Kaethe Hoern
Encyclopedia
Kaethe Hoern was a female supervisor at two Nazi concentration camps
from 1944 until April 1945.
Many details about Hoern are unknown, though it is known she was born in Germany
. In 1944, she arrived at Ravensbrück
to begin her training as a female SS guard. She trained under Dorothea Binz
, and soon became known among the female overseers as a "leader type." In the summer of 1944, Hoern was given the title of Oberaufseherin in Ravensbrück, and assigned as head wardress to the Buchenwald
subcamp near Allendorf
, Germany. There she commanded up to fifty SS Aufseherin at one time, as well as over 400 women prisoners. In April 1945, she fled Allendorf.
In 1947 the U.S. Military Tribunal tried the former head camp wardress for war crimes. One survivor pointed out how she would beat sick prisoners to make them work and punched one inmate in her ear to wake her up. Eventually she served seven years in prison for the maltreatment of concentration camp prisoners.
Nazi concentration camps
Nazi Germany maintained concentration camps throughout the territories it controlled. The first Nazi concentration camps set up in Germany were greatly expanded after the Reichstag fire of 1933, and were intended to hold political prisoners and opponents of the regime...
from 1944 until April 1945.
Many details about Hoern are unknown, though it is known she was born in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In 1944, she arrived at Ravensbrück
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 ....
to begin her training as a female SS guard. She trained under Dorothea Binz
Dorothea Binz
Dorothea Binz was an SS supervisor at Ravensbrück concentration camp during the Second World War.-Life:Born to a middle class German family in Försterei Dusterlake, Binz attended school until she was fifteen...
, and soon became known among the female overseers as a "leader type." In the summer of 1944, Hoern was given the title of Oberaufseherin in Ravensbrück, and assigned as head wardress to the 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 near Allendorf
Allendorf, Thuringia
Allendorf is a municipality in the district Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, in Thuringia, Germany.-References:...
, Germany. There she commanded up to fifty SS Aufseherin at one time, as well as over 400 women prisoners. In April 1945, she fled Allendorf.
In 1947 the U.S. Military Tribunal tried the former head camp wardress for war crimes. One survivor pointed out how she would beat sick prisoners to make them work and punched one inmate in her ear to wake her up. Eventually she served seven years in prison for the maltreatment of concentration camp prisoners.