Alice Orlowski

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Alice Orlowski (September 30, 1903 – 1976)^[1] was a high-ranking SS official at many Nazi camps during World War II. She was born Alice Minna Elizabeth Elling in Berlin, Germany.

Between 1941 and 1942 she began her guard training at the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany. In October 1942 she was selected as one of the SS Aufseherin to be posted at the Majdanek camp near Lublin, Poland where she and Hermine Braunsteiner came to be regarded as two of the most brutal overseers. They regularly loaded trucks of women for the gas chamber. When a child was left over, the two would throw the children on the top of the adults like luggage and bolt the door shut. Orlowski would often be waiting when new transports of women arrived. The guard would then whip them, especially across the eyes. In Majdanek, Orlowski was promoted to the rank of Kommandofuhrerin (Work Detail Overseer) in the sorting sheds. The SS woman had over 100 women under her supervision, who sorted through stolen items from gassed prisoners: watches, furs, coats, gold, jewellery, money, toys, glasses, etc. When the camp was evacuated, the Nazis sent Orlowski to the Kraków-Płaszów camp near Kraków, Poland.^[2]

In early January 1945, Orlowski was one of the SS women posted on the death march to Auschwitz-Birkenau and it was during this time that her behaviour, previously noted as being brutal and sadistic, became more humane. On the death march in mid-January 1945 from Auschwitz to Loslau, Orlowski gave comfort to the inmates, and even slept alongside them on the ground outside. She also brought water to those who were thirsty.^[3] It is unknown why her attitude changed, but some speculate that she sensed the war was almost over and she would soon be tried as a war criminal. Orlowski eventually ended up back at Ravensbrück as a guard.

After the war ended in May 1945, Orlowski was captured by Soviet forces and extradited to Poland to stand trial for war crimes. The "picture book SS woman" stood accused at the Auschwitz Trial in 1947. She was sentenced to life imprisonment, but was released in 1957 after serving only 10 years.

In 1975, West Germany tracked Orlowski down and placed her on trial in the third Majdanek Trial. She died during the trial in 1976 at the age of 73.

[edit] References

1. ^ The information pertaining to the birthplace, birthdate and camp service of Alice Orlowski was found in Daniel Patrick Brown, "THE CAMP WOMEN - The Female Auxiliaries Who Assisted the SS in Running the Nazi Concentration Camp System" p. 185.
2. ^ The facts pertaining to Orlowski's crimes in Majdanek are detailed by Simon Wiesenthal in Justice Not Vengeance.
3. ^ The facts about her behavior on the death march come from Malvina Graf: I survived the Kraków Ghetto and Plaszow Camp