Of the 55,000 guards who served in Nazi concentration camps, about 3,600 were women. In 1942, the first female guards arrived at Auschwitz and Majdanek from Ravensbrück. The year after, the Nazis began conscripting women because of a guard shortage. Prior to and during World War II Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps (Konzentrationslager or KZ) throughout the territory it controlled. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Auschwitz, in English, commonly refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex built near the town of Oświęcim, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Oświęcim (called by the Germans Auschwitz) itself. ... Majdanek in the winter, 2005 Majdanek is the site of a German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, roughly 2. ...

The German title for this position, Aufseherin, (plural Aufseherinnen) means female overseer or attendant.

Recruitment

Female guards were generally middle to low class and had no work experience; their professional background varied: one source² mentions former matrons, hairdressers, street car ticket takers, opera singers, or retired teachers. Volunteers were recruited by ads in German newspapers asking for women to show their love for the Reich and join the SS-Gefolge ("SS- Retinue" an SS support and service organisation for women). Additionally, some were conscripted based on data in their SS files. The Hitler Youth acted as a vehicle of indoctrination for many of the women³. One head female overseer, Helga Hegel, referred to her female guards as "SS" women at a post-war hearing. She placed the SS in quotes because the women were not official members of the SS, but many of them belonged to the Waffen-SS. In fact, less than twenty women ever served as true SS members, much because the Schutzstaffel membership was indeed closed to women. The relatively low number of female guards who belonged to the Allgemeine-SS or SS-Gefolge served in the camps. Other women, such as Therese Brandl and Irmtraut Sell, belonged to the Totenkopf ("Death's Head") units.   (IPA: ; German: IPA: ), is the German word for realm or empire, cognate with Scandinavian rike/rige, Dutch rijk and English ric as found in bishopric. ... SS or ss or Ss may be: The Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary force Steamship (SS) (ship prefix) The United States Secret Service A submarine not powered by nuclear energy (SS) (United States Navy designator), see SSN A Soviet/Russian surface-to-surface missile, as listed by NATO reporting name Shortstop... The Hitler Youth (German: Hitler-Jugend, abbreviated HJ) was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party that existed from 1922 to 1945. ... Helga Hegel was the chief overseer of the Helmbrechts subcamp of Flossenburg concentration camp. ... Waffen-SS recruitment poster; Volunteer to the Waffen-SS The Waffen-SS was the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel. ... now. ... Therese Rose Brandl was born on February 1, 1902 in Staudach, Austria. ... SS-Division Totenkopf Kampfgruppe Eicke 3. ...

At first, women were trained at Lichtenburg (1938). (Some sources say that some women were trained in 1936 at Sachsenhausen, including Ilse Koch, but no record of this has ever been found.) After 1939, women were trained at Ravensbrück camp near Berlin. When the war broke out, the Nazis built other camps in Poland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium as well as other countries they occupied. The training of the female guards was similar to that of their male counterparts: The women attended classes which ranged from four weeks to half a year, headed by the head wardresses - however, near the end of the war little, if any, training was given to fresh recruits. Sources cite former SS member Hertha Ehlert, who served at Ravensbruck, Majdanek, Lublin, Auschwitz, and Bergen Belsen, as describing her training as "physically and emotionally demanding" when questioned at the Belsen Trial. According to her, the trainees were told about the corruption of the Weimar Republic, how to punish prisoners, and how to look out for sabotage and work slowdowns. The same sources claim Dorothea Binz, head training overseer at Ravensbruck after 1942, trained her female students on the finer points of "malicious pleasure". One survivor at a camp stated after the war that the Germans brought a group of fifty women to the camp to undergo training in 1944. The women were then separated and brought before the inmates. Each woman was then told to beat a prisoner. Of the fifty women, only three had asked for a reason, and one had refused. The latter was subsequently imprisoned.⁹ Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Arbeit Macht Frei gate Sachsenhausen was a concentration camp in Germany, operating between 1936 and 1950. ... Collection of prisoners tattoos Ph Jules Rouard -Buchenwald 1945 Ilse Koch, née Ilse Kohler Schnitzel (September 22, 1906 – September 1, 1967), was the wife of Karl Koch, the commandant of the concentration camp Buchenwald. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... View of the barracks at Ravensbrück Ravensbrück was a German concentration camp located 90 km north of Berlin. ... Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ... Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Axis Powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33... The Belsen Trial was one of several trials for war crimes and crimes against humanity that the Allied occupation forces conducted against former officials and functionaries of Nazi Germany after the end of World War II. The Belsen Trial (or, officially, Trial of Josef Kramer and 44 others) began in... Dorothea (Thea) Binz (March 16, 1920 - May 2, 1947) was an SS supervisor at Ravensbrück concentration camp during the Second World War. ...

