Gerda "Jane" Bernigau (5 October 1908 – 23 March 1992) was an '' SS Oberaufseherin'' in

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

before and during World War II.

Camp work

Bernigau was born on 5 October 1908, in Sagan, Germany (now Żagań, Poland). She worked in orphanages as a young woman. In 1938, she joined the camp staff at the Lichtenburg early camp in eastern Germany. There, because of her willingness to get her job done, she was eventually promoted to chief wardress (''Oberaufseherin'') over the vast system of

Gross-Rosen Gross-Rosen was a network of Nazi concentration camps built and operated by Nazi Germany during World War II. The main camp was located in the German village of Gross-Rosen, now the modern-day Rogoźnica in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, d ...

women's satellite camps. In May 1939, Bernigau was sent to

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 ...

as a guard. In September 1942 (or 1943), Bernigau was sent as a wardress to the

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 f ...

satellite camp at Sankt Lambrecht. Bernigau was posted to the

Gross-Rosen concentration camp Gross-Rosen was a network of Nazi concentration camps built and operated by Nazi Germany during World War II. The main camp was located in the German village of Gross-Rosen, now the modern-day Rogoźnica in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, di ...

in 1944 as chief wardress and dealt with the initial training of female guard candidates until they were dispersed out to Langenbielau/Reichenbach for completion of their course. She was awarded the ''Kriegsverdienstkreuz II. Klasse ohne Schwerter'' medal in 1944 for her devotion to the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

and her camp services, and she had tremendous power over her subordinate female guards as well as the women prisoners in the sub-camps. In her 2008 book, ''A Narrow Bridge to Life'', Bella Gutterman wrote: "The commander of Gross-Rosen inspected the camps frequently and went on field trips to choose appropriate locations for new camps. SS Chief Supervisor Jane Bernigau did a stint in Gross-Rosen and sometimes accompanied the commander on visits that had been chosen for new camps. She also joined him in visits to camps and factories where the employment of prisoners had to be regularized."

Evasion of justice

In February 1945 Bernigau accompanied male SS leaders from

to Reichenau, from where she fled during May 1945, and was never prosecuted for war crimes. After the war she lived in West Germany. According to the German historian Isabell Sprenger, Bernigau was several times interrogated by the authorities, for the last time in 1976. She died in

Husum Husum (, ) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home of the annual i ...

in March 1992 at the age of 83.Ravensbrück, de daders.
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References

Sources

* * Isabell Sprenger: Aufseherinnen in den Frauen-Außenlagern des Konzentrationslagers Groß-Rosen, Werkstatt Geschichte 12, Ergebnisse Verlag, Hamburg 1995, s. 21-33 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernigau, Jane 1908 births 1992 deaths Female guards in Nazi concentration camps Gross-Rosen concentration camp personnel Mauthausen concentration camp personnel People from the Province of Silesia People from Żagań Ravensbrück concentration camp personnel SS personnel