Therese Brandl
| Therese Brandl | |
|---|---|
 Brandl at the time of her arrest, 1945 |
|
| Born | February 1, 1902 Staudach-Egerndach, Bavaria |
| Died | January 28, 1948 (aged 45) Kraków, Republic of Poland |
| Cause of death | Capital Punishment (Hanging) |
| Occupation | Prison Guard |
| Employer | Auschwitz |
Therese ("Rose", "Rosi") Brandl (February 1, 1902 – January 28, 1948) was a Nazi concentration camp guard. She was convicted of crimes against humanity after the war and executed.
Born in Staudach-Egerndach, Bavaria, Brandl entered Ravensbrück concentration camp in March 1940 to begin her training under SS-Oberaufseherin Maria Mandel. She quickly rose through the ranks there and became a Rapportaufseherin (her main task was to count women at roll call and hand out punishments). In March 1942, Brandl was one of several SS women to be assigned to Auschwitz I camp in occupied Poland. Her jobs there included watching over women in the sorting sheds and as a Rapportaufseherin.[1] In October 1942, she was moved to the newly opened Auschwitz II camp at Birkenau. At Auschwitz, Brandl soon rose through the ranks and became an Erstaufseherin (First Guard) alongside Margot Dreschel and Irma Grese. In the summer of 1943, she received a medal from the Reich for her "good conduct" in the camps. In November 1944, with the approach of the Soviet Army, she was sent to the Muhldorf Forest subcamp of Dachau along with Mandel and she was demoted to Aufseherin. Not many reports have surfaced about Brandl's behavior at Muhldorf. She ultimately fled from Muhldorf on April 27, 1945, weeks before the arrival of the United States Army.
On August 29, 1945, the U.S. Army arrested her in the Bavarian mountains of Germany and sent her to a holding camp to await questioning. In November 1947 she was tried by the Polish authorities along with Maria Mandel, Luise Danz, Hildegard Lächert and Alice Orlowski in the Auschwitz Trial at Kraków. On December 22, 1947, Brandl was proclaimed guilty of participating in the selection of inmates to be put to death. She was hanged in prison on January 28, 1948.
[edit] References
- ^ Niewyk, Donald L. (1998). Fresh Wounds: Early Narratives of Holocaust Survival. The University of North Carolina Press. pp. 432. ISBN 0807823937.
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