Advancement

Female guards were collectively known by the rank of SS-Helferin ("Helper") and could hold positional titles equivalent to regular SS ranks. Such positions were known as Rapportführerin ("Report Leader"), Erstaufseherin ("First Guard"), Lagerführerin ("Camp Leader" [high position]) or Oberaufseherin ("Senior Overseer"). The highest position ever attained by a woman was Chef Oberaufseherin ("Chief Senior Overseer") (see Luise Brunner or Anna Klein). In the Nazi command structure, no female guard could ever give orders to a male one since, by design, the rank of SS-Helferin was below all male SS ranks and women were not recognized as regular SS members but only auxiliaries. The Ranks and insignia of the Schutzstaffel were a paramilitary rank system used by the German SS, to differentiate the group from the German military, German state, and the Nazi Party. ... Luise Brunner was one of only two women to have ever reached the rank of Chief Senior Overseer (Chef Oberaufseherin), a high-ranking officer designation for SS guards in concentration camps. ...

No German Concentration Camp ever was run by a female commandant. Ravensbrück, the only camp reserved for female inmates, was run mainly by male SS troopers, aided by a minority of female assistants.

Daily life

Relations between SS men and female guards is said to have existed in many of the camps, and Heinrich Himmler had told the SS men to regard the female guards as equals and comrades. At the relatively small Helmbrechts subcamp near Hof, Germany, the camp commandant was openly romantic with the head female overseer Helga Hegel. The double-Sig Rune SS insignia. ...   (October 7, 1900 – May 23, 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel (SS) and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Hof is a city located on the banks of the Saale in the northeastern corner of the German state of Bavaria, in the Franconia region, hard by the Czech border and the forested Fichtelgebirge and Frankenwald upland regions. ... Helga Hegel was the chief overseer of the Helmbrechts subcamp of Flossenburg concentration camp. ...

Corruption was another aspect of the female guard culture. Ilse Koch, known as "the witch (sometimes bitch) of Buchenwald", was the chief female guard at the Buchenwald camp, and at the same time married to the camp commandant, Karl Koch. Both were rumoured to have embezzled millions of Reichmarks, for which the Karl Koch was later convicted - however, Ilse was cleared of guilt. On a side note, some sources speculate that she had the witnesses in Buchenwald murdered. Collection of prisoners tattoos Ph Jules Rouard -Buchenwald 1945 Ilse Koch, née Ilse Kohler Schnitzel (September 22, 1906 – September 1, 1967), was the wife of Karl Koch, the commandant of the concentration camp Buchenwald. ... Karl Otto Koch (August 2, 1897 - April 5, 1945), a colonel of German Schutzstaffel (SS), was the first commandant of the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald (from 1937 to 1941), and later at Lublin (Majdanek camp). ...

Despite a reputation for brutality, there were certainly kind ones as well. Several testimonies after the war pointed to overly polite guards. Klara Kunig became a camp guard in the middle of 1944 and served at Ravensbruck and its subcamp at Dresden-Universelle. The head wardress at the camp pointed out that she was too polite and too kind towards the inmates, resulting in her subsequent dismissal from camp duty in January 1945. At Auschwitz Birkenau, one Aufseherin was found guilty of aiding inmates illegally, and the chief overseer ordered her punished: her fellow guards were forced to give her twenty-five lashes on the buttocks. Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Camps, names, and ranks

