Hilde Lohbauer

Hilde Lobauer (born 8 November 1918) was a German political prisoner and later a concentration camp guard in Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen. She was known most as "the SS woman without uniform." File:The Liberation of Bergen-belsen Concentration Camp, May 1945 BU6357.jpg

Belsen trials The first Belsen trials started 17 September 1945, in Lüneburg. Lobauer was a principal defendant (number 11) and was represented by British Major L. S. W. Cranfield, R.A. who also represented the infamous Irma Grese, Ilse Lothe, and Josef Klippel. She was identified by many during the trial and accused of drowning women in a pool at Oswiecim, selecting prisoners for the gas chambers, and beating prisoners with a rubber truncheon. When examined by Major Cranfield she denied drowning the women or subjecting them to any excessive beatings. She stated that she was forced by SS leadership to beat the prisoners and that she never beat them hard enough to break the skin. When she was examined on the stand she took accountability only for occasional beatings.

Lobauer was charged on two counts. The first count was for mistreatment of prisoners in Auschwitz-Birkenau and the second charge was for mistreatment of prisoners in Auschwitz. On 17 November 1945, at the age of 27, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison. This was then reduced to 7 years imprisonment, and she was later released 15 July 1950.