Dorothea Binz
Encyclopedia
Dorothea Binz was an SS
supervisor at Ravensbrück concentration camp
during the Second World War.
, Johanna Langefeld
, Maria Mandel
, and Anna Klein-Plaubel. She worked in various parts of the camp, including the kitchen and laundry. Later, she is said to have supervised the bunker where women prisoners were tortured and killed.
In August 1943, Binz was promoted to Stellvertretende Oberaufseherin (Deputy Chief Wardress). Her abuse was later described as unyielding. As a member of the command staff between 1943 and 1945, she directed training and assigned duties to over 100 female guards at one time. Binz reportedly trained some of the cruelest female guards in the system, including Ruth Closius
.
At Ravensbrück, the young Binz is said to have beaten, slapped, kicked, shot, whipped, stomped and abused women continuously. Witnesses testified that when she appeared at the Appellplatz
, "silence fell." She reportedly carried a whip
in hand, along with a leashed German Shepherd and at a moment's notice would kick a woman to death or select her to be killed. French prisoners nicknamed her La Binz (The Binz).
Binz reportedly had a boyfriend in the camp, an SS officer named Edmund Bräuning. The two are said to have gone on romantic walks around the camp to watch women being flogged, after which they would stroll away laughing. They lived together in a house outside the camp walls until late 1944, when Bräuning was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp
.
and incarcerated in the Recklinghausen
camp (formerly a Buchenwald
subcamp).
Binz was tried with other SS personnel by a British court at the Ravensbrück Trial
and was hanged
at Hameln on May 2, 1947 for war crimes.
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
supervisor at Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
during the Second World War.
Life
Born to a middle class German family in Försterei Dusterlake, Binz attended school until she was fifteen. Afterwards, she spent time as a maid but disliked the job, so she applied at a local SS office and was sent to Ravensbrück on September 1, 1939, to undergo training as a guard.Camp work
Binz served as an Aufseherin under Oberaufseherin Emma ZimmerEmma Zimmer
Emma Anne Zimmer was a female overseer at the Ravensbrück concentration camp for two years during the war....
, Johanna Langefeld
Johanna Langefeld
Johanna Langefeld was a German female guard and supervisor at three Nazi concentration camps.-Early life:Born in Kupferdreh , Johanna Langefeld was brought up in a Lutheran-Protestant, nationalistic family. Her father was a blacksmith. In 1924 she moved to Mülheim and married Wilhelm Langefeld,...
, Maria Mandel
Maria Mandel
Maria Mandel was an Austrian SS-Helferin infamous for her key role in The Holocaust as a top-ranking official at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp where she is believed to have been directly responsible for the deaths of over 500,000 female prisoners.-Life:Mandel was born in Münzkirchen,...
, and Anna Klein-Plaubel. She worked in various parts of the camp, including the kitchen and laundry. Later, she is said to have supervised the bunker where women prisoners were tortured and killed.
In August 1943, Binz was promoted to Stellvertretende Oberaufseherin (Deputy Chief Wardress). Her abuse was later described as unyielding. As a member of the command staff between 1943 and 1945, she directed training and assigned duties to over 100 female guards at one time. Binz reportedly trained some of the cruelest female guards in the system, including Ruth Closius
Ruth Closius
Ruth Closius-Neudeck was an SS supervisor at a death camp complex from December 1944 until March 1945.-Early life:...
.
At Ravensbrück, the young Binz is said to have beaten, slapped, kicked, shot, whipped, stomped and abused women continuously. Witnesses testified that when she appeared at the Appellplatz
Appellplatz
Appellplatz is a compound German word meaning "roll call" and "area" or "place" . In English, the word is generally used to describe the location for the daily roll calls in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.- Concentration camp usage :Roll calls were a daily part of the regimen in...
, "silence fell." She reportedly carried a whip
Whip
A whip is a tool traditionally used by humans to exert control over animals or other people, through pain compliance or fear of pain, although in some activities whips can be used without use of pain, such as an additional pressure aid in dressage...
in hand, along with a leashed German Shepherd and at a moment's notice would kick a woman to death or select her to be killed. French prisoners nicknamed her La Binz (The Binz).
Binz reportedly had a boyfriend in the camp, an SS officer named Edmund Bräuning. The two are said to have gone on romantic walks around the camp to watch women being flogged, after which they would stroll away laughing. They lived together in a house outside the camp walls until late 1944, when Bräuning was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
.
Capture and execution
Binz fled Ravensbrück during the death march, was captured on May 3, 1945, by the British in HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
and incarcerated in the Recklinghausen
Recklinghausen
Recklinghausen is the northernmost city in the Ruhr-Area and the capital of the Recklinghausen district. It borders the rural Münsterland and is characterized by large fields and farms in the north and industry in the south...
camp (formerly a Buchenwald
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
subcamp).
Binz was tried with other SS personnel by a British court at the Ravensbrück Trial
Ravensbrück Trial
The Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials were a series of seven trials for war crimes against camp officials from the Ravensbrück concentration camp that the British authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Hamburg after the end of World War II. These trials were heard before a military...
and was hanged
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
at Hameln on May 2, 1947 for war crimes.
Sources
Most of the information in this article comes from the following sources:- The Camp Women: The Female Auxiliaries Who Assisted the SS in Running the Nazi Concentration Camp System, page 42