Maria Mandl

2025-10-27T19:12:37Z

72.87.99.148: Added a needed comma

{{Short description|Austrian Holocaust perpetrator (1912–1948)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Maria Mandl
| image = Maria Mandel.jpg
| caption = Mandl in U.S. custody, August 1945
| birth_date = {{birth date|1912|1|10|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Münzkirchen]], Austria-Hungary
| death_date = {{death date and age|1948|1|24|1912|1|10|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Montelupich Prison]], Kraków, Polish People's Republic
| module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
| embed_title = {{lang|de|[[SS-Gefolge]]|nocat=yes}}{{efn-la|The women in {{lang|de|SS-Gefolge}} were not regarded as members of the {{lang|de|Schutzstaffel}}.<ref>{{harvnb|Morrison|2000|p=24}}</ref>}}
| allegiance = [[Nazi Germany]]
| serviceyears = 1938–1945
| rank = {{plainlist| * '''Lichtenburg'''<br>{{lang|de|[[Female guards in Nazi concentration camps#Aufseherin|Aufseherin]]}}
* '''Ravensbrück'''<br>{{lang|de|[[Female guards in Nazi concentration camps#Oberaufseherin|Oberaufseherin]]}}
* '''Auschwitz II-Birkenau'''<br>{{lang|de|[[Female guards in Nazi concentration camps#Schutzhaftlagerführerin|Lagerführerin]]}}
}}
}}
| death_cause = [[Execution by hanging]]
| party = [[Nazi Party]]
| conviction = [[Crimes against humanity]]
| conviction_status = [[Executed]]
| criminal_penalty = [[Capital punishment in Poland|Death]]
| motive = [[Nazism]]
| trial = Auschwitz trial
| signature = Maria Mandl's signature (1944).svg
| signature_size = 175px
}}

'''Maria Mandl''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|æ|n|d|əl}}, {{respell|MAHN-dul}}; sometimes erroneously spelled '''Mandel'''; 10 January 1912 – 24 January 1948) was an Austrian-born [[Holocaust]] perpetrator and convicted war criminal. From 1942 until her arrest in 1945, she served as the {{lang|de|[[Female guards in Nazi concentration camps#Schutzhaftlagerführerin|Schutzhaftlagerführerin]]}} (camp leader) at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp. She also held positions at the Lichtenburg and Ravensbrück camps as {{lang|de|[[Female guards in Nazi concentration camps#Aufseherin|Aufseherin]]}} (overseer) and {{lang|de|Oberaufseherin}} (head overseer), respectively.

Mandl was born in [[Münzkirchen]], Austria-Hungary, into a financially well-off Catholic family affiliated with the [[Christian Social Party (Austria)|Christian Social Party (CSP)]]. Following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, she moved to Munich and found work as an {{lang|de|Aufseherin}} at the [[Lichtenburg concentration camp|Lichtenburg]] concentration camp. There, she subjected prisoners to fatal beatings and floggings. In 1939, she was transferred to [[Ravensbrück]], where she was promoted to {{lang|de|Oberaufseherin}}. She oversaw the training program for prospective {{lang|de|Aufseherinnen}} and worked alongside [[Dorothea Binz]] in the camp's punishment block. Mandl's final promotion came in 1942, when she was transferred to [[Auschwitz II-Birkenau]] and given the position of {{lang|de|[[Female guards in Nazi concentration camps#Schutzhaftlagerführerin|Schutzhaftlagerführerin]]}} under the command of [[Rudolf Höss]]. As the [[Red Army]] advanced toward the Auschwitz complex in late 1944, Mandl was transferred to the [[Mühldorf concentration camp complex|Mettenheim camp]]. In May 1945, as the United States Air Force invaded and bombed the area, Mandl fled with her lover, {{lang|de|Kommandant}} Walter Adolf Langleist, and a Jewish prisoner known as Mose. After evading arrest for three months, Mandl and Langleist were apprehended by the American military police in August 1945 at Langleist's home in [[Hof, Bavaria|Hof]].

Mandl was convicted of [[crimes against humanity]] at the [[Auschwitz trial]] in Kraków in December 1947. Based on the number of death lists she signed, it is believed that she had been complicit in the deaths of approximately 500,000 prisoners during her tenure at Birkenau. In January 1948, she was executed by hanging at the age of thirty-six. Her last words were "{{lang|pl|Polska żyje}}" ("Poland lives").

