Anneliese Kohlmann (1 March 1921 – 17 September 1977) was a German SS camp guard within the

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

system during World War II, notably, at the

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in Northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, th ...

established by the SS in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany; and at

Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentrati ...

. She was tried for war crimes at the Belsen Trial in Lüneburg in 1946.

Camp service and postwar trial

Kohlmann was born in Hamburg to Margret and Georg Kohlmann, a Masonic leader. On 1 April 1940, she became a member of the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

, but until November 1944 worked as a streetcar conductor. On 4 November 1944, Kohlmann joined the SS Women's Auxiliary and was appointed as '' Aufseherin'' at the Neugraben subcamp of the notorious

system using prisoner

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

in various locations across northern Germany. In March 1945, she was transferred to slave-labor camp in Hamburg-Tiefstack. Soon after the liberation she was arrested on the grounds of Bergen-Belsen after her former victims from Neugraben and Tiefstack identified her wearing prisoner clothes. She was kept in

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about 71,000. Celle is the southern gateway to the Lü ...

prison until her trial. Kohlmann was found guilty of repeatedly whipping inmates including pregnant women across the face, kicking until they lost consciousness, condemning at least one female prisoner to punishment of 30 lashes for a piece of stolen bread, and sexually exploiting younger women. She was sentenced to only two years in prison due to her short service in the SS and her defense's claim that she did not kill anyone. After serving her sentence (cut in half by time spent in jail before trial) Kohlmann remained in Hamburg. She moved to

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

in 1965. On 17 September 1977, Kohlmann died in Berlin at the age of 56. '' Aufseherin'' Anneliese Kohlmann is most remembered as one of the SS female camp guards at Bergen-Belsen, ordered to help bury the bodies of camp victims in a mass grave, which was photographed by

Life Magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

's photojournalist

George Rodger George William Adam Rodger (19 March 1908 – 24 July 1995) was a British photojournalist noted for his work in Africa and for photographing the mass deaths at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the end of the Second World War. Life and career ...

and widely distributed thereafter.

In popular culture

* Kohlmann is one of the main characters in the play ''Under the Skin'' by Israeli playwright Yonatan Calderon. The play depicts a love affair between a lesbian Nazi commander (Kohlmann) and one of her female Jewish prisoners.

References

External links

Photograph of Anneliese Kohlmann at the recently liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, May 1945.
BergenBelsen.co.uk images.
Disturbing images of Anneliese Kohlmann, among other SS guards, forced to carry dead bodies into a mass grave at the recently liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, May 1945.
BergenBelsen.co.uk images. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kohlmann, Anneliese 1921 births 1977 deaths Female guards in Nazi concentration camps Neuengamme concentration camp personnel People convicted in the Belsen trial Criminals from Hamburg Military personnel from Hamburg

Camp service and postwar trial

In popular culture

Further reading

References

External links