Near the end of the war, women were forced from factories in the German Labor Exchange and sent to training centers. Women were also trained on a smaller scale at the camps of Neuengamme; Auschwitz I, II and III; Plaszow; Flossenbürg; Gross Rosen; Vught and Stutthof as well as in few in Dachau, a few in Mauthausen and a few women were trained in Buchenwald and their subcamps. Most of these women came from the regions around the camp. In 1944 the first female overseers were stationed at Neuengamme, Dachau, Mauthausen, a very, very few at Natzweiler Struthof, and even fewer at Dora Mittelbau (one is known). Between seven and twenty Aufseherinnen served in Vught, twenty-four SS women trained at Buchenwald (three at a time), thirty-four in Bergen Belsen, nineteen at Dachau, twenty in Mauthausen, three in Dora Mittelbau, seven at Natzweiler-Struthof, twenty at Majdanek, 200 at Auschwitz and its subcamps, 140 at Sachsenhausen, 158 at Neuengamme, forty-seven at Stutthof compared to 958 who served in Ravensbrück (2,000 were trained there), 561 in Flossenbürg, and 541 at Gross Rosen. Many female supervisors were trained and/or worked at subcamps in Germany, Poland, and a few in eastern France, a few in Austria, and a few in some camps in Czechoslovakia. Neuengamme was a concentration camp near Hamburg, Germany during World War 2 [1]. The site is one of the few concentration camps in Germany where most of the buildings have been conserved and serves as a memorial today. ... Auschwitz, in English, commonly refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex built near the town of Oświęcim, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Oświęcim (called by the Germans Auschwitz) itself. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Flossenbürg concentration camp was a German prison built in 1938 at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria. ... KL Gross-Rosen was a German concentration camp, located in Gross-Rosen. ... Coat of arms Vught is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. ... Stutthof, commonly refers to the Stutthof concentration camp complex built near the town of Sztutowo, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Sztutowo (called by the Germans Stutthof) itself. ... Memorial at the camp, 1997. ... Mauthausen is a small town in Upper Austria about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz. ... Slave laborers in the Buchenwald concentration camp (Elie Wiesel is second row, seventh from left). ... Coat of arms Vught is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. ... Slave laborers in the Buchenwald concentration camp (Elie Wiesel is second row, seventh from left). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Memorial at the camp, 1997. ... Mauthausen is a small town in Upper Austria about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz. ... Categories: Stub | Nazi concentration camps ... Camp entrance Natzweiler-Struthof was a Nazi concentration camp located close to the Alsatian village of Natzwiller (German Natzweiler) in France about 50 km south west from the city of Strasbourg. ... Majdanek in the winter, 2005 Majdanek is the site of a German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, roughly 2. ... Auschwitz, in English, commonly refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex built near the town of Oświęcim, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Oświęcim (called by the Germans Auschwitz) itself. ... Arbeit Macht Frei gate Sachsenhausen was a concentration camp in Germany, operating between 1936 and 1950. ... Neuengamme was a concentration camp near Hamburg, Germany during World War 2 [1]. The site is one of the few concentration camps in Germany where most of the buildings have been conserved and serves as a memorial today. ... Stutthof, commonly refers to the Stutthof concentration camp complex built near the town of Sztutowo, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Sztutowo (called by the Germans Stutthof) itself. ... KL Gross-Rosen was a German concentration camp, located in Gross-Rosen. ...

