Post-War Trials and Sentencing
Many of the staff from the Nazi concentration camps were arrested and tried for murder and acts of brutality against their prisoners after World War II. Some 3,600 women worked in the concentration camps, and around 60 stood trial before War Crimes Tribunals between 1945 and 1949. Of these, 21 were executed, and their cases are detailed below. (In total, 5,025 men and women were convicted of war crimes in the American, British, and French zones, and over 500 of these were sentenced to death, with the majority executed.)
It was decided that those sentenced to die should suffer death by hanging for both sexes, although no standard execution protocol was agreed upon. Each country carried out executions in accordance with its normal procedure. This led to the use of British-style measured drop hanging in private for those executed in the British sector, short drop hanging in public or private for those in the Polish and Russian sectors, and standard drop hanging in semi-private for those executed by the Americans at Nuremberg, Dachau, and Landsberg. Some of the American hangings were televised and shown on the news. No women were executed in the U.S. sector.
Executions Under British Jurisdiction
A total of 189 men and 10 women were hanged at Hameln Prison (near Hanover) in Germany under British jurisdiction. These executions were carried out by Albert Pierrepoint, who was flown in specially on each occasion. Generally, he was assisted by Regimental Sergeant Major O’Neil, who was a member of the Control Commission there.
The hangings took place in a purpose-built execution room at the end of one of the prison’s wings. The gallows had been specially constructed by the Royal Engineers to allow the execution of prisoners in pairs and were based upon the design of Pentonville’s gallows. A British female prison governor or deputy governor had to be present at female executions. The deputy governor of Strangeways Prison, Miss Wilson, was present for the first three on December 13, 1945.
Belsen Concentration Camp Staff
Bergen-Belsen was established as late as April 1943 in Lower Saxony near the city of Celle as a transit centre. It was turned into a concentration camp by its second commandant, SS-Hauptsturmführer Josef Kramer, and was used to house those prisoners who had become too weak to work as forced labour in German factories.
It was liberated by the British Army on April 15, 1945. The British soldiers found 10,000 unburied corpses and 40,000 sick and dying prisoners, of whom a staggering 28,000 subsequently died after liberation.
As a result of these atrocities, 45 former members of staff from Bergen-Belsen, including some inmates who had taken part in acts of brutality against other prisoners, were charged with either being responsible for the murder of Allied nationals or the suffering of those in Bergen-Belsen in Germany (first count) or Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland (second count). Some defendants were charged with both counts.
The accused comprised 16 men and 16 women, including Josef Kramer, Belsen’s commandant, plus 12 former prisoners (seven men and five women).
The Belsen Trial
The Belsen Trial, as it was known, was conducted by the British Military Tribunal at No. 30 Lindentrasse, Lüneburg, in Germany from September 17 to November 17, 1945, under court president Major-General H.M.P. Berney-Ficklin, sitting with five other officers. The prosecution was handled by a team of four military lawyers, and each prisoner was represented by counsel.
All the prisoners were tried together and sat in the large dock, each wearing a number on their chest.
Verdicts and Sentencing
On the afternoon of November 16, the verdicts were delivered. Thirty-one prisoners were convicted on one or both counts, and 14 were acquitted of all charges. Irma Grese and Elisabeth Volkenrath were found guilty on both counts, Juana Bormann guilty only on the second charge.
The following day, the sentences were read out to the prisoners. Eleven of them were sentenced to death, and 19 others to various terms of imprisonment.
The death sentences were pronounced as follows by Major-General Berney-Ficklin:
“No. 1) Kramer, 2) Klein, 3) Weingartner, 5) Hoessler, 16) Francioh, 22) Pichen, 25) Stofel, 27) Dorr. The sentence of this Court on each one of you whom I have just named is that you suffer death by being hanged.”
He then passed sentence on the women as follows:
“No. 6) Bormann, 7) Volkenrath, 9) Grese. The sentence of this court is that you suffer death by being hanged.”
The sentence was translated for them into German as “Tode durch den strang,” literally “death by the rope.” All the prisoners were returned to Lüneburg Prison.
Appeals and Final Transfer
Nine of the eleven condemned appealed to the convening officer, Field Marshal Montgomery, who rejected their appeals for clemency. Elisabeth Volkenrath and Juana Bormann decided not to appeal.
