After the collapse of the Third Reich, the women who served in the SS faced a range of fates. Some were arrested and put on trial, where their roles in the Nazi apparatus were exposed. However, fewer than 100 received significant sentences, and only a small number were executed. Many others returned to civilian life under a veil of anonymity, hiding their pasts amid the chaos of the post-war period.
Around 3,500 women worked as guards in Nazi concentration camps. All of them began their training at Ravensbrück, the largest concentration camp exclusively for women in Nazi Germany. Many later worked in extermination camps like Auschwitz or Bergen-Belsen, where they became as feared as the SS men.
The uniform granted them significant power over prisoners. Some young women came from poor families and saw the work as a path to economic independence. A 1944 German newspaper advertisement sought healthy women aged 20 to 40 for a military base, promising good salaries and free food, housing, and clothing. It did not mention that the clothing would be an SS uniform or that the base was a brutal concentration camp.
Many of these women had been indoctrinated from an early age in Nazi youth groups. They believed they were supporting society by acting against its enemies. Some new recruits left the camps as soon as they realized what the job entailed and were allowed to go without negative consequences. Many others chose to stay, either because they needed the job or because they enjoyed it.
Irma Grese was executed on December 13, 1945, for her cruelty as a guard at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. She was sentenced at the age of 22 following the Bergen-Belsen trial. On the gallows, Grese remained defiant to the end, impressing even the British executioner Albert Pierrepoint, who remarked on her composure and lack of remorse. Her last words before being hanged were simple but chilling: “Schnell,” demanding that the process end immediately.
Grese was known as the “Angel of Auschwitz.” Born in 1923 into a dysfunctional family, she dropped out of school at 15. She worked at a dairy, on a farm, and in a hospital, where she studied nursing but did not graduate. In March 1942, at the age of 18, she volunteered at Ravensbrück. By autumn of 1943, she was promoted to SS supervisor, making her the second highest-ranking woman at Auschwitz after Maria Mandel.
Survivors described her atrocities in chilling detail. She walked the barracks in an impeccable uniform, armed with a whip and pistol, often accompanied by her dogs. One of her preferred methods of torture was setting the dogs on inmates. She also used a braided whip to mutilate the breasts of women, particularly Jewish women with attractive figures. One survivor testified that Grese punched a woman in the face and then sat on her until her face turned blue.
During a search of her residence after the war, horrific trophies were discovered, including lampshades made of human skin. Despite her conviction, Grese denied all murder charges, never renounced Nazi ideology, and even sang SS marching songs on the eve of her execution.
Hildegard Lächert, known as “Brigida the Bloodthirsty” or “The Tigress,” was born on January 20, 1920, in Berlin. She worked as a nurse before volunteering as a guard at the women’s concentration camp at Majdanek. Her brutality quickly earned her nicknames among prisoners. She loved torturing Jewish women and killed children in cold blood. At Majdanek, she gassed groups of more than 100 children, giving them candy to gain their trust before loading them onto trucks that would take them to their deaths.
In 1947, Lächert faced justice for the first time during the Auschwitz trial. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison but served only nine. In November 1975, Germany reopened her case, and she stood trial again. The trial concluded in June 1981, when a court sentenced her to 12 years in prison. She was released early.
According to the German weekly Der Spiegel, Lächert became a spy for both the American CIA and the German Federal Intelligence Service. She was recruited to fight against the former Soviet Union, demonstrating that Western intelligence agencies recruited not only male Nazi criminals but also women. Hildegard Lächert died in freedom in 1995 at the age of 75.
Hertha Bothe, known as the “Sadist of Stutthof,” was a former nurse who worked as a guard in Stutthof, Ravensbrück, and Bergen-Belsen. She was a ruthless supervisor who would burst into barracks shouting ominously to torment prisoners. When tasks were not done with sufficient care, Bothe physically punished her victims.
In 1943, Stutthof was integrated into the Final Solution program, transforming it into a mass extermination camp. The camp became so overcrowded that many prisoners were sent directly to gas chambers upon arrival. Bothe was one of 30 women who served in the camp during its most tragic period.
During the Belsen trial, testimonies revealed numerous atrocities. One witness, a 17-year-old Czech survivor, recounted seeing Bothe shoot two weak female prisoners who had stopped to rest while carrying a heavy food container. Another survivor stated that Bothe beat prisoners with all her strength as they passed through doors.
On November 17, 1945, Bothe was found guilty of committing war crimes at Bergen-Belsen. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison. After serving six years, she was released on December 22, 1951, as an act of clemency by the British government.
