Greta Bösel (née Mueller) (9 May 1908 – 3 May 1947) was a Nazi German nurse and camp guard at Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was arrested and tried for her role in the Holocaust, found guilty of war crimes, and subsequently executed.
Greta Bösel | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 9, 1908 |
| Died | May 3, 1947 (aged 38) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Occupation | Nurse |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Conviction(s) | War crimes |
| Trial | Hamburg Ravensbrück trials |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
Nazi atrocities, trial and execution
editBösel was born on 9 May 1908 in Wuppertal-Elberfeld, Germany. She was a trained nurse.[1]
Bösel became a camp guard at Ravensbrück in August 1944.[2] Her rank at the camp was Arbeitseinsatzführerin (Work Input Overseer), a leading assistant in the camp labour office.[3] In November 1944, Bösel was supposed to have been one of the staff members to select prisoners for the gas chamber, or for transfer to Uckermark.[4] She is known to have told another Nazi SS guard "If they [prisoners] cannot work, let them rot."[2]
After the death march of prisoners out of Ravensbrück following the impending liberation by the Red Army of 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, 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[2] on 3 May 1947, 24 minutes after Elisabeth Marschall,[2] by Albert Pierrepoint in Hamelin Prison.
References
edit- ^ Fielding, Steve (2008-07-07). Pierrepoint: A Family of Executioners. Kings Road Publishing. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-84358-563-3.
- ^ a b c d Silke Schäfer. Zum Selbstverständnis von Frauen im Konzentrationslager. Das Lager Ravensbrück (PDF). TU Berlin. p. 266.
- ^ Liverpool, Lord Russell of (2015-06-05). The Scourge of the Swastika: A Short History of Nazi War Crimes. Pen and Sword. p. 201. ISBN 978-1-4738-7755-9.
- ^ Michael J. Bazyler; Frank M. Tuerkheimer (1 December 2015). Forgotten Trials of the Holocaust. NYU Press. p. 141. ISBN 978-1-4798-9924-1.