Irene Haschke

Irene Haschke (born February 16, 1921) was a German SS camp guard within the Nazi concentration camp system during World War II, notably, at the Bergen-Belsen camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. She was born in Friedeberg, Neumark in what is now Poland.[1]

Irene Haschke
SS women camp guards are paraded for work in clearing the dead. Irene Haschke is in front row, on the left.
Born(1921-02-16)February 16, 1921
Friedeberg, Neumark
NationalityGerman
OccupationSS camp guard

Concentration camp service and post-war trial

Haschke worked in a textile factory until August 16, 1944 when she was recruited by the Schutzstaffel, more commonly known as the SS, and sent to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp for five weeks for training as a guard, or Aufseherin.[1]

"These women are the equivalent of the men for brutality."

She was transferred to the Mährisch-Weißwasser camp, at Bílá Voda in the Sudetenland, for three weeks as SS Aufseherin. Later she returned to the textile factory for a time but was removed on February 15, 1945 and sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, arriving on February 28, 1945.[1]

She was captured by the British Army on April 15, 1945 and ordered to bury the dead.[2] On 17 September 1945 she was brought to trial by the British in the Bergen-Belsen trial, where the Court accused Josef Kramer and another 44 people, who worked in Auschwitz and Belsen, of war crimes. This trial was held at 30 Lindenstraße (Lime Street), in Lunenburg. On 17 November 1945 she was convicted and sentenced to 10 years for her participation in these crimes and was released on December 21, 1951, having only served five years.[1]

References
  1. Brown, Daniel Patrick (2004). The Beautiful Beast: The Life & Crimes of SS-Aufseherin Irma Grese, 2nd Edition. Golden West Historical Publications. ISBN 0930860152.
  2. "War Office Second World War Official Collection". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
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