Greta Bösel (née Mueller) (9 May 1908 – 3 May 1947) was a

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

German

nurse Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

and camp guard at

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a Nazi concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure of 1 ...

. She was arrested and tried for her role in

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

, found guilty of

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

, and subsequently executed.

Nazi atrocities, trial and execution

Bösel was born on 9 May 1908 in Wuppertal-Elberfeld,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. She was a trained nurse. Bösel became a camp guard at Ravensbrück in August 1944. Her rank at the camp was ''Arbeitseinsatzführerin'' (Work Input Overseer), a leading assistant in the camp labour office. In November 1944, Bösel was supposed to have been one of the staff members to select prisoners for the

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...

, or for transfer to

Uckermark The Uckermark () is a historical region in northeastern Germany, which straddles the Uckermark (district), Uckermark District of Brandenburg and the Vorpommern-Greifswald District of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Its traditional capital is Prenzlau. ...

. She is known to have told another Nazi SS guard "If they risonerscannot work, let them rot." After the death march of prisoners out of Ravensbrück following the impending liberation by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

troops, Bösel fled the camp with her husband. She was later caught and arrested by British troops. Bösel, along with other female guards including Dorothea Binz, stood accused at the first Ravensbrück Trial, which took place between December 1946 and February 1947 in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany. The court found her guilty of maltreatment, murder and taking part in the "selections". She was executed for her crimes at 9:55 am on 3 May 1947, 24 minutes after Elisabeth Marschall, by

Albert Pierrepoint Albert Pierrepoint ( ; 30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English Executioner, hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry Pierrepoint, Henry and uncle Thomas Pierrepoint, Th ...

in Hamelin Prison.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bosel, Greta 1908 births 1947 deaths Executed German mass murderers Executed German women Executed people from North Rhine-Westphalia Female guards in Nazi concentration camps Female mass murderers German women nurses German nurses Hamburg Ravensbrück trials executions Holocaust perpetrators in Germany Military personnel from Wuppertal People from the Rhine Province