Hermine Braunsteiner

Hermine Braunsteiner, born on July sixteenth, nineteen nineteen, was an Austrian SS Helferin and a notorious female camp guard at the Ravensbrück and Majdanek concentration camps during the Holocaust. Her actions at these camps earned her a grim reputation, particularly among the prisoners of Majdanek, who referred to her as 'the Mare' due to her brutal treatment of those in her charge.

Known for her extreme cruelty, Braunsteiner was reported to have engaged in horrific acts, including kicking and stamping on prisoners, violently throwing children by their hair onto trucks destined for gas chambers, and even hanging young prisoners. Her violent behavior culminated in the beating of prisoners to death, contributing to her notoriety as a key figure in the atrocities committed during this dark chapter of history.

In a significant legal milestone, Braunsteiner became the first Nazi war criminal to be extradited from the United States to face trial in West Germany. On April thirtieth, nineteen eighty-one, she was convicted for her complicity in the murders of over one thousand individuals and was sentenced to life imprisonment by the District Court of Düsseldorf.

Despite her conviction, Braunsteiner was released on health grounds in nineteen ninety-six. She lived for three more years before passing away, leaving behind a legacy marked by her involvement in one of history's most horrific genocides.