I was born on June 20th, 1948 in Berlin and grew up with my grandmother Erna, called Mimmi, because my mother was traveling a lot for work.

For me, Ravensbrück was always present. Without knowing what the word “camp” actually meant, my first memories go back to the fact that one day I had to stay at home alone with our caretaker because my grandmother and mother were going to Ravensbrück for an anniversary.

When they came back, they told of the conversations with their comrades, some of whom I already knew from birthday parties, but had not brought them into contact with Ravensbrück. Now the circle has come full for me. From then on, I experienced the meetings to which I was always taken from a different, more conscious point of view. Here I met female comrades who the camp had welded together into a community of a special kind.

After finishing school I learned to be a window dresser and worked in this profession in West Berlin. On the recommendation of Mimmi, I joined the DAG union on the first day of my apprenticeship. I soon became involved as a youth representative and thus met my future husband, who was union secretary at the time. On his advice, I applied for an advertisement from the Federal Insurance Agency for Salaried Employees (BfA) and started working as an administrative clerk. I still apply the knowledge I have acquired in this area as a social security advisor.

We got married in the summer of 1973. I gave birth to three children. Today I have three grandchildren.

Since 2008 I have been part of the Ravensbrück / Freundeskreis e. v. active. I was delegated to the IRK by the camp community as successor to Annemarie Müller in 2010. Through this work I feel connected to Mimmi in a special way and try to do justice to her warning: “Defend against the beginnings!”.

In 2015, the then president, Annette Chalut, asked me to be the first representative of the 2nd / 3rd Generation to run for the office of Vice President.

Since 2018 permanent member of the Advisory Board of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation.

Since 2019 I have taken on the responsibility of the General Secretary of the IRK.

Jeanine Bochat in April 2020