On Friday, December 7, the appeals of the others were rejected and their death warrants signed by Field Marshal Montgomery. The condemned were then transferred to Hameln Jail the following day to await execution, being housed in a row of tiny cells along a corridor with the execution chamber at its end.
The 11 from Belsen were joined by two other men, Georg Otto Sandrock and Ludwig Schweinberger, sentenced for the murder of Pilot Officer Gerald Hood, a British prisoner of war at Almelo, Holland, on March 21, 1945.
Executions on December 13, 1945
The executions were set for Thursday, December 13, 1945, and were to be carried out at half-hour intervals starting at 9:34 a.m. with Elisabeth Volkenrath, followed by Irma Grese at 10:03 a.m., and Juana Bormann at 10:38 a.m.
The men, including Josef Kramer, were hanged in pairs afterwards, all 13 executions being completed by 4:17 p.m.
In view of the proximity of the condemned cells to the gallows, each one of them must have heard the preceding hangings. I have returned death warrants that show Elisabeth Volkenrath was executed first, with Irma Grese second, but this does not accord with Albert Pierrepoint’s autobiography, wherein it is stated that Irma Grese was the first.
Profiles of the Executed Women
Elisabeth Volkenrath was 26 years old. She was convicted of numerous murders and made selections for the gas chamber. She was described as the most hated woman in the camp.
Juana Bormann was known as “the woman with the dogs” and took sadistic pleasure in setting her wolfhounds on prisoners to tear them to pieces.
The afternoon before execution, each prisoner was weighed so the correct drop could be calculated for them.
Irma Grese smiled at Pierrepoint when he asked her age. Elisabeth Volkenrath was steady but looked nervous, and Juana Bormann limped down the corridor looking old and haggard.
Ravensbrück Concentration Camp
Overview of Ravensbrück
Ravensbrück concentration camp, near Fürstenberg in Germany, was the only major Nazi concentration camp for women and also served as a training base for female SS supervisors. Some 3,500 women underwent training there. They then worked in Ravensbrück or were sent to other camps. The camp was established in 1938 and liberated on April 30, 1945, by the Russian Army. The estimated number of victims there was 92,000.
First Ravensbrück Trial
Sixteen members of the staff were arrested and tried between December 5, 1946, and February 3, 1947, by a court in the British zone on charges of murder and brutality. All were found guilty on Monday, February 3, 1947, except one, who died during the trial. Eleven were sentenced to hang, including five women: head nurse Elisabeth Marschall, Aufseherin Greta Bösel, Oberaufseherin Dorothea Binz, and Kapos Carmen Mory and Vera Salvequart.
Carmen Mory’s Suicide
Forty-one-year-old Mory cut her wrists during the night of April 9 with a razor blade she had concealed in her shoe and thus escaped the noose. She was buried within the prison grounds. Swiss-born Mory was unusual in that she had worked as a spy for the French, the Nazis, and finally the British before and during the war, and had been sentenced to death by each in turn but always managed to dodge execution—by good fortune on the first two occasions.
She was a prisoner in Ravensbrück, having been reprieved by the Nazis, and there she made the most of her situation by becoming a Kapo, spying on other prisoners and assisting the staff. Due to a shortage of personnel, the SS frequently used prisoners (Kapos) to supervise other non-German inmates.
Executions on May 2, 1947
On May 2, 1947, Albert Pierrepoint hanged the remaining three women, one at a time:
- Dorothea Binz, aged 27, at 9:01 a.m.
- Elisabeth Marschall, nearly 61 years old, at 9:31 a.m.
- Greta Bösel, aged 39, at 9:55 a.m.
Dorothea Binz
Born on March 16, 1920, at Düsterlake near Templin in Germany, Binz had never married. She joined the Ravensbrück staff on September 1, 1939, as an Aufseherin in the women’s camp before being promoted to Oberaufseherin. She was arrested in Hamburg in May 1945 and came to trial at the first Ravensbrück trial.
Elisabeth Marschall
Born on May 24, 1886, Marschall became a nurse in 1909. She rose to the rank of Oberschwester (Head Nurse) in the Revier (hospital) barracks at Ravensbrück. She maltreated sick prisoners, took part in horrific experiments, and also made selections for the gas chambers.