Some reports suggest that Bothe later married and changed her last name to Langer. At 79 years old, living in a modest community in northwestern Germany, she gave an interview. When asked about her heinous actions, she responded: “What do you mean, did I make a mistake? No. I’m not sure what I should answer. Did I make a mistake? No. The mistake was the concentration camp. But I had to do it. Otherwise, they would have put me there. That was my mistake.”
Ilse Koch, known as the “Witch of Buchenwald,” was born in Dresden in 1906. She joined the National Socialist Party in 1932. Heinrich Himmler introduced her to the camp’s director, Carl Otto Koch, and suggested they become a couple. They married shortly thereafter.
Carl Otto was appointed commander of Buchenwald a few years before the war began. Nearly 250,000 prisoners passed through the camp, and more than 25 percent were killed. Ilse Koch was far more than just the wife of the camp commander. She actively participated, issuing orders throughout the camp and instilling deep fear.
Witnesses described her as a nymphomaniac. She carried a club at her waist tipped with razor blades. One of her favorite games involved locking 20 prisoners in a pen and releasing wild dogs. Witnesses also testified that Ilse ordered executions with specific instructions to avoid damaging certain areas of the victim’s skin, which she intended to keep as trophies.
Several human skin fragments with tattoos were found at Buchenwald, as well as lampshades allegedly made from human skin. The skin was used to make gloves, wallets, lampshades, and even to bind books. Tattooed skin was especially prized, and the victims were mostly Soviets, Poles, and Roma people.
Carl Otto Koch was tried in the same concentration camp he had commanded, sentenced to death, and executed in early April 1945, just one week before the Allies liberated Buchenwald. Ilse escaped but was later arrested after the war. She was tried during the Dachau trials and sentenced to life imprisonment. She avoided the death penalty because she was pregnant.
General Lucius Clay, the American governor of the US Zone in Germany, later reduced her sentence to four years. In 1951, she was arrested and tried again, this time for crimes committed against German citizens. She was accused of responsibility for approximately 5,000 deaths among the 56,000 that occurred at Buchenwald.
During the trial, Koch’s presence was erratic. She frequently experienced panic attacks and hysterical episodes. Occasionally, in the middle of a survivor’s testimony, she would stand and shout: “Yes, I am guilty. I am responsible for everything. I am a sinner.” She was condemned to life imprisonment.
In 1961, Ilse Koch wrote a letter to her son declaring that she felt no remorse for her crimes. Shortly thereafter, she tied several sheets to a lamp and hanged herself. She left behind a note that read: “There is no other way out for me. Death is the only liberation.”
Johanna Langefeld, known as the “Guardian Angel of Ravensbrück,” was the only female guard remembered fondly by survivors. Born in Essen, Germany, she joined the Nazi party in 1937. In March 1938, she was recruited as a guard at the first SS concentration camp for women in Lichtenburg.
At Ravensbrück, Langefeld oversaw selections during the so-called 14f13 murder campaign, which aimed to eliminate sick or unfit prisoners. It was during this time that she began to show her more humane side. She not only avoided punishments but also destroyed reports submitted by guards that could have led to severe consequences for prisoners.
Polish survivor Józefa Węgrzynowa confirmed this: “She destroyed criminal complaints, was reluctant to enforce punishments, and always allowed prisoners to explain themselves. She was very calm and never raised her voice at us.”
In one recorded incident on March 18, 1943, eight women were about to be executed. Before the shots rang out, they and other prisoners shouted “Long Live Poland,” causing an uproar in the camp. To everyone’s surprise, no punishment followed. It was later revealed that Langefeld had negotiated with camp authorities to replace executions with the punishment of making the women stand for an entire day.
In mid-March 1942, Langefeld was assigned to the new women’s building at Auschwitz. She tried to persuade Heinrich Himmler to revoke an order placing the women’s camp under her jurisdiction, but he refused. Two weeks later, she suffered a knee injury and required surgery. While recovering, she convinced her superiors to transfer her back to Ravensbrück.
At the war’s end, Langefeld was arrested by the United States Army and extradited to Poland in September 1946. On December 23, 1946, she was sent to clean apartments designated for new employees of the penitentiary. She never returned.
According to later accounts, Langefeld escaped with the help of Polish prisoners who had survived Ravensbrück and respected her as a guardian. One survivor was convinced that only former Ravensbrück prisoners could have helped her. Langefeld reportedly hid in a local monastery for some time and worked as a caretaker in a private home.
By the middle of 1957, she had returned illegally to live with her sister in Munich. Johanna Langefeld died in freedom at the age of 73, remembered kindly by her prisoners.