Alice Orlowski (30 September 1903 – 21 May 1976) was a German concentration camp guard at several of the Nazi concentration camps in German-occupied Poland (1939-1945) during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After the war, a Polish court convicted of her crimes against humanity, and she served 10 years in prison in Poland. In 1973, Orlowski, now 70 and living as a

pensioner A pensioner is a person who receives a pension, most commonly because of retirement from the workforce. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom (along with OAP, initialism of old-age pensioner), Ireland and Australia where someone of p ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, muttered that only "half the work" had been finished, referring to

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. She was promptly arrested, convicted of making antisemitic remarks, and sentenced to 10 months in prison.

Wartime

Born as Alice Minna Elisabeth Elling in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1903, she began to train as a guard at the

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a Nazi concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure of 1 ...

in Germany in 1941. In October 1942, she was selected as one of the ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It beg ...

'' (SS) '' Aufseherin'' to be posted at the

Majdanek Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had three gas chambers, two wooden gallows, ...

camp near

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, in German-occupied Poland, where, along with Hermine Braunsteiner, she came to be regarded as two of the most brutal overseers. They regularly loaded trucks of women destined for the gas chambers. When a child was left over, the two would throw him or her on the top of the adults like luggage and bolt the door shut in what they called "a space-saving operation". Orlowski often awaited the arrivals of new transports of women. She would then whip the prisoners, especially across the eyes. In Majdanek, Orlowski was promoted to the rank of ''Kommandoführerin'' (Work Detail Overseer) in the sorting sheds. As the SS Aufseherin, Orlowski supervised over 100 women, who sorted through items taken from prisoners who had been gassed: watches, furs, coats, gold, jewellery, money, toys, glasses, and so on. When the camp was evacuated, the Germans sent Orlowski to the notorious

Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp Płaszów () or Kraków-Płaszów was a Nazi concentration camp operated by the SS in Płaszów, a southern suburb of Kraków, in the General Governorate of German-occupied Poland. Most of the prisoners were Polish Jews who were targeted f ...

near

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, in German-occupied Poland. In Plaszow-Kraków, Orlowski was in charge of a work detail on the Camp Street (Lager Strasse) and was known for her viciousness. In early January 1945, Orlowski was among the SS women posted on the death march to

Auschwitz-Birkenau Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

and it was during this time that her behaviour, previously observed as being brutal and sadistic, became more humane. On the death march in mid-January 1945 from Auschwitz to Loslau, Orlowski gave comfort to the inmates, and even slept alongside them on the ground outside. She also brought water to those who were thirsty. It is unknown why her attitude changed, but some speculate that she sensed the war was almost over and she would soon be tried as a

war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

. Orlowski ended up back at Ravensbrück as a guard.

Post-war

After the war ended in May 1945, Orlowski was captured by

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

forces and

extradited In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

to Poland to stand trial for war crimes. The "picture book SS woman" stood accused at the Auschwitz Trial in 1947. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but was released in 1957 after serving 10 years. After her release, Orlowski moved to

. In 1973, Orlowski was at a counter in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

when she complained that only "half the work" had been finished, referring to the extermination of the Jews and also allegedly said that it took twice as long to serve a beer as it did to kill all the Jews. In response, she was arrested for hate speech. A West German court found her guilty of making antisemitic remarks and sentenced her to 10 months in prison, of which she served 8 months. In 1975, the West German authorities arrested Orlowski a second time, for crimes committed in Majdanek. She was put on trial in the Third Majdanek Trial. Orlowski died from natural causes during her trial on 21 May 1976.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orlowski, Alice 1903 births 1976 deaths Holocaust perpetrators in Poland German people who died in prison custody German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp personnel People convicted in the Auschwitz trial Ravensbrück concentration camp personnel Prisoners who died in German detention Criminals from Berlin Majdanek concentration camp personnel People extradited to Poland Female guards in Nazi concentration camps German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union People convicted of racial hatred offences People convicted of speech crimes Nazis who died in prison custody

Wartime

Post-war

See also

References