Elisabeth Volkenrath (née Mühlau; 5 September 1919 – 13 December 1945) was a German supervisor at several
Nazi concentration camps
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 con ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
Volkenrath, née Mühlau, was an ''ungelernte Hilfskraft'' (unskilled worker) when she volunteered for service in a concentration camp. She began in October 1941 at
Ravensbrück concentration camp as a simple ''
Aufseherin''. In March 1942, she was sent to
Auschwitz Birkenau
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed int ...
where she worked in the same function as at Ravensbrück. At Auschwitz, she met ''SS-Rottenführer'' Heinz Volkenrath, who had worked there since 1941 as ''SS-Blockführer''. The couple married in 1943. Elisabeth Volkenrath participated in the selection of prisoners for the gas chambers and, in November 1944, was promoted to ''Oberaufseherin'' for all camp sections for female prisoners at Auschwitz.
Elisabeth Volkenrath was transferred to
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 ...
when Auschwitz was closed. From February 1945, she was ''Oberaufseherin'' (supervising wardress) at Bergen-Belsen.
Belsen trial
In April 1945, Volkenrath was arrested by the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
, and was tried in the
Belsen trial, at which she was convicted of war crimes.
Sentenced to death
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, she was executed by hanging at
Hamelin Prison by
Albert Pierrepoint
Albert Pierrepoint (; 30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him.
Pierrepoin ...
on 13 December 1945 she was executed in the same prison that
Irma Grese
Irma Ilse Ida Grese (7 October 1923 – 13 December 1945) was a Nazi concentration camp guard at Ravensbrück and Auschwitz, and served as warden of the women's section of Bergen-Belsen. She was a volunteer member of the SS.
Grese was convi ...
(
The Hyena of Auschwitz) was in.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volkenrath, Elisabeth
1919 births
1945 deaths
People from Złotoryja County
Auschwitz concentration camp personnel
Belsen trial executions
Executed German women
Ravensbrück concentration camp personnel
People from the Province of Silesia
Female guards in Nazi concentration camps