Female guards in Nazi concentration camps
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Template:Lang (pl. Template:Lang; Template:IPA; Template:Literally<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 2–3">Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Efn) was the position title for a female guard in Nazi concentration camps. Female camp personnel were members of the Template:Lang auxiliary organization, which served the Template:Lang (SS-TV) in a limited capacity as these women were not formally recognized as members of the Template:Lang (SS).<ref group="upper-roman" name="Morrison 24">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="lower-roman" name="Gawor 88">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Background
In April 1933, a workhouse in Moringen was made into a detention facility under Hanover administration. In November of that year, 141 women, the majority of whom were suspected or confirmed Communists, were imprisoned there. Prisoners usually stayed in Moringen for a few weeks before being released. There have been no reports of mistreatment, and mere group discussions were held daily to "re-educate". The facility closed in March 1938, and was replaced by the Lichtenburg concentration camp, which opened in Saxony in late 1937, and became known as the first SS-run women's concentration camp. It was commanded by SS-Template:Lang Max Koegel and staffed by recruited and conscripted women who worked as guards.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Template:Lang Heinrich Himmler directed the construction of a larger second women's concentration camp in November 1938, after Lichtenburg's limited capacity had become an issue due to a rising number of arrests.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> Ravensbrück commenced operations in May 1939, serving as the central camp for female prisoners. It was here that the position of Template:Lang was established.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 2–3"/>
On 1 September 1939, Hitler delivered a speech at the Template:Lang, in which he stated: "I expect every German woman to integrate herself into the great community-in-struggle in an exemplary fashion and with iron discipline!".<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> This was the given order despite the views he held in regards to women: Template:Blockquote The Template:Lang (BDM) was in support of the 1939 speech and had it written in the organization's 1940 yearbook.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Recruitment and conscription
Advertisements were posted in newspapers, such as the Template:Lang, which sought out German women between the ages of 20 and 40 to guard women who "committed an offense against the 'Volk community" at a "military installation". For women seeking employment or a higher pay, the job offer was enticing because of the free housing, prepared meals, and the absence of required qualifications.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 45–46">Template:Harvnb</ref> Although a small number of newspaper clippings have survived after the war, history professor Jack G. Morrison claims that the advertisements neglected to mention concentration camps.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Morrison 24"/>
In December 1942, the age range of 20–40 broadened and became 17–45 as tensions grew with the advancement of Allied forces and the Template:Lang's loss in the Battle of Stalingrad. During this time, many women were recruited by the labor office, which became a source of contention in postwar testimonies. Johanna Langefeld, who was an Template:Lang at numerous concentration camps, stated in her testimony: "There were also cases in which women were sent by one of the labor offices to work as guards at Ravensbrück. This happened most often to women who had refused once or even twice to take the job that had been assigned to them, which meant they were likely to be arrested the next time they refused to take the work assigned to them".<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 56–57">Template:Harvnb</ref>
The need for female guards in concentration camps became critical when Template:Lang Joseph Goebbels declared total war against Allied forces in his Sportpalast speech on 18 February 1943.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> Hitler raised the age limit for women's involvement to 50 and made employment in military equipment production mandatory in his 1943 and 1944 decrees pertaining to both male and female participation in the defense of the Reich.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> The 1943 order exempted individuals who worked at least 48 hours a week, employers of at least five workers, those working in agriculture or health services, pregnant women, and women with one child under the age of six or two children under the age of 14.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> Despite these measures, only a small number of women voluntarily sought out such work, resulting in an increase in SS recruiting and labor office conscriptions.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Acclimatisation and training
When the Nazi Party realized that Nazi Germany was losing the war, concentration camp personnel destroyed many records, leaving little information regarding how Template:Lang were trained. Ravensbrück has the most preserved records on training practices, largely due to its role as the primary training camp for women from 1942 to 1945.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 74–77">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="lower-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Upon arrival at Ravensbrück, the recruited and conscripted women were made to sign a slew of documents, including a declaration of confidentiality, a vow not to reprimand prisoners physically or verbally, and an oath of loyalty to Hitler and their superiors. The women were then led to their on-camp quarters.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 74–77"/> The ensuing training period lasted anywhere from one to six weeks, but as Template:Lang prospects were brought in at an increasing rate, this range decreased to just one week for some women.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 79">Template:Harvnb</ref> In June 1942, conscripted Template:Lang Anna David<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> provided testimony of her arrival at Ravensbrück: Template:Blockquote
A three-month probationary period follows training, during which each prospective is partnered with an experienced Template:Lang who acts as a mentor and is tasked with overseeing a work detail.Template:Efn<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> In 1939, Hermine Braunsteiner received mentoring from Maria Mandl, who was then the Template:Lang of Ravensbrück.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> In a postwar testimony, Braunsteiner states that all Template:Lang were taught how to "handle, shoot, and clean their service weapon".<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 79"/>
According to Commandant's Order No. 3, issued 24 July 1942, new Template:Lang received ideological training every Saturday between five and six o'clock in the evening. As part of the curriculum, two antisemitic Nazi propaganda films were shown, including Template:Lang.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Membership
