The women of the Third Reich were the so-called retinue of the SS. It was an auxiliary female SS personnel in Nazi Germany. They worked in various positions - assistants at the headquarters, signalmen, serviced telephone and radio installations in the occupied territories, and fell into the police department. Also, nurses belonged to the SS retinue; they worked in the infirmaries of concentration camps.
Work in concentration camps
Women of the Third Reich, who worked in concentration camps, were also included in the SS retinue. Until the beginning of 1945, along with 37 thousand men, about three and a half thousand women worked. In various documents, it is mentioned that 10 percent of the staff were of the weaker sex.
For example, in the most famous Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz there were only 200 female prison guards for 8 thousand men. For the first time, the need for wardens arose after the transformation of the Lichtenburg concentration camp into a specialized concentration camp for women. This happened back in December 1937. As women's concentration camps increased, this need only grew. In 1939, a women's concentration camp opened in Ravensbrück, in 1942 in Birkenau, in 1943 in Mauthausen, in 1944 in Bergen-Belsen.
It is noteworthy that the male contingent of the SS was denied access to female concentration camps, they were used only for external protection. Only accompanied by female personnel could doctors, the commandant of the camp, and security commanders enter.
Concentration camp posts
The women of the Third Reich were employed in several positions in concentration camps. The highest of these is the senior overseer. She could be reached by overseers who were part of the so-called retinue of the SS. They belonged to the commandant’s staff, the position could be compared with the rank of head of the camp guard unit, but formally the senior warders were subordinate to him. Their responsibilities included the practical and organizational management of SS female personnel in a concentration camp.
The subordinates were required to contact the senior overseer with relevant messages, and the senior overseer, in turn, had already decided what punishment the prisoner deserved. The camp commandant intervened in this process only in exceptional cases, usually everything happened without his participation.
The position of the first overseer, who performed similar functions in the external camp, was also important, but her rank was much lower.
The heads of the report were directly subordinate to the senior overseer, performing the function of communication between her and the rest of the camp.
The unit supervisors were selected and appointed by the senior overseer from among those who were responsible for organizing the buildings every day. Appointment of prisoners in working teams separately control units existed.
Overseers of the concentration camps of the Third Reich formed the last link in this hierarchical chain. Of these, the senior warder formed the working columns, they received tasks from the block managers. They were assigned not only supervisory activities, but also places in the storage of prisoners' things, in the camp kitchen, in the punishment cell.
It is also necessary to distinguish the supervisors of the labor service, who were responsible for the efficient use of labor of prisoners and their direct supervision. Their duties included resolving the issues of which of the prisoners to appoint to specific working teams. The chiefs of the team subordinated to them, whose submission included separate working groups.
War criminals
The names of individual war criminals, women of the Third Reich, who were guilty of the death of thousands of people, are now well known. Most of them were justly punished. For example, this is Maria Mandel.
She was born in Austrian Muntskirchen in 1912. In 1938 she entered the auxiliary units of the SS. She began working in the Lichtenburg camp, in May 39th she was transferred to Ravensbrück.
In the service, Maria Mandel was distinguished by her zeal, was in good standing with her superiors, and soon took up the post of senior overseer. Her immediate responsibilities included organizing roll calls, sending prisoners to work, determining the degree of punishment. In October of the same year, Mandel arrived in Auschwitz-Birkenau, became the head of the women's camps throughout Auschwitz.
In her power were all, without exception, female barracks. The prisoners among themselves called her a "monster," and her colleagues described her as a dedicated and intelligent person. She personally selected thousands of prisoners whom she sent to gas chambers. There were times when she took several people under her personal protection, and when they bothered her, sent them to death.
It was Mandel who invented the creation of a women's orchestra, which met new prisoners at the entrance with fun and laid-back music. According to eyewitnesses, Maria herself loved music, often came to the barracks to musicians, asked for something to play for her personally.
In 1944, she was transferred to the Dachau system, where she served until the very end of the war. When Soviet troops entered Germany, she fled to the mountains in the vicinity of her native Münzkirchen. Only on August 10, American troops arrested her.
At the end of 1946, she was transferred to the Polish authorities as a war criminal. Mandel became one of the key figures in the case in the trial of the executioners of Auschwitz. The court sentenced her to hanging. The sentence was carried out in early 1948 in the Krakow prison.
"Obese and Wicked"
For the Holocaust in Poland, the supervisor of many concentration camps Hertha Elert was largely responsible. She was originally from Berlin, was born in 1905.
