Maria Mandl

Maria Mandl
Mandl in U.S. custody, 1945
Born	(1912-01-10)10 January 1912 Münzkirchen, Austria-Hungary
Died	24 January 1948(1948-01-24) (aged 36) Montelupich Prison, Kraków, Polish People's Republic
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Other names	The Beast
Height	163 cm (5 ft 4 in)
Political party	Nazi Party
Criminal status	Executed
Motive	Nazism
Conviction	Crimes against humanity
Trial	Auschwitz trial
Criminal penalty	Death
Schutzstaffel
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Division	SS-Gefolge
Years of service	1938–1945
Rank	Lichtenburg Aufseherin Ravensbrück Oberaufseherin Auschwitz II-Birkenau Lagerführerin
Signature

Maria Mandl (sometimes erroneously spelled Mandel; 10 January 1912 – 24 January 1948) was an Austrian war criminal who served as Lagerführerin (camp leader) at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp. She was executed in 1948 after being found guilty of committing crimes against humanity at the Auschwitz trial.

Early life

Maria Mandl was born on 10 January 1912, in Münzkirchen, Austria-Hungary, to shoemaker Franz Mandl and housewife Anna Streibl. She grew up on her family's farm with three older siblings: Georg, Anna, and Aloisia.

Franz Mandl was known in Münzkirchen for his opposition to the Nazi Party and instead supporting the Christian Social Party (CSP). After the war, he served on the party’s District Council. Concerning Streibl, she experienced periods of severe depression and at least one nervous breakdown during Maria's adolesence. Maria would later recall,

[Although] my good mother was rarely approachable for us children, the doctor could not do very much about it. It had to get right again by itself. After that my good mother was for us the best on earth.

Following Maria’s employment at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Streibl attended Mass every day and "prayed for her daughter’s eternal soul"; she died in 1944.

Mandl, c. before 1938

Mandl withdrew from school on 20 July 1924, at the age of twelve, without an exit examination to help with the family farm. She resumed her studies in 1927 after her father put down the money for her to attend a Catholic boarding school in Neuhaus am Inn, where she spent the final three years of her education.

Mandl was unable to find work in Münzkirchen after graduating, prompting her to move to Brig, Switzerland, where she worked as a housekeeper and cook. She resigned from her position after thirteen months due to homesickness, returning to Austria to live with her parents until 1934. She eventually found employment as a maid at a private villa in Innsbruck. She eventually left this job in 1936 and returned home when her parents’ health began to decline. The following year, she began working at the Münzkirchen post office and got engaged to a local man.

Mandl and her fiancé separated after Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938, as the man believed that the Mandl family’s affiliation with the CSP would harm his reputation as a Nazi soldier. She was also fired from her position at the post office at this time. According to Münzkirchen residents, Mandl was let go because of her father’s involvement in the CSP.

Employment in concentration camps

KZ Lichtenburg (1938–1939)

Mandl moved to Munich in September 1938 to live with her uncle, a police constable, hoping to get a position in the force with his help. However, because there were no available positions at the time, her uncle encouraged her to apply for the position of Aufseherin (female overseer) at the Lichtenburg concentration camp in Prettin. In a later statement, Mandl stated she accepted the position because she would receive a higher salary than she would if she were a nurse. She would also claim that she "knew nothing" about concentration camps.

Mandl completed a training program that included classes on Nazi ideology and the appropriate attitude that should be had towards the Third Reich. She also took a twenty-question test that evaluated her knowledge of geography, history, and significant dates in the Nazi Party. Her views on race and global matters were also subject to examination. Upon completion of the program, Mandl was promoted to Aufseherin and allowed to work on the Lichtenburg camp grounds. For the first three months, she worked under the supervision of one of the more experienced guards.

During her time at Lichtenburg, Mandl was under the command of Kommandant Max Kögl and Oberaufseherin Johanna Langefeld. According to survivors Emilie Neu and Lina Haag, Mandl subjected inmates to whippings, beatings, and strenuous exercises—a practice commonly referred to as "sport" in victim and perpetrator accounts. In one instance, Mandl repeatedly struck a prisoner with a key until she lost consciousness, after which she dragged the prisoner by her knees across the camp and placed her in solitary confinement.

An unnamed survivor described her encounter with Mandl during the latter's initial days at the camp. In response to the survivor's remark that she was "too pretty to play supervisor," Mandl said, "No, I swore the oath to the Führer, I'm staying."

