The annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938 changed the course of many lives. For Maria Mandl, a young woman from a small Austrian village, it set her on a path toward becoming one of the most feared figures in the Nazi concentration camp system.
Mandl was born on January 10, 1912, in Münzkirchen, then part of Austria-Hungary. She grew up in a Catholic family that was well-known and considered respectable. Her father, Franz Mandl, was a master shoemaker who openly opposed the Nazis. Her mother, Anna Schreiber, was a housewife who suffered from depressive episodes.
Mandl’s formal education ended early. At age 12, she was withdrawn from school to help on the farm. She later graduated from a Catholic boarding school but struggled to find steady employment. In her late teens and early twenties, she moved frequently, working as a domestic servant in Switzerland and later as a chambermaid in Innsbruck.
She eventually returned home to care for her parents. She found secure work at the local post office and became engaged to a soldier in the German army. Her prospects were modest but stable.
The annexation shattered that stability. Mandl lost her job because of her family’s political background. Her fiancé ended their engagement, fearing that association with her could harm his future in the Third Reich.
In September 1938, Mandl moved to Munich to live with her uncle, a policeman. She hoped he could help her find a position in the police force. No positions were available, so he encouraged her to apply for a job at the Lichtenburg concentration camp.
On October 15, 1938, she began working as a guard at Lichtenburg, one of the earliest camps operated by the SS. At the time, the camp held only female prisoners. Mandl later claimed she took the position because the salary was higher than that of a nurse and that she knew nothing about concentration camps.
At Lichtenburg, Mandl underwent ideological training and swore loyalty to the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler. Her cousin, Maria Gruber, trained alongside her but resigned early, disgusted by the violence of the camp. Mandl adapted quickly and began tormenting prisoners.
Survivor testimonies described Mandl subjecting prisoners to whippings, beatings, and strenuous exercises. In one incident, she struck a prisoner repeatedly with a metal key until the woman lost consciousness. She then dragged her across the camp and placed her in a solitary cell.
On May 15, 1939, Mandl was transferred to Ravensbrück, the main women’s camp in the Nazi system. More than 130,000 women passed through the camp during its existence. The majority did not survive.
At Ravensbrück, Mandl patrolled with a dog. If she took a disliking to someone, she would set the dog on the prisoner until the inmate was torn to pieces. Prisoners whispered warnings when she approached, and everyone fell silent.
She always carried a whip. She beat and kicked prisoners across their bodies. On one occasion, she viciously beat a prisoner who dared to pick up scraps of discarded food. On another, she kicked and beat an elderly prisoner in a corridor until the woman collapsed and died.
Mandl also forbade prisoners from wearing shoes during roll calls in frost-covered seasons. Prisoners often stood barefoot from 4 a.m. until about 6 a.m. If an older woman placed paper under her feet for relief, Mandl would punch and kick her senseless.
The Second World War began on September 1, 1939, with the German invasion of Poland. As the war expanded, the concentration camp system became central to German occupation and mass murder.
In 1942, the SS leadership decided to establish a large women’s camp at Auschwitz. Mandl was promoted and transferred to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, where she became chief guard of the women’s camp.
At Birkenau, Mandl exercised near total power. Her only superior was camp commandant Rudolf Höss, who trusted her completely. She controlled all female guards and thousands of prisoners and decided who would live or die.
According to survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Mandl would stand at the front gate while prisoners were lined up. If a prisoner made eye contact with her, they were removed from the line and killed. She signed death lists on a weekly basis.
She showed particular cruelty toward Jewish prisoners and Polish women. She tore children from their mothers’ arms and sent them to be killed. When mothers tried to follow, she beat them until they collapsed.
Mandl also embodied the contradictions of the camp system. She organized the famous women’s orchestra of Auschwitz, formed in 1943 from inmates. Prisoners played as others marched to forced labor, returned exhausted, or were led to their deaths. Concerts were held every Sunday for SS personnel.
A small number of women survived because of their role in the orchestra while millions of others were murdered. Under Mandl’s authority, culture and killing existed side by side.
As the Soviet Red Army advanced in late 1944, Mandl was transferred to the Mühldorf concentration camp complex, a subcamp system of Dachau. She arrived in December 1944.
At Mühldorf, prisoners were worked to death constructing underground factories for German jet aircraft. Food was scarce and mortality was extreme. Mandl began an intimate relationship with Walter Adolf Langlist, the camp commandant.
As Allied forces closed in during the spring of 1945, Mandl and Langlist fled. She turned up in her birthplace of Münzkirchen. Her father refused to let her stay in the family home, so she sought refuge with her sister.
On August 10, 1945, she was arrested and imprisoned at the former Dachau concentration camp. She was interrogated by the Americans and later extradited to Poland.
She was imprisoned in Krakow and tried before the Polish Supreme National Tribunal during the Auschwitz trial, which began on November 24, 1947. A total of 44 SS personnel were accused. Mandl was one of only five women brought before the tribunal.
Survivor testimonies described her beatings, selections, and killings in detail. At first, Mandl denied responsibility. Later, she admitted.
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 during the war.
On December 22, 1947, the Polish Supreme National Tribunal sentenced Maria Mandl to death by hanging. Mandl fought for her life and begged for mercy. Polish president Bolesław Bierut rejected her request for clemency.
In the days before her execution, she cried, prayed in her cell, and withdrew into herself. On January 24, 1948, the 36-year-old Mandl was the last in the group to be hanged.
Because she had likely witnessed the earlier executions, she showed the most resistance. As former Auschwitz staff members were executed, the prosecutor, prison guards, and the prison director were all intoxicated.
Mandl proved the most difficult to handle. She screamed and resisted as guards forcibly dragged her across the courtyard toward the gallows. Her execution turned into a grotesque scene.
The guards laughed, ridiculed her, and poked fun at her. As they teased and taunted her, Mandl closed her eyes and said her last words: “Poland lives.”
Still struggling, she was hanged. At 7:32 a.m., her execution was completed.
Hours later, her body was sent to the Jagiellonian University Medical College for students to experiment on for a six-week period. On March 6, 1948, her body was moved to the Rakowicki Cemetery in Krakow and buried in a wooden box at an unmarked spot.
Mandl’s father had been aware of the atrocities his daughter committed. He did not request for her remains to be sent home. Her mother had already died by that time. While she lived, she prayed for her daughter’s eternal soul.
Prayers could not erase the harm done, nor the lives lost because of Mandl’s actions.