==Early life==
[[File:Maria Mandl, before 1938.png|thumb|left|upright=0.73|Mandl, {{circa|before 1938}}]]
Maria Mandl was born on 10 January 1912 in [[Münzkirchen]], [[Austria-Hungary]], into a well-off Catholic family.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:02:32}} She was raised on a farm, which was regarded by locals as the largest in the municipality,{{efn-lr|name=00:09:01|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:09:01}} and had three older siblings: Georg, Anna, and Aloisia.<ref name="Eischeid 1">{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=1}}</ref> Her father, Franz Mandl, was a shoemaker who worked out of his own shop{{efn-lr|name=00:09:01}} and was opposed to the [[Nazi Party]], instead supporting the [[Christian Social Party (Austria)|Christian Social Party (CSP)]].<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=8}}</ref> Her mother, Anna Streibl, was a housewife who suffered from depressive episodes and had a nervous breakdown during Mandl's childhood.<ref name="Eischeid 2">{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=2}}</ref> In the 2014 documentary ''Pechmarie: The Life of Maria Mandl'', former Münzkirchen mayor Martin Zauner described the Mandls as "a good, Catholic family" who were "definitely against the Third Reich".{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:59:34}}

On 20 July 1924, at the age of twelve, Mandl was withdrawn from school without completing an [[exit exam]] to help on the family farm. In 1927, she was admitted to a Catholic boarding school in [[Neuhaus am Inn]], from which she graduated.<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=2}}</ref> A former classmate of Mandl's, Paula Bauer, described her as having been "cheerful" and "very nice".{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:09:30}} After graduating in 1930, Mandl struggled to find work locally, prompting her to move to [[Brig, Switzerland|Brig]], Switzerland, where she found a position as a housekeeper and cook for thirteen months. She eventually became homesick and returned to Münzkirchen to live with her parents. In 1934, she found work as a [[chambermaid]] at a private villa in [[Innsbruck]], but in 1936 once again returned home due to her parents' declining health.<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=4–5}}</ref>{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:03:16}} That same year, she was hired at the local post office and became engaged to a {{lang|de|[[Wehrmacht]]}} soldier.{{efn-lr|name=00:04:49|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:04:49}}<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=6}}</ref>

After [[Nazi Germany]] [[annexation of Austria|annexed]] Austria in 1938, Mandl's engagement ended, and she lost her job at the post office. As a Third Reich soldier, her fiancé believed that her family's affiliation with the CSP could harm his reputation and affect his chances of finding employment in the civil service in the future. Mandl had been fired from her job for similar reasons; her family was openly opposed to the Third Reich, and she herself had no allegiance to the Nazi Party.<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=8}}</ref>{{efn-lr|name=00:04:49}}

==Employment in concentration camps==
===Lichtenburg (1938–1939)===
In September 1938, Mandl moved to [[Munich]] to live with her uncle, a police constable, with the intention of having him get her a position in the police force. None were available, however, and he instead encouraged her to apply for the position of {{lang|de|Aufseherin}} at the [[Lichtenburg concentration camp|Lichtenburg]] concentration camp in [[Prettin]]. Mandl would later claim after her 1945 arrest that she had only taken the job because the salary was higher than that of a nurse, and that she had known "nothing" about concentration camps.<ref name="Eischeid 8">{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=8}}</ref>

Mandl began working at the camp on 15 October.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:05:21}} She completed a training program structured around [[Nazi ideology]] and took a twenty-question exam on geography, history, and dates significant to the Nazi Party. During her first three months as {{lang|de|Aufseherin}}, she was under the supervision of an experienced guard.<ref name="Eischeid 8"/> Mandl had undergone training with her cousin, Maria Gruber, but the latter resigned early on because she was disgusted by the violence at the camp.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:13:07}}

Mandl worked under {{lang|de|[[Commandant#Germany|Kommandant]]}} [[Max Koegel]] and {{lang|de|Oberaufseherin}} [[Johanna Langefeld]].<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=34}}</ref> According to testimonies from survivors Emilie Neu and [[Lina Haag]], Mandl subjected prisoners to whippings, beatings, and strenuous exercises—a practice referred to as "sport" in both victim and perpetrator accounts. In one incident, Mandl struck a prisoner repeatedly with a metal key until she lost consciousness, then dragged her across the camp and put her in a solitary cell. Another survivor, unnamed, recalled an encounter with Mandl when the woman was still new. The survivor had told the latter that she was "too pretty to play supervisor," to which Mandl replied, "No I swore the oath to the {{lang|de|[[Führer]]}}, I'm staying".<ref name="Eischeid 8"/>