Greta Bösel
Born on May 9, 1908, in Elberfeld, Germany, Bösel was a trained nurse who began work at Ravensbrück in August 1944. Her job was to supervise female working teams. She is reported to have said, “Let them rot if they can’t work.” During her trial, she made contradictory statements about her role in selecting prisoners for the death camps.
Execution of Vera Salvequart
Twenty-eight-year-old Vera Salvequart was born on November 26, 1919, in Wonotsch, Czechoslovakia, and trained as a nurse. She had served several prison terms. Not an SS guard, she was a prisoner at Ravensbrück, sent there in December 1944. As a Kapo, she worked as a nurse in the hospital wing, where she was said to have administered poison in the form of white powder to around 50 patients—12 of whom died. She also claimed to have stolen plans for the V2 rocket and passed them to Britain.
Salvequart petitioned the King for a reprieve in light of her espionage for Britain. She was granted a stay while this was considered, but the Royal prerogative of mercy was withheld. On Thursday, June 26, 1947, she was hanged at 9:03 a.m. by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Regimental Sergeant Major Richard Anthony O’Neill. Her body was later buried in the Wehl cemetery in Hameln.
Uckermark Trial
The third Ravensbrück trial, the so-called “Uckermark Trial,” was held between April 14 and April 26, 1948, to hear the cases of five women officials from the Uckermark concentration camp and extermination complex. This satellite camp housed girls aged 16–21.
Two women were acquitted, two received prison terms, and Ruth Closius (married name Neudeck) was condemned to death. Born in July 1920, Closius belonged to the SS guard staff at Ravensbrück and worked there in various roles from July 3, 1944, including in the punishment barracks. Promoted to Oberaufseherin at Uckermark in early 1945, she worked there until the camp’s liberation. She was convicted of the torture and murder of men, women, and children, as well as of selecting prisoners for the gas chambers. She was hanged on July 29, 1948.
Seventh Ravensbrück Trial
The seventh series of Ravensbrück trials was held between July 2 and July 21, 1948, to hear cases against Aufseherinnen accused of maltreatment and of making selections for the gas chambers.
Of the six women tried:
- Two were acquitted.
- Two received prison sentences.
- Two were sentenced to death: 60-year-old Emma Zimmer (née Mezel) and 36-year-old Ida Bertha Schreiber (or Schreiter). They were hanged on September 20, 1948.
No other women were executed as a result of the remaining Ravensbrück trials, although others received death sentences that were later commuted.
The bodies of the first 93 executed up to 1947 were originally buried at Hameln but were transferred to Wehl Cemetery in 1954. Bodies from the later 106 executions were interred directly at Wehl.
Auschwitz Concentration Camp
Overview
Auschwitz was established in May 1940 on the orders of Heinrich Himmler, on the outskirts of Oswiecim, Poland. The Germans renamed the town Auschwitz, which became the camp’s name. The complex grew into three main camps—Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and Auschwitz III-Monowitz—along with some 40 satellite camps.
Initially, Auschwitz housed Polish political prisoners, Soviet POWs, and Roma. From June 1942, it became an extermination camp for European Jews, who were killed in the gas chambers at Birkenau. An estimated one million people died in this camp. It was liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945.
Auschwitz Trial in Krakow
The trial of captured staff took place in Krakow in autumn 1947 and concluded on December 22. Twenty-one defendants, including ex-commandant Arthur Liebehenschel and two women—Maria Mandel and Therese Rosi Brandel—were condemned to death by the Supreme People’s Court in Krakow.
Maria Mandel
SS-Oberaufseherin Maria Mandel, a 36-year-old blonde, was born in January 1912 in Münzkirchen, Austria. She joined the SS in 1938. From October 1938 to May 1939, she was Aufseherin at KZ Lichtenburg, and from May 1939 to October 1942 at KZ Ravensbrück. She was then promoted to Oberaufseherin and transferred to Auschwitz, where she worked until November 30, 1944, before being moved to KZ Mühldorf until May 1945. She was arrested on August 10, 1945.
Highly intelligent and dedicated to her work, Mandel was known among inmates as “the beast” for her brutality and sadism, especially in selecting women and children for the gas chambers. She also had a passion for classical music and encouraged the women’s orchestra in Auschwitz, who played during roll calls, speeches, transport arrivals, and executions.
