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Infamous Nazi Women You Have Never Heard Of

While talking of the war criminals who meted out unspeakable atrocities during the Holocaust, it’s more often the cruel male prison guards and Nazi officials who come to mind. However, the frightening fact is that there were many women among the Nazis who tortured and killed thousands of female prisoners and their children. Horror stories ranging from a Nazi mother shooting Jewish children in cold-blood to a Nazi woman prison guard administering lethal injections to disabled prisoners prove that many women had taken part willingly in the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. Read on to learn more about infamous Nazi women you have never heard of.

1. Juana Bormann

    
Juana Bormann
Birthday: 10 September 1893
Born In: Birkenfelde, German Empire
Died On: 13 December 1945
An East Prussian-born prison guard who worked at several Nazi concentration camps, Juana Bormann initially joined the Nazis to earn some money as she was poverty-stricken. She was ruthless and brutally abused the women prisoners. She was later executed as a war criminal after a court trial in 1945.

2. Ruth Neudeck

    
Ruth Neudeck
Birthday: 05 July 1920
Born In: Breslau, Weimar Republic, Germany
Died On: 29 July 1948
A Schutzstaffel (SS) supervisor at a Nazi concentration camp complex, Ruth Neudeck was a woman infamous for her cruelty. She was extremely brutal towards the female prisoners. This impressed her superiors who promoted her to the rank of Blockführerin. She was later found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death.

3. Dorothea Binz

    
Dorothea Binz
Birthday: 16 March 1920
Born In: Templin, Germany
Died On: 02 May 1947
A German female Nazi officer, Dorothea Binz was a supervisor at Ravensbrück concentration camp during the Holocaust. She reportedly supervised the bunker where women prisoners were tortured and killed. After the war, she was captured by British troops and executed.

4. Herta Ehlert

    
Herta Ehlert
Birthday: 26 March 1905
Born In: Berlin, Germany
Died On: 04 April 1997
A notorious female guard at many Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, Herta Ehlert began work at Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1939. According to a few accounts, she was a cruel woman while some other sources state that she was often “too lenient” with the prisoners.

5. Ilse Koch

    
Ilse Koch
Birthday: 22 September 1906
Born In: Dresden, Germany
Died On: 01 September 1967
Married to Karl-Otto Koch, commandant of the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald, Ilse Koch was a woman known for her brutality towards the prisoners of war. She reportedly selected tattooed prisoners to be killed and skinned to retrieve the tattooed parts as souvenirs. She was tried and imprisoned. She killed herself in prison.