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Johanna Langefeld was a female supervisor at two concentration camps during the Nazi Regime.
Born on March 5, 1900 in Essen-Kupferdreh, Germany, Johanna Langefeld later married and had a son. In 1940, she lost her husband on the Russian front
and needed to support her and her son, so she volunteered to be a camp guard. She began her training under a woman
named Small in Ravensbruck, as she stated after the war, "to help the poorest of the poor."
In 1941, Johanna was promoted to SS Oberaufseherin and became head of all prisoners and female guards at Ravensbruck. Prisoners recounted Johanna with mixed
feelings. She saved the life of a Polish woman who was to be executed, but showed no adverse reaction when a prisoner was
beaten infront of her. In March 1942, Johanna was selected to become head of the Auschwitz I camp in newly occupied Poland.
There she tried to take control of the women's camp and get absolute power. The then commandant, Hoess, did not accept this and
the two butted heads. Hoess was unimpressed by the women guards and saw them as incompetent and untrustworthy.
After the war, Hoess recounted in his memoires that they had been:
- "spoiled rotten in Ravensbruck. Everything had been done to persuade them to stay in the KZ women's auxiliary. They were given good food and extremely good lodging. They also made a salary which could never be met in civilian life. From their very first days in Auschwitz, many of them wanted to run back to the quiet and comfortable life of Ravensbruck. There were only three of four competent ones, and the rest were driven crazy by the others who ran around like excited chickens."
Hoess also wrote that the morale among the female
guards was low. Many of them eventually stood before an SS court for stealing from the camps supply huts. Eventually Hoess
had enough of the power struggle and sent Langefeld back to Ravensbruck in October 1942. That same month the Auschwitz
women's camp was moved to the Auschwitz Birkenau camp 3 km away and Maria Mandel became the new female
camp leader. Back at Ravensbruck Langefeld served as chief wardress along with several other women.
In April 1943, Johanna
became deputy wardress under Lagerfuhrerin Erna Rose and a woman named Small. In November 1944, Langefeld began
helping select out women in barracks to be gassed. In April 1945, Johanna sucessfully negotiated the release of over 1,000 female concentration camp prisoners to the Swedish Red Cross via Denmark. Along the way over thirty of the women died in air raids.
After the war Johanna was never prosecuted for war crimes. She was praised for her kindness and consideration
in the camps, but attacked by Hoess in his memoires. Johanna Langefeld died at her home in Augsburg, Germany on January 26, 1974,
at the age of 73.
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