Therese Rosi Brandel
Born in February 1902 in Bavaria, Brandel began training at Ravensbrück in 1940. She served as an SS Aufseherin at Ravensbrück, Auschwitz, and the Mühldorf satellite camp. Known for beating prisoners and participating in selections for the gas chambers, she was awarded the War Service Medal in 1943. Brandel was arrested on August 29, 1945, in the Bavarian mountains.
Executions at Montelupich Prison
On January 24, 1948, all 21 condemned prisoners were executed in groups of five or six at Montelupich Prison in Krakow. The hangings began at 7:09 a.m. with Maria Mandel and four men: Arthur Liebehenschel, Hans Aumeier, Maximilian Grabner, and Carl Möckel.
Each prisoner mounted a step, was noosed, and then left to strangle. It reportedly took 15 minutes before death was confirmed.
- Second group: five men at 7:43 a.m.
- Third group: five men at 8:16 a.m.
- Final group: five men and Therese Brandel at 8:48 a.m.
After execution, all 21 bodies were taken to the Medical School at the University of Krakow for autopsy and anatomical study.
Execution of Elisabeth Lupka
Elisabeth Lupka, aged 46, was born on October 27, 1902, in Damner. She married in 1934, but the marriage was childless and ended in divorce. From 1937 to 1942, she worked in Berlin’s aircraft industry before becoming an SS Aufseherin at Ravensbrück. From March 1943 to January 1945, she served at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she beat prisoners and participated in gas chamber selections.
Arrested on June 6, 1945, she was tried on July 6, 1948, at the district court in Krakow, convicted of war crimes, and sentenced to death. She was executed on January 8, 1949, at 7:05 a.m. at Montelupich Prison. Her body was also sent to the University of Krakow for anatomical dissection.
Margot Drexler
Margot Drexler (also spelled Dreschel), another SS Aufseherin at Auschwitz, was particularly feared by inmates for beating and starving them. She last worked at the Ravensbrück subcamp of Neustadt-Glewe.
After the war, she fled but was captured in Pirma-Bautzen in Czechoslovakia in the Russian zone in May 1945. She was hanged in May or June of that year in Bautzen. Maria Mandel testified that Drexler had also participated in selections for the gas chambers.
Stutthof Concentration Camp
Background and Expansion
Stutthof concentration camp, located 34 km from Danzig, was the first Nazi concentration camp created outside Germany, in September 1939. From June 1944, it became a death camp as part of Hitler’s program to exterminate European Jews. The camp expanded rapidly over its five-year existence and had many satellite camps. This expansion required a significant increase in staff, and local people with Nazi sympathies were recruited.
Altogether, some 110,000 men, women, and children were sent to Stutthof. It is estimated that as many as 65,000 of these were put to death in the gas chamber or by hanging or shooting, while many more died of disease and ill treatment.
Liberation and Trials
The camp was liberated by the Russians on May 10, 1945. Commandant Johann Pauls and some of his staff were tried by the Polish Special Law Court in Danzig between April 25 and May 31, 1946. All defendants were represented by counsel.
Eleven of the accused—five women and six men—were found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death. These included:
- Johann Pauls
- SS-Aufseherinnen Jenny Wanda Barkmann, Elisabeth Becker, Wanda Klaff, Ewa Paradies, and Gerda Steinhoff
- Five male Kapos from the camp
They had all pleaded “not guilty” to the general charge of war crimes. The women did not appear to take the trial seriously until the end. After sentencing, they appealed for clemency, but these appeals were rejected by the Polish president.
Public Executions on July 4, 1946
All eleven were publicly hanged before a large crowd, estimated at several thousand, at 5:00 p.m. on July 4, 1946, at Biskupia Górka hill near Danzig. A row of simple gallows had been set up in an open area—four double gallows and a triple gallows in the center.
A fleet of open trucks brought the prisoners to the execution site, their hands and legs tied with cords. The condemned were made to stand on tailboards or chairs. A simple cord noose was placed around each neck, and the trucks were driven forward, leaving the prisoners suspended. They were not hooded and were given only a short drop. Some struggled for some time after suspension. It is alleged that one man and two women fought with guards prior to hanging, while the others accepted their fate calmly. The event was recorded by official press photographers, hence the clarity of the surviving images.