===Ravensbrück (1939–1942)===
On 15 May 1939, Mandl was transferred to the [[Ravensbrück]] concentration camp, where she continued to work under Koegel and Langefeld. She assisted with [[Appellplatz|roll call]]s, overseeing work details, and handling [[attack dog]]s. Whilst stationed at work details, Mandl was known to have physically and verbally abused prisoners if she believed them to be working too slow. She also took on a leading role in the camp's training program upon its official designation as the training site for prospective {{lang|de|Aufseherinnen}}.<ref name="Eischeid 14">{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=14}}</ref> In the summer of 1939, she trained [[Hermine Braunsteiner]], who later described Mandl as having been "very strict" and "unfavorable" during her training, recalling instances Mandl hit prisoners.<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=13}}</ref>

In early 1940, Mandl, along with {{lang|de|Oberaufseherin}} Dorothea Binz,<ref name="Eischeid 14"/> was assigned to the on-camp jail referred to as the "cell block" or "punishment block". It was here that prisoners were flogged, receiving twenty-five strikes on their buttocks. Austrian survivor [[Marko Feingold]] later recalled how he and his brother endured this abuse five times per day, receiving twenty-five strikes every time.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:14:47}} In an interrogation following her arrest, Mandl claimed that prisoners in the block were only kept in cells for up to a month and were provided with coffee and bread every day. However, survivors' testimonies contradict this statement, describing how food had been withheld.<ref name="Eischeid 14"/>

In 1941, Mandl became a member of the [[National Socialist Women's League]].{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:13:35}} In April 1942, she was promoted to the rank of {{lang|de|Oberaufseherin}} following Langefeld's transfer to Auschwitz II-Birkenau in March,<ref>{{harvnb|Benz|Distel|2005|p=497}}</ref> as the latter had been unable to maintain "brutality and structure" within the camp.<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=13–14}}</ref>

===Auschwitz II-Birkenau (1942–1944)===
[[File:Maria Mandl on 1 September 1944.png|thumb|right|upright=0.75|Mandl was the only female guard present during the opening of the SS hospital in Auschwitz, 1 September 1944<ref>{{harvnb|Busch|Hördler|Van Pelt|2016|p=124}}</ref>]]
In October 1942, Mandl was sent to [[Auschwitz II-Birkenau]], where she succeeded Langefeld in rank for the second time upon being promoted to the position of {{lang|de|Schutzhaftlagerführerin}}.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:23:21}} She resided in on-camp housing, with gynecologist [[Carl Clauberg]] as her neighbor.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:37:35}} In this position, her only superior was {{lang|de|Kommandant}} [[Rudolf Höss]], who regarded her highly. On 27 March 1944, he gave her a salary increase of 100 {{lang|de|[[Reichsmarks]]}}<ref>{{harvnb|Koop|2021|p=62}}</ref> as well as control of all the female subcamps in the Auschwitz complex, including [[Hindenburg O.S.]], [[Lichtewerden]], and [[Rajsko, Oświęcim County|Rajsko]].<ref>{{harvnb|Fleming|2022|p=240}}</ref> During this period, Mandl promoted [[Irma Grese]] to the position of {{lang|de|Oberaufseherin}}<ref>{{harvnb|Müller|2020|p=25}}</ref> and appointed [[Therese Brandl]] as her secretary.<ref name="Bartrop & Grimm 199">{{harvnb|Bartrop|Grimm|2019|p=199}}</ref> In November, Mandl was awarded the [[War Merit Cross]], Second Class.<ref>{{harvnb|Heath|2018|p=200}}</ref>