• Head overseer at Allendorf was Kaethe Hoern (September 1944-March 1945) and Johanna Seiss (?-?); in Auschwitz Johanna Langefeld (March 1942-October 1942), Maria Mandel (October 1942-November 1944), Margot Dreschel (?-November 1944), Irma Grese (1944), and Elisabeth Volkenrath (November 1944-January 1945).
• At Barth Ruth Closius (March 1945-May 1945), in Belzig head female guard was Hedwig Ullrich (Summer 1944-April 1945).
• In Bergen Belsen the two head overseers were Irma Grese (January/February 1945-April 1945) and Elisabeth Volkenrath (February 1945-April 1945) while Herta Ehlert served as deputy wardress.
• Lagerführerin Kuegler served as head of Bolkenhain subcamp in 1942 and 1943.
• Johanna Wisotzki was Oberaufseherin in Bromberg-Ost (Bydgoszcz East) from June 1944 until March 1945, while Ilse Koch was appointed head female guard at Buchenwald.
• In the Danzig Langfuhr subcamp Gerda Steinhoff commanded all the female overseers and prisoners (October 1944-December 1944), in Dora Mittelbau, this was handled by Erna Petermann.
• At the Ravensbrück subcamp at Dresden Universelle, Charlotte Hanakam was chief wardress (1944-April 1945), and in Flossenbürg, this rank was given to three women at four different times; Margarethe de Hueber (April 1939-1944), Gertrud Becker (October 1944-?), Dora Lange, and Gertrud Weniger (1944-?).
• In the Graslitz auxiliary camp, Marianne Essmann was promoted head guard, at Gross Rosen, Jane Bernigau, in Gruenberg, Anna Fiebeg (June 1944-January 1945) served as chief Oberaufseherin, while Anna Jahn and Hela Milefski served as Second Lagerleiterinnen (Replacement Camp Overseers).
• At Gruschwitz-Neusalz subcamp of Gross Rosen Helene Obuch (1943-June 1944), then Elisabeth Gersch (June 1944-January 1945) was in charge, at Hamburg-Wandsbek, Annemie von der Huelst.
• The Hanau subcamp in Germany was overseen by chief overseer Lydia Neudert.
• Helmbrechts was a subcamp of Flossenbürg built near Hof, Germany. Originally, Martha Dell' Antonia (Summer 1944-?) served there as head female guard over twenty-two female guards. In late 1944 she was replaced by the commandant's (Doerr's) lover, Helga Hegel.
• In Holleischen Dora Lange.
• The tiny subcamp at Kochstadt Emma was head woman guard; Kratzau II in Poland was overseen by Gertrud Becker, Lenzing by Lagerführerin Schmidt and Oberaufseherin Margarete Freinberger (November 1944-May 1945).
• Majdanek was headed by Elsa Erik (October 1942-June 1944), her immediate assistant Else Weber, and assisted by deputy wardresses Hermine Braunsteiner, Redeli, Ellert and Elisabeth Knoblich.
• Mauthausen was headed by two women over the course of two years, Jane Bernigau (November 1944-May 1945) and Margarete Freinberger (September 1944-November 1944).
• Neuengamme camp in northern Germany was headed by chief wardresses Annemie von der Huelst (August 1944-?) and Inge Marggot Weber, while a woman named "Anna" commanded the Nurnberg-Siemens subsidiary camp.
• At Oberalstadt, Irmgard Hofmann was Lagerführerin.
• In Obernheide, Gertrud Heise was chief over seven (known) SS women (September 1944-April 1945), at Oederan, Dora Lange, and in Plaszow, Alice Orlowski among another unknown woman.
• Ravensbrück was the training ground for female guards. Chief wardresses there were Jane Bernigau (May 1939-May 1941), Margarete Gallinat (1944), Maria Mandel (March 1942-October 1942), Johanna Langefeld (May 1941-March 1942), Greta Boesel (1944-April 1945), Kaethe Hoern (1944), Erna Rose (1944-April 1945), while Dorothea Binz served as their assistant from August 1943 until the camps liberation in April 1945.
• Rochlitz was headed by Marianne Essmann, Sachsenhausen by Ilse Koch and later by Hilde Schlusser and Anna Klein.
• In St. Lambrecht it was Jane Bernigau (1944/January 1945), while at Stutthof generals promoted Johanna Wisotzki and Gerda Steinhoff to chief female overseers, while at Theresienstadt this was given to Hildegard Neumann.
• Ruth Closius headed Uckermark (January 1945-March 1945), Margarete Gallinat (Maria) oversaw Vught (?-June 1944), Susanne Hille was head female guard at Unterluess (or Vueterluss) (September 1944-April 1945), and Hilde Hahn oversaw the Flossenbürg subcamp at Zwodau from June 1944 until May 1945..