In 1939, she was assigned to the Ravensbrück concentration camp at the labor exchange. According to her confession, she made sure that civilians did not mix up with prisoners.
Since October 1942 she has been working in camps in Poland. Hertha Elert claimed that she was sent there for a good treatment of prisoners, because she fed the weak, resisted cruel punishments. In mid-1944, she ended up in Krakow.
The words "obese and angry" she was described by eyewitnesses who met with her in those years. She was responsible for working in the kitchen. She spied on the Jewish women when they worked. Once she ordered all women to undress, and then carefully searched each of them, hoping to get values.
She was later transferred to Auschwitz to observe female slave labor groups. After the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, the British arrested her for the crimes of women in the service of the Third Reich. Elert denied his guilt, as a result, the court recognized her non-involvement in the crimes at Auschwitz, but convicted him of his acts in Bergen-Belsen to 15 years in prison. She managed to be released ahead of schedule. She died only in 1997 at the age of 92.
Extreme cruelty
The most cruel woman of the Third Reich is called overseer Gris. She was originally from Mecklenburg, was born in 1923.
In 1936, after the suicide of his mother, he joined the Union of German Girls, this is a female analogue of the Hitler Youth. At that time she was only 13 years old. In 1942, Irma Gris began working in the Revensbruck concentration camp, the next year she was transferred to Auschwitz. By the end of the 43rd, he was given the position of senior overseer.
At age 20, she becomes the second in the camp hierarchy after the commandant. It is interesting that she, of course, did not want to work as a warder all her life, dreaming of becoming a movie star in the future.
"Blonde Devil"
The "blonde devil" she was called the prisoners who survived. There were also nicknames "Beautiful Monster", "Angel of Death". Auschwitz warden Irma Grese used physical and emotional methods to torture prisoners, often enjoying their unsystematic execution.
She set the hungry dogs, which were not specially fed for a long time, on victims, hundreds of people personally sent to gas chambers. She always wore heavy leather boots, with a whip and a gun.
In the post-war press in the West, Grese's likely sexual deviations, as well as her connections with the Nazi command and even Joseph Mendel, were often discussed.
In March of the 45th, according to her personal appeal, Grese was transferred to Bergen-Belsen. It was there that the British captivated her.
The process in Belsen
For the crimes of the Third Reich, Grese was tried in Belsen. The process was initiated by the English military tribunal. Continued for two months. Together with Grese, several more camp workers were in the dock - the commandant, whose name was Josef Kramer, nurse Elizabeth Volkenrath, and overseer Johanna Bormann.
The military tribunal found Grese guilty and sentenced to be hanged. They say that before the execution, Grese sang songs and laughed with her colleague Volkenrath. Her face remained calm and impenetrable, even when a loop appeared on her neck. She threw only one word to her executioner: "Faster" than plunged everyone else into even greater shock.
Selection of Overseers
The set of guards for the service in the concentration camps was carried out in different ways. Someone went there voluntarily, paid high salaries in the camps. Preference was given to women without administrative and criminal cases who had physical health, were loyal to the party, aged 21 to 45 years.
Candidates were required to submit an extract from the police, a health certificate, a referral from the employment service.
Employment Recruitment
It is noteworthy that the Nazi employment service in the recruitment of warders in the ads noted that this would be work associated with a little physical stress and simple protection activities.
But after the need for warders began to grow, they were already obliged to work in concentration camps on the basis of a special order issued by the Third Reich. At some point, women were simply forced to work in the defense industry and concentration camps.
Training
A total of three and a half thousand women underwent training for the warden profession. As a rule, the duration of the course was four weeks. It included theoretical and practical foundations related to the management of prisoners and camp management.
After completing the courses, they went for a three-month trial period, only then officially received the status of overseers. In order to prevent personal contact with the prisoners, it was ordered to contact the leadership not by name, but "Madame Overseer". Cronyism, theft, disciplinary offenses were severely punished. For this, women of the Third Reich could be arrested or fired.
Bullying
Practically official were allowed quibbles to prisoners and arbitrary bullying. Generally relatively soft. But during the escape, warders were allowed to use weapons.
It was necessary to maintain strict discipline. For her violations, the women held in concentration camps were deprived of food, could be imprisoned, and subjected to corporal punishment. Prisoners were often tortured; the order of things was bullying by dogs.