Due to missing and destroyed documentation pre-liberation, the exact number of women who became Template:Lang between 1938 and 1945 has been disputed. Based on published literature and surviving evidence from numerous concentration camps, it is estimated that 3,500 women served as guards.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> Historian Template:Ill has further broken down this figure, estimating that 313 women were employed at Ravensbrück as camp personnel in late 1942 from payroll records.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> By late 1944, the total surpassed 3,000.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Ranks and uniforms
Template:Expand section Braunsteiner has claimed that the first group of women assigned to Ravensbrück were only given blue smocks to wear. About a year later, prototype uniforms were supplied. In the first design, a light gray loden cloth jacket and culottes were worn with a blue blouse, black boots, and a light gray side cap.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 92">Template:Harvnb</ref> Only after Himmler's visit to Ravensbrück in the spring of 1940 did Template:Lang receive standardized uniforms. Two military gray uniforms, one for winter and one for summer, were provided, together with two pairs of boots, blouses, a cap, and sportswear.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> Hats and jewelry were prohibited, with the exception of the designated side cap or a straw hat on hot days.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 92"/>
To denote rank, uniforms displayed aluminium braiding on the shoulders and sleeves, as well as badges and awards such as the War Merit Medal Second Class.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 95–96">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Aufseherin
Template:Lang means "female overseer". Template:Lang were in charge of conducting the daily roll call, or Template:Lang, allocating inmates to work details, and guarding prisoners.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 2–3"/>
| Name | History | Years of service | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bar<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 95–96"/> | |||
| Jenny-Wanda Barkmann | Template:Lang at Stutthof | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Erna Beilhardt | Template:Lang at the Heiligenbeil subcamp of Stutthof | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Erika Bergmann | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück and its Genthin subcamp, and the Neurohlau subcamp of Flossenbürg | 1943–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Johanna Bormann | Template:Lang at Lichtenburg, Ravensbrück, Auschwitz II-Birkenau and its subcamp Hindenburg, and Bergen-Belsen | 1939–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Hermine Böttcher Brückner | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück and Majdanek. | 1942–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Herta Bothe | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück, Stutthof and its Bromberg-Ost subcamp, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen | 1942–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Irene Haschke | Template:Lang at Gross-Rosen and its subcamp Mährisch-Weißwasser, and Bergen-Belsen | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Ruth Elfriede Hildner | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück, Dachau, and the Helmbrechts subcamp of Flossenbürg | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Anneliese Kohlmann | Template:Lang at the Neuengamme subcamps Neugraben and Hamburg-Tiefstack, and Bergen-Belsen | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Hildegard Lächert | Template:Lang at Majdanek, Auschwitz, Bolzano, and Mauthausen-Gusen | 1942–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Ewa Paradies | Template:Lang at Stutthof and its subcamp Bromberg-Ost | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Margarete Rabe | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück and its Uckermark subcamp | 1944-1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Erna Wallisch | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück and Majdanek | 1940-1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
Template:Lang means "female dog handler". There is little documentation on female dog handlers in concentration camps, with the only known name being that of Elfriede Rinkel, though it is assumed that they had similar training and responsibilities to their male counterparts. Himmler allegedly ordered for Template:Lang to not carry guns, though this is refuted by Braunsteiner's testimony, so some women were armed with German shepherds who Himmler demanded to be "trained to savage to death anyone except their handler".<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
| Name | History | Years of service | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bar with star<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 95–96"/> | |||
| Elfriede Rinkel | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
Template:Lang means "commanding officer", though the women with this title were just in charge of overseeing certain work details in a concentration camp.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
| Name | History | Years of service | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bar with star<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 95–96"/> | ||||
| Alice Orlowski | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück and Majdanek; Template:Lang at Majdanek, Plaszow-Kraków, and Auschwitz II-Birkenau | 1941–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> | |
Template:Lang and Template:Lang means "block leader". The terms Template:Lang, meaning "block senior" and blockova were the titles given to prisoners if they, like the appointed Template:Lang, were put in charge of maintaining order within their respective block.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
| Name | History | Years of service | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bar with star<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 95–96"/> | |||
| Ulla Jürß | Template:Lang and Template:Lang at Ravensbrück | Template:Circa | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Elisabeth Lupka | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück; Template:Lang at Auschwitz II-Birkenau | 1943–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
Template:Lang means "labor service leader". These women were in charge of assigning work details amongst the prisoners, maintaining efficiency within the concentration camp, and overseeing Template:Lang.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
| Name | History | Years of service | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bar with star<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 95–96"/> | |||
| Greta Bösel | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Elisabeth Hasse | Template:Lang at the Auschwitz subcamps of Budy and Rajsko; Template:Lang at Auschwitz II-Birkenau | Template:Circa | <ref group="upper-roman" name="Megargee 233">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Hilde Lobauer | Template:Lang at Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
Template:Lang means "report leader". Template:Lang coordinated daily schedules and work schedules from an office within the camp and received reports from other guards regarding any incidents, illnesses, and deaths.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 38"/>
| Name | History | Years of service | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bar with star<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 95–96"/> | |||
| Irma Grese | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück, Template:Lang Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Template:Lang and Template:Lang in Bergen-Belsen | 1942–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
Template:Lang means "first supervisor".