Allendorf is a part of the town of Sundern in North Rhine-Westphalia. ... Kaethe Hoern was a female SS supervisor at two concentration camps from 1944 until April 1945. ... Auschwitz, in English, commonly refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex built near the town of Oświęcim, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Oświęcim (called by the Germans Auschwitz) itself. ... Johanna Langefeld (March 5, 1900 - January 26, 1974) was a female supervisor at two concentration camps during the Nazi Regime. ... Maria Mandel (January 10, 1912 - January 24, 1948) was infamous for her key role in the Holocaust as a top-ranking official at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp where she is believed to have been directly responsible for orders to kill over 500,000 female Jews, Gypsies, and political prisoners. ... Margot Dreschel (or Drexler or Dreschler or Drechsel or Drexel) (May 17, 1908 – 1945) was a prison guard at concentration camps who was born in Neugersdorf, Germany. ... Irma Grese (October 7, 1923 Wrechen near Pasewalk (Mecklenburg) – December 13, 1945 Hameln) was a supervisor at the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. ... Categories: 1919 births | 1945 deaths | Holocaust | Nazi leaders | Personnel of Nazi concentration camps | People stubs ... Ruth Closius was an SS supervisor at a death camp complex from December 1944 until March 1945. ... Town in Brandenburg, Germany. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Irma Grese (October 7, 1923 Wrechen near Pasewalk (Mecklenburg) – December 13, 1945 Hameln) was a supervisor at the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. ... Categories: 1919 births | 1945 deaths | Holocaust | Nazi leaders | Personnel of Nazi concentration camps | People stubs ... Herta (born Liess, married Ehlert, divorced Naumann) was a female guard at many Nazi camps during the whole period of World War II. Herta (Hertha) was born as Hertha Liess in Berlin, Germany on March 26, 1905. ... Bromberg-Ost was the female subcamp of the German concentration camp Stutthof, located in Bydgoszcz (Fordon). ... Collection of prisoners tattoos Ph Jules Rouard -Buchenwald 1945 Ilse Koch, née Ilse Kohler Schnitzel (September 22, 1906 – September 1, 1967), was the wife of Karl Koch, the commandant of the concentration camp Buchenwald. ... Slave laborers in the Buchenwald concentration camp (Elie Wiesel is second row, seventh from left). ... Gerda Steinhoff, Front Row Center Gerda Steinhoff was a Nazi prison camp overseer born in Danzig-Langfuhr, on January 29, 1922. ... Categories: Stub | Nazi concentration camps ... Erna Petermann was a high ranking female overseer at to concentration camps during the closing of World War II. Little is known about Erna Petermann. ... Location of Kraslice in the Czech Republic Kraslice (Graslitz in German) is a town in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic, neighbouring German town Klingenthal. ... KL Gross-Rosen was a German concentration camp, located in Gross-Rosen. ... Jane Bernigau was an SS Oberaufseherin in Nazi concentration camps before and during World War II. Jane was born as Jane (Gerda) Bernigau on October 5, 1908 in Sagan Germany (now modern Å»agaÅ„, Poland). ... Motto: none Voivodship Lubusz Municipal government Rada Miasta Zielona Góra Mayor Bożena Ronowicz Area 58,3 km² Population  - city  - urban  - density 118 730 - 2047/km² Founded City rights 13th century 1323 Latitude Longitude 51°56 N 15°30 E Area code +48 68 Car plates FZ Twin... KL Gross-Rosen was a German concentration camp, located in Gross-Rosen. ... Wandsbek (Map) is the largest () of seven districts that are comprising the City of Hamburg (Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Germany). ... Hanau is a town in Hessen, Germany with 89,000 inhabitants. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Hof is a city located on the banks of the Saale in the northeastern corner of the German state of Bavaria, in the Franconia region, hard by the Czech border and the forested Fichtelgebirge and Frankenwald upland regions. ... Year 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Helga Hegel was the chief overseer of the Helmbrechts subcamp of Flossenburg concentration camp. ... Chrastava (German: ) is a town in northern Bohemia in the Czech Republic about 10 km northwest of the region capital Liberec. ... Lenzing is a small town of approximately 5000 residents, three kilometers north of Lake Attersee in Austria, It is located in the Upper Austrian part of the Salzkammergut. ... Majdanek in the winter, 2005 Majdanek is the site of a German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, roughly 2. ... Hermine Braunsteiner, (July 16, 1919 – April 19, 1999), was a Nazi war criminal. ... Mauthausen is a small town in Upper Austria about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz. ... Jane Bernigau was an SS Oberaufseherin in Nazi concentration camps before and during World War II. Jane was born as Jane (Gerda) Bernigau on October 5, 1908 in Sagan Germany (now modern Å»agaÅ„, Poland). ... Neuengamme was a concentration camp near Hamburg, Germany during World War 2 [1]. The site is one of the few concentration camps in Germany where most of the buildings have been conserved and serves as a memorial today. ... Oederan is a town in the district of Freiberg, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Alice Orlowski (September 30, 1903 – 1976) was a high ranking SS official at many Nazi camps during World War II. She was born Alice Minna Elizabeth Elling in Berlin, Germany. ... Jane Bernigau was an SS Oberaufseherin in Nazi concentration camps before and during World War II. Jane was born as Jane (Gerda) Bernigau on October 5, 1908 in Sagan Germany (now modern Å»agaÅ„, Poland). ... Margarete Gallinat was the head overseer at Vught. ... Maria Mandel (January 10, 1912 - January 24, 1948) was infamous for her key role in the Holocaust as a top-ranking official at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp where she is believed to have been directly responsible for orders to kill over 500,000 female Jews, Gypsies, and political prisoners. ... Johanna Langefeld (March 5, 1900 - January 26, 1974) was a female supervisor at two concentration camps during the Nazi Regime. ... Greta Bösel was a high ranking female guard at the Ravensbrück concentration camp during the Second World War. ... Kaethe Hoern was a female SS supervisor at two concentration camps from 1944 until April 1945. ... Dorothea (Thea) Binz (March 16, 1920 - May 2, 1947) was an SS supervisor at Ravensbrück concentration camp during the Second World War. ... Rochlitz is a town in the district of Mittweida, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. ... Arbeit Macht Frei gate Sachsenhausen was a concentration camp in Germany, operating between 1936 and 1950. ... Collection of prisoners tattoos Ph Jules Rouard -Buchenwald 1945 Ilse Koch, née Ilse Kohler Schnitzel (September 22, 1906 – September 1, 1967), was the wife of Karl Koch, the commandant of the concentration camp Buchenwald. ... Sankt Lambrecht is a municipality in the District of Murau, Styria and the highest market town in the state (1028 meters above sea level) on the Thajagraben, the Styrian-Carinthian border mountain. ... Jane Bernigau was an SS Oberaufseherin in Nazi concentration camps before and during World War II. Jane was born as Jane (Gerda) Bernigau on October 5, 1908 in Sagan Germany (now modern Å»agaÅ„, Poland). ... Stutthof, commonly refers to the Stutthof concentration camp complex built near the town of Sztutowo, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Sztutowo (called by the Germans Stutthof) itself. ... Gerda Steinhoff, Front Row Center Gerda Steinhoff was a Nazi prison camp overseer born in Danzig-Langfuhr, on January 29, 1922. ... Location of the concentration camp in the Czech Republic Gate Concentration camp Theresienstadt was a concentration camp set up by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city Terezín (German name Theresienstadt), located in what is now the Czech Republic. ... Hildegard Neumann was a chief overseer at a Nazi concentration camp and at a transi/detention camp during the last year of World War II. Hildegard Neumann was born in Gabel, Germany in 1919. ... Ruth Closius was an SS supervisor at a death camp complex from December 1944 until March 1945. ... The Uckermark concentration camp was a small Nazi concentration camp near the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Fürstenberg, Germany. ... Margarete Gallinat was the head overseer at Vught. ... Coat of arms Vught is a municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. ...