KZ Ravensbrück (1939–1942)

On 15 May 1939, Mandl was transferred to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she continued to work under Kögl and Langefeld. She assisted with the daily roll calls, supervised outdoor and indoor work details, and took charge over a dog trained to attack prisoners on command. She was known to have beat and verbally abuse the imprisoned women if they did not work fast enough. Survivor Wanda Półtawska recalled the classical pieces Mandl would play over the camp's loudspeakers in the midst of atrocities committed. After one particular execution, Mandl played her favorite work by German composer Robert Schumann, Träumerei, over the loudspeakers.

Mandl, along with Oberaufseherin Dorothea Binz, received the position of supervising an on-camp jail called "the Bunker", which served as a punishment block, in early 1940. Prior to the 1947 Auschwitz trial, she falsely claimed that prisoners were only kept in cells for up to a month and were given coffee and bread during the duration of their punishment. Her statement contrasts with survivors' testimonies, which describe the deliberate withholding of food and fatal floggings, the latter of which Mandl reportedly derived pleasure and happiness from participating in.

In April 1942, she was promoted to the rank of Oberaufseherin for the violent acts she committed in "the Bunker", following Langefeld's transfer to Auschwitz II-Birkenau in March. In her biography of Mandl, Professor Susan Eischeid asserts that Langefeld was replaced by Mandl due to her inability to enforce "brutality and structure" within the camp.

After Ravensbrück was designated as the training site for female guards, Mandl took on a leading role in the early years of its training program. In the summer of 1939, she trained Hermine Braunsteiner, who would later become known as the "Mare of Majdanek". Braunsteiner later described Mandl as being "very strict" and "unfavorable", citing instances in which she witnessed Mandl hitting the prisoners.

Mandl had a short-lived relationship with Obersturmführer Edmund Bräuning, which ended when Bräuning became involved with another woman. Following this, the number of prisoners shot and punished by Mandl increased.

KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau (1942–1945)

Mandl was the only female guard to be present during the opening of the SS hospital in Auschwitz, 1 September 1944

In 1942, Mandl was transferred to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, where she succeeded Langefeld in rank for the second time after being promoted from Oberaufseherin to Lagerführerin. Kommandant Rudolf Höss was the only superior SS officer Mandl was required to report to. Höss thought highly of her and, on 27 March 1944, made arrangements for her to earn a one hundred Reichsmark bonus in addition to her regular monthly salary. Mandl was also given command of all the female subcamps of Auschwitz, including Hindenburg O.S., Lichtewerden, and Rajsko. During this period, Mandl promoted Irma Grese to the position of head of the Hungarian women's camp at Auschwitz II-Birkenau and appointed Therese Brandl as her private secretary.

According to survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Mandl would often stand by the gate to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, waiting for an inmate to turn and look at her. Those that did were removed from the line and never returned. Over the next two years, Mandl assisted with death selections at the camp. She signed death lists, sending thousands of women and children to their deaths in the gas chambers of Auschwitz I and II. In her testimony, Regina Lebensfeldová-Hofstädterová, a typist in the Political Department of Auschwitz, stated that Mandl referred to the prisoners as mistbienen (dung bees).

In April 1943, Mandl and Hauptsturmführer Franz Hössler organized the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz to perform during roll calls, executions, selections, and transports. Mandl chose Zofia Czajkowska to be the orchestra's first conductor; however, she was later replaced by established Austrian violinist Alma Rosé, whom Mandl arranged to be transferred to Auschwitz. According to historian David M. Crowe, Mandl "blended a passion for classical music with extreme cruelty towards her female prisoners".

In November 1944, Mandl was awarded the War Merit Cross, Second Class. Around this time, she was assigned to the Mühldorf subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp, and Elisabeth Volkenrath was appointed head of Auschwitz, which was liberated in late January 1945.

Arrest, the Auschwitz trial, and execution

Maria Mandel behaves differently. She does her best to be in control of herself but her efforts are futile. The woman who condemned female prisoners to death with a single gesture now cannot control her accelerated breathing, unnatural blush and nervous twitching of her entire face.

Echo Krakowa, 24 December 1947

In May 1945, Mandl fled from Mühldorf to the southern Bavarian mountains to return to Münzkirchen. However, her father refused to hide her from the Allied authorities. Mandl subsequently sought refuge with her sister in Łuck, Ukraine. She was eventually apprehended by the U.S. Army on 8 October 1945, and spent some time in a cell at the former Dachau concentration camp. She was filmed by U.S. soldiers on 14 May 1946, while sharing a cell with former Auschwitz II-Birkenau Rapportführerin Elisabeth Ruppert.

