While the Nazi regime was dominated by men, thousands of women also played active roles in its machinery of terror—including as concentration camp guards. These women, known as Aufseherinnen, worked in camps like Ravensbrück, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen, where they supervised, abused, and in many cases helped murder prisoners. But when the Third Reich fell, what became of these women? Justice was uneven—and often elusive.
The Role of Female Guards
Approximately 3,500 women served as guards in Nazi concentration camps. Many were recruited from ordinary backgrounds—former secretaries, factory workers, or housewives. Once inside the SS system, they were trained in brutality and expected to enforce Nazi racial policies with violence.
In camps like Ravensbrück, the largest all-female concentration camp, guards beat, tortured, and sent women to the gas chambers. Some, like Irma Grese—nicknamed “The Beautiful Beast”—became infamous for their sadism, using dogs and whips on prisoners at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.
Postwar Trials and Executions
After the war, the Allied powers sought to bring war criminals to justice. Some of the most notorious female guards were tried, convicted, and executed. Irma Grese, just 22 years old, was hanged in 1945 after the Belsen Trial for her crimes at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. She showed no remorse during the trial.
Others, like Elisabeth Volkenrath, head guard at Auschwitz and later Bergen-Belsen, were also hanged. These trials, while historic, were limited in number. Only a small fraction of the thousands of women involved were ever held accountable.
Escaping Justice
Many female guards simply faded back into postwar German society. With the chaos of a defeated nation and limited resources for mass prosecutions, many were never investigated. Some changed names or claimed they had minor roles. In both East and West Germany, political will to pursue lesser-known Nazis faded quickly as Cold War tensions rose.
For decades, countless former guards lived normal lives—married, raised families, and collected pensions—without ever answering for the crimes they witnessed or committed.
Delayed Reckonings
In the 21st century, efforts to prosecute surviving Nazi personnel were reignited. In 2022, Irmgard Furchner, a 97-year-old former secretary at the Stutthof concentration camp, was convicted of complicity in the murder of over 10,000 people. She had worked closely with camp commandants and was tried in a juvenile court due to her age during the war.
Her case marked a shift in German legal philosophy—from needing direct proof of physical participation in killings to accepting that serving in the system itself constituted guilt.