The cruelty Mandl had subjected prisoners to in Lichtenburg and Ravensbrück continued. At Birkenau, when new prisoners arrived, she used a cane to extract expensive items and jewelry hidden in women's vaginas. She took these items back with her to Münzkirchen when visiting her family and kept them hidden inside a drawer.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:26:38}} According to survivor [[Anita Lasker-Wallfisch]], Mandl would stand in front of the camp's front gate whilst prisoners were lined up. If a prisoner made eye contact with her, they were removed from the line and killed.<ref group="A">{{cite web |author= |title=Holocaust Survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch Meets Stephen Fry |website=[[Holocaust Memorial Day|Holocaust Memorial Day Trust]] |publication-date=2015 |url=https://hmd.org.uk/resource/holocaust-survivor-anita-lasker-wallfisch-meets-stephen-fry/ |archive-date=27 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127135001/https://hmd.org.uk/resource/holocaust-survivor-anita-lasker-wallfisch-meets-stephen-fry/ |url-status=live |access-date=27 January 2025}}</ref> She also tested prisoners returning from outside work details by holding a cane fifty centimeters above the ground and forcing every person to jump over it. Those who succeeded were allowed to proceed to roll call, while those who failed were sent to the [[gas chamber]].<ref group="A" name="LRE">{{cite web |author= |title=Maria Mandl |website=[[Liberation Route Europe]] |publication-date=26 November 2024 |url=https://www.liberationroute.com/stories/457/maria-mandel |archive-date=28 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250828000916/https://www.liberationroute.com/stories/457/maria-mandel |url-status=live |access-date=28 August 2025}}</ref> Moreover, survivor Regina Lebensfeldová-Hofstädterová, who had been a typist in the camp's political department, stated that Mandl referred to prisoners as {{lang|de|mistbienen}} ([[dung beetles]]).<ref group="A">{{cite web |last=Lebensfeldová-Höfstädterová |first=Regina |title=Regina Lebensfeldová-Höfstädterová, experiences from Auschwitz as a typist in the Political Department |website=[[European Holocaust Research Infrastructure]] |publication-date=19 December 1945 |publisher=[[Jewish Museum in Prague]] |url=https://early-testimony.ehri-project.eu/document/EHRI-ET-JMP019 |page=1 |archive-date=February 1, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250201212928/https://early-testimony.ehri-project.eu/document/EHRI-ET-JMP019 |url-status=live |access-date=February 1, 2025}}</ref> Over the next two years, Mandl signed death lists on a weekly basis and partook in selections alongside SS doctors.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:25:48}}<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=38, 80}}</ref>

Mandl provided care to a select few children in Birkenau, giving them extra food and engaging them in activities like dancing and singing.{{efn-lr|name=00:28:23}} Survivor [[Ella Lingens-Reiner]] has attested to this, having recalled witnessing two children leaving Mandl's office with cookies and chocolate.<ref name="Langbein 396">{{harvnb|Langbein|2015|p=396}}</ref> Lingens-Reiner has also stated that Mandl once asked a pregnant German prisoner to give her the child after its birth, because she herself was not able to have children.<ref name="Langbein 396"/> Her alleged infertility has since been suggested as an explanation as to why she behaved differently towards the children at the camp.{{efn-lr|name=00:28:23}} Conversely, she had also carried a two-year-old Polish boy to be killed in the gas chamber herself after having clothed and fed him for several days.{{efn-lr|name=00:28:23|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:28:23}}

[[File:Alma Rosé (1906–1944) 1927 © Georg Fayer (1892–1950).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.70|Alma Rosé, {{circa|before March 1927}}]]
====The Women's Orchestra and Alma Rosé====
{{Main|Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz}}
In April 1943, Mandl, with {{lang|de|[[Hauptsturmführer]]}} [[Franz Hössler]], began organizing the [[Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz]] after seeing the success of men's orchestras in the main camp. Mandl instructed block leaders and other prisoners assigned to internal work details, such as in the political unit, to recruit prisoners who could play an instrument. [[Zofia Czajkowska]], who had been a music teacher, was chosen by Mandl to be the orchestra's first conductor, partly because her surname sounded like "[[Tchaikovsky]]".<ref name="Newman 230"/>