Interrogations reportedly revealed that Mandl was highly intelligent and dedicated to her work in the concentration camps where she was employed.

Mandl seated at the dock during the Auschwitz trial in Kraków, 24 November 1947

On 11 November 1946, U.S. officials transferred Mandl to Polish custody and incarcerated her in Montelupich Prison. On 22 December 1947, Mandl was tried by Poland's Supreme National Tribunal in the Auschwitz trial, found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. It is believed she was complicit in the murders of approximately 500,000 people.

Stanisława Rachwałowa, a Polish survivor of Auschwitz, was an inmate during Mandl's administration and later arrested for being an "anti-communist activist" by Polish authorities. She was in the cell next to the one Mandl and Brandl shared. Fluent in German, Rachwałowa served as an interpreter for the prison wardens. She later revealed that the last time she saw the two women was shortly before their execution date, and they both asked for her forgiveness.

Mandl was hanged on 24 January 1948 at 7:32 A.M., at the age of thirty-six. Prior to her execution, she resisted and struggled against the guards who escorted her. Her final words, spoken in Polish, were "Polska żyje" ("Poland lives").

See also

• Female guards in Nazi concentration camps
• SS-Gefolge (Women's SS Division)

References

Bibliography

• Bartrop, Paul R.; Grimm, Eve E. (2019). Perpetrating the Holocaust: Leaders, Enablers, and Collaborators. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4408-5896-3.
• Benz, Wolfgang; Distel, Barbara, eds. (2005). Der Ort des Terrors: Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager [The Place of Terror: History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps] (in German). Vol. 4. Munich, Germany: C. H. Beck. ISBN 978-3-406-52964-1.
• Busch, Christophe; Hördler, Stefan; Van Pelt, Robert Jan (2016). Das Höcker-Album: Auschwitz durch die Linse der SS [The Höcker Album: Auschwitz through the lens of the SS] (in German). Darmstadt, Germany: Verlag Philipp von Zabern. ISBN 978-3-8053-4958-1.
• Crowe, David M. (2004). Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story Behind the List. New York, New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00253-5.
• Dune Macadam, Heather (2020). 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz. New York, New York: Citadel Press. ISBN 978-0-8065-3936-2.
• Eischeid, Susan (2024). Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz- Birkenau. New York, New York: Citadel Press. ISBN 978-0-8065-4285-0.
• Fleming, Michael (2022). In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Poland, the United Nations War Crimes Commission, and the Search for Justice. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-009-09898-4.
• Garbe, Detlef (2008) [First published in 1993 by Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH in Munich, Germany]. Between Resistance & Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich. Translated by Grimm, Dagmar G. Grimm. Madison, Wisconsin; Washington, D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-20794-6.
• Gutman, Israel; Berenbaum, Michael, eds. (1994). Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp. Washington, D.C.; Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press & the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. ISBN 978-0-253-20884-2.
• Heath, Tim (2018). In Hitler's Shadow: Post-War Germany and the Girls of the BDM. Yorkshire, England: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 978-1-5267-2001-6.
• Koop, Volker (2021). The Commandant of Auschwitz: Rudolf Höss. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England: Frontline Books. ISBN 978-1-47388-688-9.
• Morrison, Jack G. (2000). Ravensbrück: Everyday Life in a Women's Concentration Camp, 1939–1945. Princeton, New Jersey: Markus Wiener Publishers. ISBN 978-1-55876-218-3.
• Müller, J. M. (2020). Angeklagte Nr. 9: Die "Hyäne von Auschwitz" im Kreuzverhör. Das Protokoll (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Books on Demand. ISBN 978-3-7543-0588-1.

Further reading

• Eischeid, Susan (2016). The Truth about Fania Fénelon and the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-319-31037-4.
• Kennedy, Kate (2024). Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound. London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-80328-701-0.
• Newman, Richard; Kirtley, Karen (2000). Pauly, Reinhard G. (ed.). Alma Rosé: Vienna to Auschwitz. Pompton Plains, New Jersey: Amadeus Press. ISBN 978-1-57467-085-1.

External links

• March of Time – outtakes – War Crimes Trial: "Butchers of Auschwitz" (Videotape). Kraków, Poland: March of Time, Inc. November 1947. Mandl appears at 02:37:20, 02:39:05, 02:39:20. Archived from the original on 14 February 2025.