At one of our visits to the former Siemens facility grounds, AC we met a local man who was collecting mushrooms. He knew the area well and regularly found old relics of the production processes. He was kind enough to give us some of his finds which we photographed and then handed them over to the memorial site.
Since the 1930s, capacitors had been made out of wrapped strips of paper onto which a thin layer of aluminium was applied. This made them more weather-resistant than capacitors that worked with fluids, and this technique also allowed for the devices to be much smaller. “Find : Paper, aluminium foil, 2.5 x 2 x 1 cm”
Circular relay for telecommunications and remote signaling. This non-polarized relay, an electromagnetic switch, consists at the core of a copper coil. When current is entered, the contacts of two metal springs are pressed together and an electric circuit is closed. “MGR/SBG V6036 A5, metal, copper, oil paper, Bakelite, 11,5 x 5 x 2.1 cm”
Self-made knife, fabricated from materials of the Siemens production facility. The inmate Françoise Lequell coiled packet string around the end of a blade of a slitting saw to use it as a grip. The knife was given to the memorial site Ravensbruck by the former prisoner Fabienne Fery and shown in its first exhibition in 1959. “MGR/SBG V1038 D4. Metal, jute string, 17 x 2 x 1.5 cm”
This microphone catches the sound from the larynx area and was used for communication in noisy surroundings, e.g. by pilots or tank drivers. There is evidence in numerous witness reports that larynx microphones were made at the Siemens facility Ravensbruck. “MGR/SBG V6034 A5. Plastic, metal, cloth, 17.5 x 20.5 cm”