| Name | History | Years of service | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| Therese Brandl | Template:Lang at the Dachau subcamp Mühldorf, Template:Lang at Ravensbrück and Auschwitz I, Template:Lang at Auschwitz II-Birkenau | 1940–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
Template:Lang means "head female overseer". Template:Lang were responsible for directing and supervising Template:Lang and reporting roll-call numbers to camp headquarters. In some camps, this position was equivalent to that of a Template:Lang.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Morrison 21">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 2–3"/><ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 38">Template:Harvnb</ref>
| Name | History | Years of service | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 aluminum stripes, 9mm aluminum collar braid; upper edge of hat has a silver-gray braid<ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 95–96"/> | |||
| Jane Bernigau | Template:Lang at Lichtenburg and Ravensbrück; Template:Lang at Gross-Rosen | 1938–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Dorothea Binz | Template:Lang and Template:Lang at Ravensbrück | 1939–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Hermine Braunsteiner | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück and Majdanek; Template:Lang at the Genthin subcamp of Ravensbrück | 1939–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Gertrud Heise | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück, Majdanek, Kraków-Płaszów, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and Neuengamme; Template:Lang at the Obernheide subcamp; Template:Lang at the Obernheide subcamp of Neuengamme | 1941–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman" name="Megargee 1097">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Johanna Langefeld | Template:Lang at Lichtenburg; Template:Lang at Lichtenburg, Ravensbrück and Auschwitz | 1936–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Hildegard Neumann | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück and Theresienstadt | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Gerda Steinhoff | Template:Lang at Stutthof and Template:Langat its subcamps Danzig–Holm and Bromberg-Ost | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Elisabeth Volkenrath | Template:Lang at Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen | 1941–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Emma Zimmer | Template:Lang at Lichtenburg; Template:Lang at Ravensbrück and Auschwitz II-Birkenau | 1938–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
Template:Lang means "female chief senior overseer".<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
| Name | History | Years of service | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margarete Gallinat | Template:Lang at Herzogenbusch | 1940–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Anna Klein | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück | 1939–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
Template:Lang, commonly shortened in literature as Template:Lang, means "camp leader". Template:Lang dealt with affairs concerning the prisoners at the concentration camp, coordinated with the Labor Squad office to appoint work details to prisoners, and worked closely with the subordinate Template:Lang.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Morrison 21"/>
| Name | History | Years of service | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luise Danz | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück, Majdanek, Kraków-Płaszów, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and the Malchow subcamp of Ravensbrück; Template:Lang and Template:Lang at Auschwitz II-Birkenau; Template:Lang at Malchow; Template:Lang at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Camps B and C | 1943–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman" name="Hellinger & Lee 207">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman" name="Hellinger & Lee 243">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Else "Elsa" Ehrich | Template:Lang at Majdanek | 1940–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman" name="Mailänder 38"/> |
| Maria Mandl | Template:Lang at Lichtenburg, Template:Lang at Ravensbrück, Template:Lang at Auschwitz II-Birkenau | 1938–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Ruth Neudeck | Template:Lang and Template:Lang at Ravensbrück; Template:Lang at Uckermark; Template:Lang at the Barth subcamp of Ravensbrück | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Erna Petermann | Template:Lang at Gross-Rosen | 1944–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
| Lotte Toberentz | Template:Lang at Ravensbrück | 1942–1945 | <ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> |
Daily life
Housing
Template:Lang were housed at Ravensbrück based on their rank. Since personal and intimate contact with the opposite sex was prohibited, the eight apartments on the campgrounds were all far from the men's quarters. Only young and unmarried guards were placed in these apartments, each of which were two stories with ten bedrooms and four attic rooms. Each building is believed to have held at least 112 women. Private housing arrangements were made for married women and mothers.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> Despite the policy that male and female camp personnel be separated on camp grounds, it remained a problem, with Template:Lang Maria Mandl and Dorothea Binz engaging in their own liaisons while employed there.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Recreation
Template:Lang were allowed to leave Ravensbrück only on specific days and with a curfew of 11 P.M., which a number of them ignored. During the spring and summer, the women frequented movie theaters, pubs, and festivals. If they remained in campgrounds, free time was spent sewing or getting their hair done at the prisoner-run salon.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
The women did not have to do their own laundry, cleaning, or cooking as prisoners were made to do it for them. Some Template:Lang considered this a luxury. Herta Ehlert stated in her postwar testimony: "Well, I want to be quite honest, I had never such a good life as in the beginning at Ravensbrück when I arrived".<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Trials and sentences
Majdanek trials
Template:Main Template:Quote box
Elsa Ehrich was the first and only woman to face a death sentence in the second Majdanek trial, which took place between 1946 and 1948.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> Between 1975 and 1981, Alice Orlowski, Hermine Braunsteiner (life imprisonment),<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> Hildegard Lächert (12 years imprisonment),<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> and Hermine Böttcher Brückner (acquitted and released)<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> appeared in court for the third trial.