From the post-war until today

The "SS" women, as they have been called, were generally strong, stout and healthy. In 1944 as German losses mounted on both fronts, Reich Minister Albert Speer ordered Germany to attain "Mobilization for Total War." Thousands of women were forcibly recruited from factories and sent to many of the larger concentration camps to be trained. One survivor described how a group of fifty of them were led in and one by one they were told to hit an inmate. She went on to state that out of the fifty women, only three women asked the reason why and only one refused to do it, which caused her to be thrown into the camp herself. She went on to say that they soon got "into the swing of things, which they have been warming up their entire lives for." This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

As the Allies liberated the camps, SS women were generally still in active service. Many were captured in or near the camps of Ravensbruck, Bergen Belsen, Gross Rosen, Flossenburg, Salzwedel, Neustadt-Glewe, Neuengamme, and Stutthof. After the war many SS women were held at the internment camp at Recklinghausen, Germany or in the former concentration camp at Dachau. There between 500 and 1,000 women were held while the US Army investigated their crimes and camp service. The majority of them were released because male SS were the top priority. Many of the women held there were high ranking leaders of the Hitler Youth, or the BdM (German Girls and Women's Organization), while other women served in concentration camps; Salzwedel, Essen, Ravensbruck, etc. Salzwedel is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. ... Neustadt-Glewe is a German town, in the Land of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in the district of Ludwigslust. ... Recklinghausen is a city in the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ...

Many SS men and SS women were executed by the Soviets when they liberated the camps, while others were sent to the gulags. Only a few SS women were tried for their crimes compared to male SS. Most female wardresses were tried at the Auschwitz Trial, in four of the seven Ravensbrück Trials, at the first Stutthof Trial, and in the second and Third Majdanek Trials and from the small Hamburg-Sasel camp. At that trial all forty-eight SS men and women were tried. Gulag ( , Russian: ) is an acronym for Главное Управление Исправительно—Трудовых Лагерей и колоний, Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey i kolonii, The Chief Directorate [or Administration] of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies of the NKVD. Anne Applebaum, in her book Gulag: A History, explains: // Literally, the word GULAG is an acronym, meaning Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerei, or Main Camp... On Novembe 24, 1947, Polish authorities tried forty-one former members of staff from the Auschwitz concentration camps in a Krakow courtroom. ... The Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials were a series of seven trials for war crimes against camp officials from the Ravensbrück concentration camp that the British authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Hamburg after the end of World War II. These trials were heard before a military...