The orchestra performed at the entrance of Birkenau as prisoners left for and returned from work details. The orchestra also performed in the hospital block and in the showers. Concerts were also held for SS members every Sunday for the camp personnel.<ref name="Eischeid 2016-8">{{harvnb|Eischeid|2016|p=8}}</ref><ref name="Newman 230">{{harvnb|Newman|2000|p=230}}</ref> During the winter season, members of the orchestra were not required to stand outside for roll calls and were instead counted inside their barracks. They were also allowed to shower daily and were given proper bedding, as well as tables to eat on.<ref name="Eischeid 2016-7"/> For concerts, women were given uniforms consisting of a dark blue skirt, white blouse, black stockings, and a gray-and-blue striped jacket made from the material of their prison uniforms.<ref>{{harvnb|Newman|2000|p=251}}</ref> By the end of June, the orchestra had grown to twenty members, and by 1944, it had reached its peak of forty-two.<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2016|p=5–6}}</ref>

{{Quote box |quote=When I observed her during a successful concert, especially with a new performance by Alma, then her face would radiate, literally radiate. She would take on an expression of deep soulfulness. When Alma performed her solo, there was surprise (astonishment) in Mandl's eyes—that the product was so good. |align=right |width=25% |qalign=left |salign=right |source=[[Helena Dunicz-Niwińska]], 2003<ref name="Eischeid 47–48"/>}}

In August 1943, Czajkowska was replaced as conductor of the orchestra by Austrian violinist [[Alma Rosé]], the daughter of [[Arnold Rosé]]<ref name="Eischeid 2016-7">{{harvnb|Eischeid|2016|p=7}}</ref> and niece of [[Gustav Mahler]].<ref name="Eischeid 41">{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=41}}</ref> Mandl arranged for Rosé to be transferred from Auschwitz I, where she had been imprisoned since July, to Birkenau for the sole purpose of having her lead the orchestra.<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=40–42}}</ref> According to testimonies from surviving orchestra members, Mandl had "genuine respect" for Rosé and would call her "Frau Alma".<ref>{{harvnb|Newman|2000|p=287}}</ref> Moreover, when Rosé arrived at Birkenau, Mandl had taken it upon herself to change the woman's classification from "Dutch Jew" to "{{lang|de|[[Mischling]]}}" ("part Jew"), so she had a more respectable standing as head of the orchestra.<ref>{{harvnb|Newman|2000|p=235}}</ref> Additionally, on one occasion, when Rosé became ill Mandl allowed her to rest in a private room.<ref name="Langbein 396"/> On another, she assured Rosé that she would be "the last" to be sent to the gas chamber.<ref>{{harvnb|Newman|2000|p=288}}</ref> However, Mandl had also become aggressive with Rosé at one point when the latter recruited more Jewish women into the orchestra, yelling at Rosé that she did not want to have a "Jewish orchestra" and accusing her of "scheming against Polish women".<ref name="Eischeid 47–48">{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=47–48}}</ref>

On 2 April 1944, Rosé became sick and delirious. Mandl once again gave her a private room, this time in the hospital block. Rosé died three days later, on 5 April, at the age of thirty-eight. The cause of death is unknown, though [[botulism]] and [[food poisoning]] has since been suspected.<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=52}}</ref> Mandl openly mourned Rosé's death and allowed all members of the orchestra to see her one last time.<ref>{{harvnb|Newman|2000|p=302}}</ref>

===Mettenheim (1944–1945)===
In December 1944, Mandl was suddenly transferred to the [[Mühldorf concentration camp complex|Mettenheim concentration camp]] in Mühldorf am Inn, as an invasion by the [[Red Army]]<ref group="A" name="LRE"/> became imminent. There, she oversaw five hundred female prisoners,{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:40:50}} as well as women in the {{lang|de|Waldlager}} V and VI subcamps.<ref group=A>{{cite book |editor-last=Schreiber |editor-first=Waltraud |title=Permanent Exhibition in Mühldorf: The District of Mühldorf during the era of National Socialism|publication-date=2018 |page=35 |publisher=Registered Association of the Mühldorf History Centre |location=Oberbergkirchen, Germany |url=https://www.museum-muehldorf.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Everyday-Life-Armaments-Annihilation-E.pdf |archive-date=21 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250821205458/https://www.museum-muehldorf.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Everyday-Life-Armaments-Annihilation-E.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Mandl met {{lang|de|Kommandant}} Walter Adolf Langleist and began a relationship with him in 1945.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:41:15}}

