Language:
German
Year of publication:
2001
Titel der Quelle:
German History
Angaben zur Quelle:
19,3 (2001) 369-399
Keywords:
Koch, Ilse
;
Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
;
War crime trials
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Abstract:
Examines the two postwar trials of Ilse Koch, wife of the commandant of Buchenwald, held in 1947 in Dachau by an American tribunal and in 1948-51 in Augsburg by a Bavarian court. Her name became synonymous with extreme cruelty and sadism even before the liberation of the camp. The image of Ilse Koch was demonized amongst survivors and in German public opinion - the latter due to two factors: she acted outside the apparatus of the party and the SS, without orders from above; and she was a woman who penetrated the domain of power reserved for men. Both trials failed to confirm some of the charges made against Koch, including her omnipotence in the camp and that she personally skinned tattooed male prisoners. The American military government pardoned her in June 1948. However, a societal consensus developed that demanded her prosecution. The German court sentenced her to life imprisonment in 1951.
Note:
A revised version appeared in German in "Gedächtnis und Geschlecht" (2002).
URL:
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