Maria Mandl

Maria Mandl (sometimes erroneously spelled Mandel; 10 January 1912 – 24 January 1948) was an Austrian-born Holocaust perpetrator who was the (camp leader) of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp from 1942 until her arrest in 1945.

Born in Austria-Hungary, Mandl moved to Munich in 1938 after the annexation of Austria. There, she began working as a guard at the Lichtenburg concentration camp at the suggestion of her uncle. She quickly adapted to her role as an (overseer), subjecting prisoners to fatal beatings and whippings. Her sadistic behavior continued when she was transferred to Ravensbrück, where she was promoted to (head overseer). Having gained the respect of her superiors, including Max Kögl, for her brutality toward the prisoners, Mandl was promoted again and given the position of upon her transfer to Auschwitz II-Birkenau in 1942.

Arrested following the Allied occupation of Germany in May 1945, Mandl was later tried at the Auschwitz trial, where she was found guilty of crimes against humanity. She was executed by hanging in 1948.

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 adolescence. Maria would later recall:

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 paid 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 after 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 (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 composed of 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 dates significant to the Nazi Party. Her views on race were also subject to scrutiny. Upon completion of the program, Mandl was promoted to 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 (Commandant) Max Kögl and (head overseer) 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 , 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 amid the atrocities committed. After one execution, Mandl played her favorite work by German composer Robert Schumann, , over the loudspeakers.

Mandl, along with 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 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 , 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)

In 1942, Mandl was transferred to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, where she succeeded Langefeld in rank for the second time after being promoted from to . 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 (dung bees).

In April 1943, Mandl and 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 Birkenau from Auschwitz I. 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.

Upon hearing of her employment at the camp, Mandl's mother Anna attended Mass every day and "prayed for her daughter's eternal soul"; she died in 1944.

Arrest, the Auschwitz trial, and execution

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.

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.

, 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. In the days leading up to her execution, Mandl spent her time praying and teaching herself Polish.

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 "" ("Poland lives"). Franz Mandl was aware of the atrocities Maria had committed in the concentration camps and did not request that her remains be sent home.

In November 1975, Mandl's death certificate was discovered. The record stated that she had died in a concentration camp as a prisoner. Lawyer and the Austrian Mauthausen Committee called for correction of the certificate. It was not until April 2017 that the regional court of Ried im Innkreis made such corrections that reflected her participation.

See also

* Female guards in Nazi concentration camps

Notes

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandl, Maria
1912 births
1948 deaths
Auschwitz trial executions
Austrian female criminals
Austrian Nazis executed for war crimes
Austrian people convicted of crimes against humanity
Austrian people executed abroad
Austrian prisoners of war
Austrian torturers
Dachau concentration camp personnel
Executed Austrian mass murderers
Executed Austrian women
Female guards in Nazi concentration camps
Female mass murderers
Holocaust perpetrators in Poland
People extradited to Poland
Austrian people imprisoned in Poland
People from Schärding District
Ravensbrück concentration camp personnel
World War II prisoners of war held by the United States