In April 1945, the [[United States Air Force]] bombed the Mettenheim camp, which was then followed by a ground invasion on 1 May. Mandl and Langleist fled with a Jewish inmate, only known as Mose, amidst gunfire and temporarily sought refuge in the woods.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:42:39}} They subsequently went into hiding in Mandl's home in [[Innviertel]] for a couple weeks. In July, Mandl returned to her family home in Münzkirchen to stay there, but her father did not let her inside the house. Still with Langleist and Mose, Mandl was able to find them refuge at her sister's farm in [[Łuck]], where they stayed for three days.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:43:49}} Mandl would later allege that Mose "betrayed her" and Langleist within this timeframe to "take revenge for harm caused by different people".{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:44:22}} In August, Langleist was arrested by the American military police<ref group="A" name="LRE"/> after survivor Max Katler identified him. Mandl was arrested soon after at Langleist's home in [[Hof, Bavaria|Hof]].{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:47:41}}

==Trial and execution==
{{Main|Auschwitz trial}}
{{Quote box |quote=Maria Mandl behaves differently. She does her best to be in control of herself but her efforts are futile. The woman who condemned female prisoners to death with a single gesture now cannot control her accelerated breathing, unnatural blush and nervous twitching of her entire face. |align=left |width=30% |qalign=left |salign=right |source=''{{ill|Echo Krakowa|pl}}'', 24 December 1947<ref group=A>{{cite news |author= |publication-date=24 December 1947 |title=Nie zemsta, lecz sprawiedliwość: Zbrodniarze hitlerowscy otrzymali zasłużoną karę |trans-title=Not revenge, but justice: Nazi criminals received well-deserved punishment |work=Echo Krakowa |page=2 |publisher=Robotnicza Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza „Prasa” |location=Kraków, Poland |url=http://old.mbc.malopolska.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=95349&from=publication |language=pl |archive-date=27 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127090634/http://old.mbc.malopolska.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=95349&from=publication |url-status=live |access-date=27 January 2025}}</ref>}}

[[File:Maria Mandl during the 1947 Auschwitz trial in Kraków.webm|thumb|right|upright=0.89|Mandl in Kraków on 24 November 1947, during the Auschwitz trial]]

Mandl was imprisoned at the [[Dachau concentration camp]], where she was interrogated by Americans, whom she described as "violent but smart".{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:48:00}} On 11 July 1946, she was transferred to Polish custody on grounds of the [[Nuremberg trials#Nuremberg charter|London Agreement]] and her disproportionate cruelty towards Polish prisoners. For the remainder of her life, Mandl was incarcerated at [[Montelupich Prison]], where she shared a cell with Brandl.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 00:51:55}}<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=102}}</ref> That September, Mandl was tried and convicted by Poland's [[Supreme National Tribunal]]. She would only plead guilty on 5 March 1947 after confessing to have signed most death lists during her time at Birkenau.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 01:03:08}} On 22 December 1947, she was found guilty of [[crimes against humanity]]{{efn-la|Per Eischeid's work, there was overwhelming evidence presented during the trial to prove that (1) Mandl took part in the death selection process at Ravensbrück and Auschwitz II-Birkenau, (2) used force to get prisoners into cars that would take them to gas chambers, (3) separated children from their mothers and beat them, (4) killed pregnant women by selecting them for the gas chambers and having them injected with [[phenol]], (5) selected more than eighty prisoners for [[Nazi human experimentation|medical experiments]] involving limb regeneration whilst at Ravensbrück, (6) was involved in the deaths of babies who were found with fatal burns, (7) subjected prisoners to inhumane torture (i.e., kneeling on sharp rocks, kicking, whipping, [[caning]]), and (8) selected women to be sent to the camp's [[German camp brothels in World War II|brothel]].<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=91}}</ref>}} and sentenced to death by [[hanging]], one of forty defendants and one of only four women in what would become known as the [[Auschwitz trial]].<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=92}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Fleming|2022|p=241}}</ref>{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 01:04:37}} Based on the number of lists signed with her name, Mandl is believed to have been complicit in the deaths of approximately 500,000 people.<ref>{{harvnb|Heath|2018|p=200}}</ref><ref group="A" name="LRE"/>

Mandl wrote an appeal for [[clemency]] to Polish president [[Bolesław Bierut]], claiming innocence; her lawyers also attempted to get her pardoned but their request was rejected.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 01:06:55}} In the days leading up to her execution, she spent her time praying and teaching herself Polish.<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=95}}</ref><ref name="Eischeid 104">{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=104}}</ref> She also sought forgiveness from anti-Communist activist {{ill|Stanisława Rachwałowa|pl}}, who was formerly imprisoned in Auschwitz and later incarcerated in Montelupich upon being sentenced to death by communist authorities.<ref>{{harvnb|Eischeid|2024|p=102}}</ref><ref group="A" name="LRE"/>