Orlowski died of natural causes during court proceedings,<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> but had first been tried in the 1947 Kraków Auschwitz trial and received a sentence of 15 years in prison. Witnesses identified Braunsteiner based on the War Merit Medal, which she wore every day on her jacket while working at the Majdanek camp.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> Conversely, Böttcher Brückner was pinned by survivors at the Majdanek trial as being "good" and "humane", in comparison to other Template:Lang, though she had struck the prisoners from time to time.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Belsen trials
Template:Main The first Belsen trial took place in 1945, in which Irma Grese, Elisabeth Volkenrath, and Johanna Bormann received a sentence of death by hanging. Herta Bothe, Hilde Lobauer, and Irene Haschke received prison sentences of ten years, while Herta Ehlert received 15 years.<ref group="upper-roman" name="United Nations War Crimes Commission 125">Template:Harvnb</ref> Gertrud Heise and Anneliese Kohlmann were only sentenced the following year during the second Belsen trial, receiving 15 years and two years' imprisonment, respectively.<ref group="upper-roman" name=" Theotokis 86">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Stutthof trials
Template:Main Jenny-Wanda Barkmann, Elisabeth Becker, Wanda Klaff, Ewa Paradies, and Gerda Steinhoff all received a sentence of death by hanging in the first Stuffhof trial, which took place Gdańsk, Poland in 1946.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> Erna Beilhardt had been the only woman to not receive a death sentence, having only received five years in prison.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Kraków Auschwitz trial
Template:Main The 1947 Auschwitz trial in Kraków, Poland sentenced Maria Mandl<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> and Therese Brandl<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> to death by hanging. Luise Danz was sentenced to life in prison. Alice Orlowski<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> and Hildegard Lächert were sentenced to 15 years in prison.<ref group="upper-roman" name="Theotokis 86"/>
Aftermath
Perpetrators postwar
One of the few former Template:Lang to tell her story to the public was Hertha Bothe, who had been employed at Ravensbrück in 1942, then at Stutthof and its Bromberg-Ost subcamp, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen. She was given early release in the mid-1950s from her ten-year prison sentence. In an interview recorded in 1999, Bothe was asked if she regretted being a concentration camp guard. She replied, "Did I make a mistake? No. The mistake was that it was a concentration camp, but I had to go. Otherwise, I would have been put into it myself; that was my mistake".<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> Though Bothe claimed that refusal of the job would have resulted in her own arrest—an explanation given by many former Template:Lang—it was unlikely to have been true, as surviving records have shown that the new recruits refusing to remain as guards in Ravensbrück did not face consequences.<ref group="upper-alpha">Template:Cite news</ref>
Former Ravensbrück Template:Lang Elfriede Rinkel was 84 and living in San Francisco when she was deported to Germany by the U.S. Justice Department in August 2006. She kept her participation in the Nazi Party a secret from her family, friends, and Jewish-German husband of 42 years, Fred.<ref group="upper-roman">Template:Harvnb</ref> She had emigrated to the United States in 1959 in search of a better life, and had omitted Ravensbrück from the list of residences on her visa application. Rinkel ultimately faced no criminal charges in Germany, as the statute of limitations had expired.<ref group="upper-alpha">Template:Cite news</ref> The case continued to be examined until her death in 2018.<ref group="upper-alpha">Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
Notes
References
Books
Bibliography
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Scholarly articles
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Works cited
Interviews
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Articles
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Further reading
External links
Template:Nazi concentration camps Template:The Holocaust Template:Authority control