Johanna Langefeld (5 March 1900, Kupferdreh, Germany – 26 January 1974) was a German
female guard and supervisor at three
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 ...
s:
Lichtenburg,
Ravensbrück, and
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
.
Early life
Born in Kupferdreh (now
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
, Germany), Johanna Langefeld was brought up in a Lutheran, nationalistic family. Her father was a blacksmith. In 1924, she moved to
Mülheim
Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr () and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home to many compan ...
and married Wilhelm Langefeld, who died in 1926 of lung disease. In 1928, Langefeld fell pregnant with another man, left him soon afterward, and moved to
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
, where her son was born that August.
Langefeld was unemployed until age 34, when she began to teach
domestic economy
Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...
in an establishment of the city of
Neuss
Neuss (; spelled ''Neuß'' until 1968; li, Nüss ; la, Novaesium) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It ...
. From 1935 onwards, she worked as a guard in a so-called Arbeitsanstalt (working institution) in
Brauweiler, which was, in fact, a prison for prostitutes, unemployed and homeless women, and other so called "antisocial" women, who were then later imprisoned in
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
s. From 1937 on, Langefeld was a member of the Nazi party...
Camp work
In March 1938, Langefeld applied for a job as a camp guard in the first ''
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 d ...
'' (SS) concentration camp for women in
Lichtenburg. After one year, she became the female superintendent of this camp, where she stayed until the camp population was transferred to
Ravensbrück in May 1939. She was in charge of the selections in Ravensbrück during the so-called
"14f13” murder campaign. In March 1942, Langefeld was assigned to build a new women's camp in
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
. There, she selected prisoners for the gas chamber.
Rudolf Höss
Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (also Höß, Hoeß, or Hoess; 25 November 1901 – 16 April 1947) was a German SS officer during the Nazi era who, after the defeat of Nazi Germany, was convicted for war crimes. Höss was the longest-serving comm ...
, the Commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, recalled his contact with Johanna Langefeld as follows:
The chief female supervisor of the period, Frau Langefeld, was in no way capable of coping with the situation, yet she refused to accept any instructions given her by the leader of the protective custody camp. Acting on my own initiative, I simply put the women's camp under his jurisdiction.
During the visit of
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
on 18 July 1942, Langefeld tried to get him to annul this order. In fact, Rudolf Höss admitted after the war that “the Reichsführer SS absolutely refused” his order and that he wished “a women's camp to be commanded by a woman”. Himmler ordered that Langefeld should stay in charge of the women's camp and that in the future, no SS man should enter the female camp.
That month, the Auschwitz women's camp was moved to
Auschwitz-Birkenau camp three km away. Two weeks later, Langefeld sustained an injury of her
meniscus
Meniscus may refer to:
*Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity
*Meniscus (liquid)
The meniscus (plural: ''menisci'', from the Greek for "crescent") is the curve in the upper surface ...
and required a cartilage operation in the Hohenlychen SS Sanatorium near Ravensbrück. During her stay there, she went to see
Oswald Pohl, the chief of the
SS Main Economic and Administrative Office
The SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (german: SS-Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt; SS-WVHA) was a Nazi organization responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects of the (a main branch of the ; SS). It ...
, in
Berlin-Lichterfelde
Lichterfelde () is a locality in the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf in Berlin, Germany. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Steglitz, along with Steglitz and Lankwitz. Lichterfelde is home to institutions like the Berlin Botanical Gar ...
, and convinced him to transfer her back to Ravensbrück.
Maria Mandl
Maria Mandl (also spelled Mandel; 10 January 1912 – 24 January 1948) was an Austrian '' SS- Helferin'' (" SS helper") known for her role in the Holocaust as a top-ranking official at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, where she is bel ...
became the new Oberaufseherin of the women's prisoner camp in Auschwitz. Oswald Pohl instructed the Chief of Department D of his SS Main Economic and Administrative Office,
Richard Glücks, to order that duties of protective custody camp leaders in the Women's Camps be executed thereafter by the female superintendents, the Oberaufseherinnen.
Margarete Buber-Neumann
Margarete Buber-Neumann (21 October 1901 – 6 November 1989) was a German writer. As a communist, she wrote the memoir ''Under Two Dictators'' about her imprisonment within a Soviet prison, and later a Nazi concentration camp during World War ...
, who became Langefeld's prisoner assistant in Ravensbrück, recorded that Langefeld was dismissed for excessive sympathy with Polish prisoners; she was separated from her son, taken under arrest to
Breslau, where an SS tribunal prepared a trial against her. Langefeld never went to trial, and was released from her camp duties. She then moved to
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
and started to work for
BMW.
Arrest and death
On 20 December 1945, Langefeld was arrested by the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
, and in September 1946, was extradited to the Polish judiciary preparing a trial in
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 ...
against SS personnel in Auschwitz. On 23 December 1946, she escaped from prison. Given her prior relatively positive treatment of inmates in this German Nazi concentration camp located on occupied Polish soil, the escape was assisted by Polish staff of the prison where she was held.
Langefeld escape info
wysokieobcasy.pl; accessed 2 September 2017. After the escape she hid in a convent, working in a private home. Sometime around 1957, she returned illegally to live with her sister in Munich. She died in Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...
, Germany on 26 January 1974, aged 73.
Further reading
*Johannes Schwartz, ''Das Selbstverständnis Johanna Langefelds als SS-Oberaufseherin'', in: Ulrich Fritz, Silvija Kavčič, Nicole Warmbold (ed.): ''Tatort KZ, Neue Beiträge zur Geschichte der Konzentrationslager'', Ulm 2003, pp. 71–95.
*Johannes Schwartz, ''Geschlechterspezifischer Eigensinn von NS-Täterinnen am Beispiel der KZ-Oberaufseherin Johanna Langefeld'', in: Viola Schubert-Lehnhardt (ed.),''Frauen als Täterinnen im Nationalsozialismus'', Protokollband der Fachtagung vom 17.-18. September 2004 in Bernburg, im Auftrag des Kultur- und Bildungsvereins Elbe-Saale e.V. in Sachsen-Anhalt, Gerbstadt 2005, pp. 56–82, .
*Johannes Schwartz, ''Handlungsoptionen von KZ-Aufseherinnen. Drei alltags- und geschlechtergeschichtliche Fallstudien'', in: Helgard Kramer (ed.), ''NS-Täter aus interdisziplinärer Perspektive'', Martin Meidenbauer Verlag, München 2006, S. 349-374.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langefeld, Johanna
1900 births
1974 deaths
Auschwitz concentration camp personnel
Ravensbrück concentration camp personnel
German escapees
Escapees from Polish detention
People extradited to Poland
Female guards in Nazi concentration camps
Prisoners and detainees of the United States military