Female guards tried today

Not tried but deported by the US justice dept is 84 year old San Francisco resident Elfriede Lina Rinkel who hid a terrible secret for more than 60 years from her family, friends and Jewish German husband Fred. Mrs Rinkel fled to the US after the second world war seeking a better life.

The last female overseer to be tried was in 1996, with the case of former Aufseherin Luise Danz. Danz served as overseer in January 1943 at Plaszow, then at Majdanek, Auschwitz-Birkenau and at the Ravensbrück subcamp at Malchow as Oberaufseherin. She was tried at the first Auschwitz Trial and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1947. In 1956 she was released for good behavior. In 1996 she was once again tried for the murder of a young woman in Malchow at the end of the war. As of 2005, her sentence has still not been pronounced. 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Majdanek in the winter, 2005 Majdanek is the site of a German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, roughly 2. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Malchow was one of the numerous subcamps of Nazi concentration camp Ravensbrück located in Germany, which is believed to be first opened in the winter of 1943. ... Auschwitz, in English, commonly refers to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex built near the town of Oświęcim, by Nazi Germany during World War II. Rarely, it may refer to the Polish town of Oświęcim (called by the Germans Auschwitz) itself. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Malchow was one of the numerous subcamps of Nazi concentration camp Ravensbrück located in Germany, which is believed to be first opened in the winter of 1943. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1996, a story broke in Germany about Margot Pietzner (married Kunz), a former Aufseherin from Ravensbruck, the Belzig subcamp and a subcamp at Wittenberg. She was originally sentenced to death by a Soviet court but had it commuted to a life sentence and was released in 1956. In the early 1990's at the age of seventy-four Margot was awarded the title "Stalinist victim" and given 64,350 Deutsche Marks (32,902 Euros). Many historians argued that she had lied and did not deserve the money. She had in fact served time in a German prison, which was overseen by the Soviets, but she was imprisoned because she had served brutally in the ranks of three concentration camps. Pietzner currently lives in a small town in northern Germany.

The majority of the former women guards are over the age of 75, if they are still alive. Only one of them told her story to the public, Herta Bothe. Bothe, still alive (as of 2005) at the age of 84, served as a guard at Ravensbrück in 1942, then at Stutthof, Bromberg-Ost (Bromine East) subcamp, and finally in Bergen-Belsen. She received ten years imprisonment, and was released in the mid-1950's. In an interview from 2004, Herta was asked if she regretted being a guard in a concentration camp. Her response was, "What do you mean? ...I made a mistake, no... The mistake was that it was a concentration camp, but I had to go to it - otherwise I would have been put into it myself, that was my mistake."¹¹ Herta Bothe (born January 8, 1921 in Teterow, Mecklenburg, Germany) was a female Nazi concentration camp guard imprisoned for war crimes, but ultimately released. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Stutthof (Sztutowo) was the first concentration camp built by the German Nazi regime outside of Germany, on September 2, 1939. ... Bromberg-Ost was the female subcamp of the German concentration camp Stutthof, located in Bydgoszcz (Fordon). ... Present-day entrance to Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen, (or Belsen) was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that Internment be merged into this article or section. ...

Notes

• Note 1: The Sanity of Madness Inside Hitler's Concentration Camps
• Note 2: The Sanity of Madness Inside Hitler's Concentration Camps
• Note 3: Inside The Concentration Camps
• Note 4: unknown website (upcoming)
• Note 5: Return to Auschwitz by Kitty Hart
• Note 9: Inside The Concentration Camps
• Note 11: Hitler's Holocaust Mini-series

References

• Aroneanu, Eugene, ed. Inside the Concentration Camps Trans. Thomas Whissen. Praeger, 1996.
• Brown, Daniel Patrick. The Camp Women The SS Auxiliaries who Assisted the SS in Running the Nazi Concentration Camp System. Schiffer Publishing, 2002, ISBN 0-7643-1444-0
• Hart, Kitty. Return to Auschwitz: The Remarkable Story of a Girl Who Survived the Holocaust. Atheneum, 1983.