This article recounts the story of Elisabeth Volkenrath – one of the most brutal female SS guards at the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, who was tried and executed after World War II. The content is for educational and historical documentation only, based on court records, survivor testimonies, and archival materials. It does not aim to glorify violence or advocate for any political ideology.
Execution of a Cruel Nazi Guard at Auschwitz & Bergen-Belsen: Elisabeth Volkenrath
On April 15, 1945, soldiers of the British 11th Armoured Division liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, uncovering one of the most horrific scenes of the Second World War. Thousands of corpses lay unburied across the camp while nearly 60,000 prisoners were starving, sick, and barely alive. Diseases such as typhus and tuberculosis spread rapidly through the overcrowded barracks. Among the SS personnel captured after the liberation was Elisabeth Volkenrath, one of the most notorious female guards in the Nazi camp system. She was tried, convicted, and executed in December 1945.
1. From Hairdresser to SS Murderer
Elisabeth Volkenrath was born on September 5, 1919. Before the war, she worked as a hairdresser . In 1941, at age 22, she joined the SS camp staff at Ravensbrück – the main concentration camp for women in Nazi Germany . There, she was trained to supervise prisoners and to enforce discipline through intimidation, violence, and punishment.
Just one year later, in March 1942, Volkenrath was transferred to Auschwitz in German-occupied Poland . This was where she would build her brutal reputation.
2. Her Brutal Career at Auschwitz
At Auschwitz, Volkenrath initially supervised prisoners working in a tailoring workshop where uniforms were repaired. Witnesses later testified that she regularly beat elderly female prisoners with her fists . She soon gained a reputation for extreme cruelty throughout the camp.
Volkenrath quickly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming head warden of the female guards (Oberaufseherin), commanding SS women across the entire women’s camp area. Survivors described how she frequently beat prisoners with rubber truncheons, fists, or sticks, often leaving them unconscious or dead.
However, Volkenrath’s worst crime was her participation in “selections.” She stood on the ramp and decided which prisoners were fit to work – and which would be sent straight to the gas chambers. In one such selection, hundreds of prisoners were condemned to death while only a handful were allowed to remain alive for forced labor.
3. Final Days at Bergen-Belsen
In January 1945, as Soviet forces advanced toward Auschwitz, Volkenrath was transferred to Bergen-Belsen . There, conditions were even worse – overcrowded, with no food, water, or medicine. Disease ravaged the camp. Volkenrath continued abusing prisoners until the British army liberated the camp on April 15, 1945.
When British soldiers entered, they found thousands of corpses stacked and skeletal figures barely alive. Volkenrath was arrested along with other SS personnel.
4. The Belsen Trial and Death Sentence
Elisabeth Volkenrath was among 45 defendants tried at the Belsen Trial (Trial of Josef Kramer and 44 Others) in late 1945 in Lüneburg, Germany . The court heard testimony from countless survivors who identified her as one of the most brutal female guards at both Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.
Despite denying most accusations, numerous testimonies and evidence proved her responsibility for brutal crimes. She was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to death by hanging.
5. Execution by Albert Pierrepoint
On December 13, 1945, Elisabeth Volkenrath was led to the gallows at Hamelin Prison, Germany. Albert Pierrepoint – Britain’s most famous executioner, who hanged approximately 450 people, including many Nazi war criminals – carried out the sentence .
She was one of three female guards hanged that same morning, alongside Irma Grese (22 years old) and Juana Bormann (52 years old) . According to reports, she walked to the gallows without remorse, cold and defiant to the very end.
She died at age 26 and was buried in an unmarked grave within the prison grounds.
6. Legacy of Brutality
The story of Elisabeth Volkenrath is one of the most chilling accounts of how ordinary young women could be transformed by extremist ideology into monsters. She was not forced – she voluntarily joined the SS. She did not merely follow orders – she actively sought cruelty.
Elisabeth Volkenrath paid for her crimes on the gallows in 1945. But her death could not bring back the hundreds who died under her hands at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. Her name remains as a reminder that evil can hide behind any face – and that justice, however delayed, will eventually come.
Primary Sources:
Belsen Trial records (Trial of Josef Kramer and 44 Others, 1945)
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) – Elisabeth Volkenrath records
Wikipedia – Elisabeth Volkenrath / Belsen Trial / Albert Pierrepoint
Survivor testimonies – Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen
The National Archives (UK) – WO 235 series