Johanna Bormann

Johanna Bormann (10 September 1893 – 13 December 1945) was a German prison guard at several Nazi concentration camps from 1938. She was executed as a war criminal at Hamelin after a court trial in 1945.

Early life Bormann was born on 10 September 1893 in , East Prussia. Not much is known about her early life, but she was raised in the Catholic faith.

Career, trial and execution At her trial, Bormann said she had joined the Auxiliary SS, on 1 March 1938, as a civilian employee. "to earn more money".

In October 1942, Bormann went to Auschwitz-Birkenau as an Aufseherin (female guard). Her supervisors included Maria Mandl, Margot Dreschel and Irma Grese. Bormann was moved to Budy, a nearby subcamp, where she was chief overseer.

In 1944, as German losses mounted, Bormann was transferred to the auxiliary camp at Hindenburg (present-day Zabrze, Poland) in Silesia. In January 1944 she returned to Ravensbrück. On 15 April 1945 the British Army took Bergen-Belsen, finding over 10,000 corpses and 60,000 survivors.

Bormann was later incarcerated and interrogated by the British, then prosecuted at the Belsen Trial, which lasted from 17 September 1945 to 17 November 1945. The court heard testimony relating to murders she had committed at Auschwitz and Belsen sometimes unleashing her "big bad wolfhound" German Shepherd on helpless prisoners. She denied all of the charges, only admitting to slapping prisoners with her hands to discipline them.