Buchenwald

Buchenwald was a Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg Hill near Weimar, Thuringia, Germany, in July 1937. The name "Buchenwald" is German for "beech forest", as the camp was located in Buchenwald forest. The prisoners were used as slave labour in local armament factories.

Female prisoners and overseers

The number of women prisoners held in Buchenwald was about 200 to 1000. The first female inmates were twenty political prisoners and two female SS guards (Aufseherin) who arrived in Buchenwald from Ravensbrück to serve in the camp's brothel in 1941. Later the SS fired the two SS women on duty in the brothel because they were accused of corruption, and their positions were replaced by SS men.

Related Topics:
Aufseherin - Ravensbrück - 1941 - Brothel

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The majority of women prisoners, however, arrived in 1944 and 1945 from other camps, i.e. Auschwitz, Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen. Most of these women were Jewish. Only one barrack was set aside for the female prisoners, and this was overseen by the female Blockführerin, Franziska Hoengesberg. Many of the women prisoners were later shipped out to one of Buchenwald's many female subcamps in Sömmerda, Buttelstedt, Mühlhausen, Gotha, Gelsenkirchen, Essen, Lippstadt, Weimar, Magdeburg and Penig, to name a few.

Related Topics:
1944 - 1945 - Auschwitz - Bergen-Belsen - Sömmerda - Buttelstedt - Mühlhausen - Gotha - Gelsenkirchen - Essen - Lippstadt - Weimar - Magdeburg - Penig

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When the Buchenwald camp was evacuated, the SS sent the male prisoners to other camps, and the 500 remaining women (including one of the secret annex members who lived with Anne Frank, "Mrs. van Daan" -- her real name was Auguste van Pels) were taken by train and foot to the Theresienstadt camp and ghetto in Czechoslovakia. Many, including van Pels, died sometime between April 1945 and May 1945. Because the female prisoner population at Buchenwald was comparatively small, the SS only stationed 23 female guards in the camp.

Related Topics:
Anne Frank - Auguste van Pels - Theresienstadt - Czechoslovakia

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Ilse Koch served as head supervisor (Oberaufseherin) of 23 female guards and hundreds of women prisoners in the main camp. Today 21 female SS guards are known by name; Maria Balkenhol, Elisabeth Baessler, Elli Ebert (who served at Buchenwald and Ravensbruck), Frieda Friedrichs (who served at Buchenwald, Magdeburg and Comthurey), Karoline Geulen, Elisabeth Hirsemann, Franziska Hoengesberg, Maria Isert, Frieda Jahnke, Elisabeth Max, Elfriede Motzkuhn, Louise Nauth, Else Purucker (who served in Buchenwald and Taucha), Charlotte Rafoth, Lieschen Rech, Wilhelmina Sadrinna, Martha Schaefer (who first served at Flossenbürg then Buchenwald), Irmtraut Sell, Emma Theissen (who served at Buchenwald and then Essen subcamp), and Amalie Wilde{{fn|1}}. Eventually, more than 530 women served as guards in the vast Buchenwald system of subcamps and external commands across Germany. Only twenty-three women served in Buchenwald, compared to over 7,000 men.

Related Topics:
Ilse Koch - Maria Balkenhol - Elisabeth Baessler - Karoline Geulen - Elisabeth Hirsemann - Franziska Hoengesberg - Maria Isert - Frieda Jahnke - Elisabeth Max - Elfriede Motzkuhn - Louise Nauth - Charlotte Rafoth - Lieschen Rech - Wilhelmina Sadrinna - Flossenbürg - Irmtraut Sell - Amalie Wilde

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