Skip to main content

August 25, 1908 - Luise Brunner

Her career traced the arc of the SS female guard system at its most lethal — trained at Ravensbrück, deployed to Birkenau during the height of its operations, and eventually elevated to chief guard at Ravensbrück in the camp's final months. Survivor testimony records her as feared for physical violence against prisoners over minor infractions, and her role extended to selections for the gas chamber. The three-year sentence she received at the Ravensbrück Trial stood in stark contrast to the scale of what the proceedings documented.

From Wikipedia

Luise Brunner (25 August 1908 – 8 December 1977) was a German concentration camp guard in Auschwitz II (1942 – late 1944) and the chief oberaufseherin (chief guard) of Ravensbrück concentration camp from December 1944 to April 1945.

Biography

Brunner was born in Aidhausen in 1908. She trained at the Ravensbruck concentration camp during June 1942, and in October of that year she was assigned to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she rose through the ranks to become a Kommandoführerin. At Birkenau, Brunner was feared for her brutality: "A female German teacher – Drechsler – was the Lagerführerin [Stellvertretende Lagerführerin], a German woman named Brunner was the Oberapportführerin and another one called Grese was the Rapportführerin. If they noticed a shawl, a pullover, or stocking they would beat you half-dead."

During the Seventh Ravensbrück Trial (2 July 1948 – 21 July 1948), Brunner was tried on charges of mistreatment of inmates of Allied nationality and participation in the selection of inmates for the gas chamber. She was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.

⚠ Report a problem with this article

  • Last updated on .