On 24 January 1948, at 7:32 A.M., Mandl was executed by hanging at the age of thirty-six. She had allegedly resisted against the guards who escorted her, and her final words, spoken in Polish, were "{{lang|pl|Polska żyje}}" ("Poland lives").<ref name="Eischeid 104"/> She was the fifth person executed that morning, after [[Arthur Liebehenschel]], [[Hans Aumeier]], [[Maximilian Grabner]], and [[Karl Möckel]]. In total, twenty-one Nazis were executed that day. Unlike some of the men's, Mandl's hanging was not taped.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 01:08:14}}

==Aftermath==
Hours after her execution, Mandl's body was sent to the [[Jagiellonian University Medical College]] for students to experiment on for a six-week period.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 01:12:29}} On 6 March, her body was moved to the [[Rakowicki Cemetery]] in Kraków and buried in a wooden box at an unmarked spot.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 01:12:58}} Mandl's father had been aware of the atrocities his daughter committed and did not request for her remains to be sent home.<ref name="Walser 66">{{harvnb|Walser|2021|p=66}}</ref> Her mother died in 1944 and had attended [[Mass in the Catholic Church|Mass]] every day, where she "prayed for her daughter's eternal soul".<ref name="Eischeid 1"/> The Mandl family's tomb in Münzkirchen does not have Maria's name engraved.{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 01:13:57}}

In November 1975, Mandl's death certificate was recovered.<ref name="Walser 66"/> Issued by the District Court of [[Ried im Innkreis]], the document claimed that she had died in a concentration camp as a prisoner and regarded her as a "victim of National Socialism".{{efn-lr|[[Maria Mandl#Filmography|Neumayr & Strasser 2014]], at 01:14:20}} Lawyer {{ill|Robert Eiter (lawyer)|lt=Robert Eiter|de|Robert Eiter}} and the [[Austrian Mauthausen Committee]] demanded for corrections to be made. It was not until April 2017 that the Ried im Innkreis regional court amended the certificate to reflect Mandl's role in the Holocaust.<ref name="Walser 66"/>

