Herta Ehlert (née Liess; 26 March 1905 – 4 April 1997) was a
female guard at many
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 the
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
.
On 15 November 1939, Ehlert was called for ''
Schutzstaffel
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe duri ...
'' (SS) work by the Labor Exchange,
[Profile](_blank)
bergenbelsen.co.uk; accessed 13 November 2014. and began working at
Ravensbrück concentration camp.
[ She stated, "I had to see that civilian workers did not mix with the prisoners, and later on, I was detailed to working parties outside camp."]Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
.[ SS officers there noticed she was too lenient, polite and helpful to the prisoners, so the SS returned her to Ravensbrück to undergo another training course, this time by Dorothea Binz. During this time, Ehlert divorced her husband.
After ]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 ...
, Ehlert described the "training course" at Ravensbruck as "physically and emotionally demanding." Halina Nelken described Ehlert at Plaszow in these words: "immensely obese, sly, vicious in character, and an absolute master in using the whip. She was the overseer in charge of the kitchen. Through a small window, she would spy on the Jewish women while they were at work peeling potatoes or onions, washing dishes, and doing other chores necessary in the kitchen. Once, Ehlert even ordered the women who were at work to undress completely. After they had stripped, Ehlert searched each one extremely thoroughly, looking, no doubt, for rings, money, wrist watches, and other valuables. She remained at her job until the final liquidation of the Plaszów camp. She, too, was on the death march when the time came for us to retreat along with Germans."
Ehlert was later moved to the Auschwitz concentration camp as an ''Aufseherin'', where she oversaw women commanding ''Kommando
A ''Kommando'' (, "unit" or "command") is a general term for special police and military forces in German, Dutch, and Afrikaans speaking nations.
It was also the term in the World War II era ''Luftwaffe'' for special units used to test new air ...
''s (slave labor
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
groups). Ehlert later served as a guard at the Auschwitz subcamp in Rajsko, Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
,[ before she was transferred to the ]Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
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 concentra ...
, where she became deputy wardress under ''Oberaufseherinnen'' Elisabeth Volkenrath and Irma Grese.
When 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 ...
liberated the Belsen camp, Ehlert was arrested and tried at the Belsen Trial. She was defendant #8 during the trial. While on trial, Ehlert was asked if she had committed theft, witnessed severe beatings, had committed murder and so on, to which she had denied most accusations.["30 Germans Guilty of Camp Murders".''New York Times'', 17 November 1945.]
Ehlert was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Her sentence was reduced 12 years, and Ehlert was released early on 7 May 1953.[First Belsen Trial Aufseherin Herta Ehlert/Naumann / Ließ]
/ref> After the war, she lived under the assumed name
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...
Herta Naumann.[ Ehlert died in April 1997, aged 92.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehlert, Herta
1905 births
1997 deaths
Auschwitz concentration camp personnel
Majdanek concentration camp personnel
People convicted in the Belsen trial
Ravensbrück concentration camp personnel
Female guards in Nazi concentration camps
People from Berlin