80th Anniversary of the First Hamburg Ravensbrück Trial – Panel, Reception, Exhibition

On 5^th December 1946, the first of seven war crimes trials against SS staff, guards, and administrative officials of the Ravensbrück concentration camp began in Hamburg, Germany. To commemorate the 80^th anniversary of this legal landmark, we invite you to join us on Friday 4^th December 2026 at 15:00, for a panel and reception at the Pufendorf Institute of Advanced Studies at Lund University, followed at 18:00 by a viewing of an exhibition of related artefacts at the adjacent Museum of International Law.  

Lund holds a significant place in the history of the Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials and other war crimes trials of the post-Second World War period. The Lund University Library holds evidence and testimony from former “Rabbits” – a moniker claimed by victims of illegal medical experiments – and other former prisoners of the Ravensbrück concentration camp, including some who traveled from Lund to testify in the Hamburg trials. The cultural history museum Kulturen in Lund displays and preserves fragile artefacts created by the “Rabbits” in Ravensbrück and carried to Sweden after liberation. And the Museum of International Law, the world’s first such museum, is building a collection of artefacts that help communicate how international law affects the lives of ordinary people around the world, including items related to the Second World War and the Holocaust.

The event will draw from all these initiatives and bring together government officials, institutional representatives, and scholars from Poland, Germany, Israel, and Sweden to remember the victims, survivors, and witnesses, and discuss the historical and legal ramifications of the Hamburg Ravensbrück Trial and their ongoing significance.

If you are interested in attending this event, please complete this form no later than 5 October 2026. Formal invitations will follow. 

Professor Valentin Jeutner and Dr. Victoria Van Orden Martínez, co-organizers