Profiles of the Executed Women
Jenny Wanda Barkmann
Twenty-four-year-old Jenny Wanda Barkmann, thought to be from Hamburg, was nicknamed “The Beautiful Spectre” by inmates, who considered her a ruthless killer. She was arrested in May 1945 at a railway station near Danzig while trying to escape. During her trial, she reportedly flirted with male guards and wore a different hairstyle each day. After being condemned, she is said to have remarked, “Life is a pleasure and pleasure as a rule is a short distance.”
Elisabeth Becker
Born on July 20, 1923, in Nowy Staw near Danzig, Elisabeth Becker was nearly 23 years old. She joined the NSDAP and the BDM between 1938 and 1940 and worked in agriculture until 1944. She joined the staff of Stutthof in September 1944 as an SS-Aufseherin in the women’s camp (SK-III), where she made selections for the gas chambers.
Following her death sentence, Becker submitted an appeal requesting commutation. The court recommended substituting a 15-year sentence due to her relatively minor involvement, but the Polish president, Bolesław Bierut, rejected the request. She was executed with the others.
Wanda Klaff
Born Wanda Kalacinski on March 6, 1922, in Danzig, she worked in a jam factory before marrying Willy Gapes in 1942. In 1944, she joined the staff at the Praust subcamp of Stutthof and later transferred to Russoschin. She contracted typhoid and was hospitalized in Danzig, where she was arrested on June 11, 1945. Photographs suggest she may have been hanged by a female former inmate, unlike the others.
Gerda Steinhoff
Twenty-four-year-old Gerda Steinhoff, also from Danzig, worked on a farm and in a bakery before joining the SS at Stutthof in October 1944. She quickly rose to Oberaufseherin at KZ Danzig and later moved to KZ Bydgoszcz. She was awarded the Iron Cross for her wartime efforts. She was arrested by Polish police on May 25, 1945.
Ewa Paradies
Born December 17, 1920, in Lauenburg (now Lębork, Poland), Ewa Paradies held various jobs before joining Stutthof’s staff in August 1944. She trained as an Aufseherin and was transferred to the Bromberg-Ost subcamp in October 1944 before returning to Stutthof in January 1945. She was arrested in Lauenburg in May 1945.
Other Camps
Else Lieschen Frieda Ehrich
Ehrich was the women’s camp commandant at Majdanek concentration camp. Arrested in Hamburg in May 1945, she was tried in 1948 during the second Majdanek Trials before the District Court of Lublin. She was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity and hanged on October 26, 1948, in Lublin Prison, Poland.
Ruth Elfriede Hildner
Hildner was tried by the Extraordinary People’s Court in Písek, Czechoslovakia, on May 2, 1947, and hanged six hours later, presumably by pole hanging. She had served as a guard at Zwodau, a subcamp of Flossenbürg, in Czechoslovakia.
Sydonia Bayer
Born December 12, 1903, in Kwiatkowicach, Bayer received limited medical training and worked at a camp for Polish children, where she was cruel and nicknamed “Frau Doctor.” Tried by a Polish Special Criminal Court, she was sentenced to death on September 6, 1945, and hanged on November 12, 1945, in Łódź, Poland.
In Conclusion
One can only wonder, looking back from 50 years later, what turned these women into virtual monsters. Was it total belief in Hitler’s ideology, latent sadism, or a combination of both? It is terrifying what people can do when they are out of control and face no consequences.
Many of these women likely believed that Germany would win the war and that they would rise in the regime. They viewed their prisoners as “dreck,” the German word for garbage—subhuman and disposable. Their lives and feelings were irrelevant, and control was maintained through fear and brutal repression.
One also wonders if, over time, they became numb to cruelty. Many tried for war crimes claimed they were merely following orders. But this defense rang hollow, then as now, given the level of sadism they inflicted.
It is easy to feel sympathy for the young women from Stutthof whose brutal executions were so vividly recorded. Yet one must remember what they did. As a young soldier reportedly said to executioner Albert Pierrepoint on the eve of the Belsen hangings, “If you had been in Belsen under this lot, you wouldn’t be able to feel sorry for them.” (Pierrepoint had expressed some sympathy for the condemned.)
Had it not been for the war, one suspects many of these women would have lived ordinary lives—with jobs, husbands, and children.
It is also notable that many of those caught, tried, and executed were relatively junior figures, while a number of senior officials managed to evade justice. Still, many concentration camp commandants were eventually captured and, in most cases, sentenced to death.
Support the Archive
If you have found this article useful and would like to help preserve and maintain this historical archive, please consider supporting the site.