Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of violence and atrocities committed during the Holocaust, which may be disturbing to some readers.
Hermine Braunsteiner, born on July 16, 1919, in Vienna, Austria, rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most notorious female guards in Nazi concentration camps, earning the chilling nickname “Stomping Mare” for her brutal acts of violence.
Her life story is a stark reminder of how ordinary individuals can commit extraordinary evils, and how justice can sometimes be delayed or incomplete.
Early Life and Path to the SS
Braunsteiner grew up in a working-class family and initially aspired to become a nurse. However, in 1939, at the age of 20, she joined the SS women’s auxiliary (SS-Helferinnen) and was assigned as a guard at Ravensbrück concentration camp, the largest camp exclusively for women. There, she quickly gained a reputation for sadism, beating and abusing prisoners with whips, dogs, and her own boots. In 1942, she was transferred to Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin, Poland, where her cruelty escalated to infamous levels.
Crimes at Majdanek and Ravensbrück: The “Stomping Mare”
At Majdanek, Braunsteiner served as a supervisor and was directly involved in the camp’s horrific operations. Prisoners dubbed her the “Stomping Mare” or “Mare of Majdanek” because of her habit of kicking inmates—often women and children—to death with her steel-studded boots. Witnesses later testified that she would stomp on prisoners’ throats and stomachs until they died, showing no remorse and even deriving pleasure from the acts. She participated in “selections,” where guards chose prisoners for gassing in the camp’s chambers, and was implicated in infanticide, snatching babies from their mothers and throwing them into gas chambers or against walls. Her fanatical loyalty to Nazi ideology made her one of the most feared figures in the camps, embodying the regime’s dehumanization of its victims. Braunsteiner’s actions contributed to the deaths of thousands during the Holocaust, as Majdanek alone claimed over 78,000 lives.
She briefly returned to Ravensbrück in 1944 before the war’s end, continuing her reign of terror until the camps were liberated by Allied forces in 1945.
Post-War Escape and Life as a U.S. Housewife
After Germany’s surrender, Braunsteiner was arrested by Allied authorities and briefly imprisoned. She was tried in Austria in 1948 for war crimes at Ravensbrück and sentenced to three years, but served only a short time before being released. In 1958, she emigrated to Canada, where she met and married Russell Ryan, an American construction worker. The couple moved to the United States in 1959, settling in Queens, New York. For over a decade, Braunsteiner lived an unassuming life as Hermine Ryan, a typical suburban housewife—attending neighborhood barbecues, gardening, and blending into American society. Neighbors described her as friendly and unremarkable, unaware of her dark past.
Discovery, Extradition, and the Majdanek Trial
Her anonymity ended in 1964 when Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal tracked her down through survivor testimonies and immigration records. Wiesenthal alerted The New York Times, which exposed her story, shocking the American public. In 1971, after a lengthy denaturalization process, she became the first Nazi war criminal to lose U.S. citizenship. Extradited to West Germany in 1973—the first such extradition from the U.S. to Germany—she faced charges in the Düsseldorf Majdanek trial, one of the longest war crimes trials in history, lasting from 1975 to 1981.
During the trial, over 200 witnesses, including survivors, detailed her atrocities. Braunsteiner showed little remorse, claiming she was just following orders. In 1981, she was convicted of murder and complicity in the murder of at least 80 people, plus selecting over 1,000 for gassing, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Release and Death: A Final Escape from Justice?
Braunsteiner served 15 years before being released in 1996 on compassionate grounds due to health issues, including diabetes that led to the amputation of a leg. She lived quietly in a German nursing home until her death on April 19, 1999, at age 79. Her early release sparked outrage among survivors and Holocaust remembrance groups, who viewed it as a “final escape from justice” after decades of evading full accountability.
Braunsteiner’s case highlights the challenges of post-war justice, the role of women in Nazi crimes, and the long arm of accountability—even if it sometimes falls short. It serves as a cautionary tale that evil can hide in plain sight, and that vigilance is essential to prevent history’s repetition.