==Notes==
{{notelist-la}}
==References==
===Citations===
 {{reflist}}
 {{notelist-lr}}
====Bibliography====
=====Online=====
{{reflist|group=A|liststyle=upper-roman}}
=====In print=====
{{Refbegin|indent=yes|30em}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bartrop |first1=Paul R. |author-link1=Paul R. Bartrop |last2=Grimm |first2=Eve E. |title=Perpetrating the Holocaust: Leaders, Enablers, and Collaborators |publication-date=2019 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-4408-5896-3}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Benz |editor-first1=Wolfgang |editor-link1=Wolfgang Benz |editor-last2=Distel |editor-first2=Barbara |title=Der Ort des Terrors: Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager |trans-title=The Place of Terror: History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps |title-link=Der Ort des Terrors |volume=4 |publication-date=2005 |publisher=[[C. H. Beck]] |location=Munich, Germany |language=de |isbn=978-3-406-52964-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Busch |first1=Christophe |last2=Hördler |first2=Stefan |author-link2=Stefan Hördler |last3=Van Pelt |first3=Robert Jan |author-link3=Robert Jan van Pelt |title=Das Höcker-Album: Auschwitz durch die Linse der SS |trans-title=The Höcker Album: Auschwitz through the lens of the SS |language=de |publication-date=2016 |publisher=Verlag Philipp von Zabern |location=Darmstadt, Germany |isbn=978-3-8053-4958-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Eischeid |first=Susan |title=Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz- Birkenau |publication-date=2024 |publisher=[[Kensington Publishing|Citadel Press]] |location=New York, New York |isbn=978-0-8065-4285-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Eischeid |first=Susan |title=The Truth about Fania Fénelon and the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz-Birkenau |publication-date=2016 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |location=Cham, Switzerland |isbn=978-3-319-31037-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Fleming |first=Michael |title=In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Poland, the United Nations War Crimes Commission, and the Search for Justice |publication-date=2022 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-009-09898-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Heath |first=Tim |title=In Hitler's Shadow: Post-War Germany and the Girls of the BDM |publication-date=2018 |publisher=[[Pen and Sword Books]] |location=Yorkshire, England |isbn=978-1-5267-2001-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Koop |first=Volker |author-link=Volker Koop |title=The Commandant of Auschwitz: Rudolf Höss |publication-date=2021 |publisher=[[Pen and Sword Books|Frontline Books]] |location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England |isbn=978-1-47388-688-9}}
* {{cite book |author-last=Langbein |author-first=Hermann |author-link=Hermann Langbein |translator-last=Zohn |translator-first=Harry |translator-link=Harry Zohn |title=People in Auschwitz |publication-date=2015 |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |isbn=978-1-4696-2837-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Morrison |first=Jack G. |title=Ravensbrück: Everyday Life in a Women's Concentration Camp, 1939–1945 |publication-date=2000 |publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers |location=Princeton, New Jersey |isbn=978-1-55876-218-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Müller |first=J. M. |title=Angeklagte Nr. 9: Die "Hyäne von Auschwitz" im Kreuzverhör. Das Protokoll. |language=de |publication-date=2020 |publisher=Books on Demand |location=Norderstedt, Germany |isbn=978-3-7543-0588-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Newman |first=Richard |title=Alma Rosé: Vienna to Auschwitz |publication-date=2000 |publisher=Amadeus Press |location=Pompton Plains, New Jersey |isbn=978-1-57467-085-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Walser |first=Harald |title=Ein Engel in der Hölle von Auschwitz: Das Leben der Krankenschwester Maria Stromberger |trans-title=An Angel in the Hell of Auschwitz: The Life of Nurse Maria Stromberger |language=de |publication-date=2021 |publisher=Falter Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H |location=Vienna, Austria |isbn=978-3-85439-702-1}}
{{Refend}}
====Filmography====
{{Refbegin|indent=yes|30em}}
* {{cite AV media |ref=none |last1=Neumayr |first1=David |last2=Strasser |first2=Christian |title=Pechmarie - Das Leben der Maria Mandl |trans-title=Pechmarie - The Life of Maria Mandl |language=de |date=2014 |type=Documentary |location=Austria}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|indent=yes|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Kate |title=Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound |publication-date=2024 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |location=London, England |isbn=978-1-80328-701-0}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Maria Mandl}}
{{Refbegin|indent=yes|30em}}
* {{cite AV media |title=March of Time – outtakes – War Crimes Trial: "Butchers of Auschwitz" |date=November 1947 |type=Videotape |location=Kraków, Poland |publisher=[[The March of Time|March of Time, Inc.]] |time=02:37:20, 02:39:05, 02:39:20|time-caption=Mandl appears at |url=https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1001106 |archive-date=14 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250214155713/https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1001106 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite AV media |date=14 May 1946 |title=SS Bunker, Dachau SS Compound, Prison for Malmedy Massacre Defendants |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19807 |location=Dachau, Germany |publisher=[[Chief Signal Officer of the United States Army|Chief Signal Officer]], [[United States Department of the Army]] |time=00:01:17, 00:02:48 |time-caption=Mandl and Ruppert are filmed at |access-date=27 January 2025 |archive-date=27 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127122835/https://catalog.archives.gov/id/19807 |url-status=live}}
{{Refend}}

{{Holocaust Poland}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandl, Maria}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:1948 deaths]]
[[Category:Auschwitz trial executions]]
[[Category:Austrian female criminals]]
[[Category:20th-century Austrian criminals]]
[[Category:Austrian Nazis executed for war crimes]]
[[Category:Austrian people convicted of crimes against humanity]]
[[Category:Austrian people executed abroad]]
[[Category:Austrian prisoners of war]]
[[Category:Austrian torturers]]
[[Category:Dachau concentration camp personnel]]
[[Category:Executed Austrian mass murderers]]
[[Category:Executed Austrian women]]
[[Category:Female guards in Nazi concentration camps]]
[[Category:Female mass murderers]]
[[Category:Holocaust perpetrators in Poland]]
[[Category:People extradited to Poland]]
[[Category:Austrian people imprisoned in Poland]]
[[Category:People from Schärding District]]
[[Category:Ravensbrück concentration camp personnel]]
[[Category:World War II prisoners of war held by the United States]]

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Maria Mandl