits in Soviet-controlled Poland to an American activist and philanthropist Caroline Ferriday.  In 1958, with the help of Norman Cousins, editor-in-chief of The Saturday Review, Ferriday reached out to the American public for donations that enabled 35 of the Rabbits to come to the U.S. for reconstructive surgery and the treatment of lingering infections and other diseases caused by the Nazi medical experiments and malnutrition. Not only was the trip crucial for the women’s physical and mental health, the publicity it generated forced the West German government to finally recognize the Polish victims of Nazi medical experiments.  As a direct result of their efforts and the negotiating skills of Ben Ferencz, former Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, the West German government eventually agreed to recognize not only such victims in Poland, but in other Eastern Bloc countries as well.