Ilse and Karl Koch both committed atrocities while they were at Buchenwald. Before their marriage, both worked in Sachsenhausen. They married in 1937 and moved to Buchenwald when the husband became the camp's commandant. There they lived with their children, making their fortune off the misery of prisoners.
While her husband was commandant at Buchenwald, Ilse Koch became an SS Aufseherin, a position which she fully exploited for her violent pursuits. Throughout her reign, she tortured and beat prisoners whilst riding through the camp on her horse. Even more shocking was what she did to prisoners with intricate tattoos (this did not include the number tattoos given to prisoners in the camp). These people were collected, brought to the dispensary and killed. Once they were dead, she would have sections of skin with the desired tattoos removed and preserved. The skin was then used to make seemingly mundane items -- lampshades, book covers, and gloves. The pride and joy of her collection was her human-skin handbag.
When the camps were liberated, Ilse Koch was arrested and put on trial at Nuremberg. She was sentenced to life in prison for her actions, but only served two years (her sentence had been reduced due to the "lack of evidence" of her crimes), only to be rearrested and sentenced to life again in prison (this time not by an international court but by Germany). She eventually committed suicide in prison in 1967.
Her husband, Karl Koch, met his demise at the hands of the SS for overstepping his position as commandant. After transitioning from an SS desk job to a concentration camp administrator, the man had already gained a reputation for immense cruelty, even among the other SS commandants. While he was undoubtedly sinister, it was his avarice that angered the SS. Not only did he obtain most of the gold extracted from gassing victim's teeth, but he also exploited camp prisoners for his own financial gain to the point where he was collecting profits meant to be collected by the SS. The Kochs were subsequently investigated by the SS, which eventually lead to Karl Koch's relocation to Majdanek as punishment. During his time there, the SS found evidence of his schemes at Buchenwald, and he ended up in SS prison in Weimar. In 1945 he was executed by the SS (ironically?) at Buchenwald and his body put in the crematorium.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ilse-Koch#ref1237632
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-witch-of-buchenwald-is-sentenced-to-prison
http://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/classes/33d/projects/naziwomen/ilse.htm
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Karl-Otto-Koch
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/karl-otto-koch
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I agree that it is ironic that Karl Koch had the same fate as those he was taking advantage of. I think it was very fitting for him to have to experience what he did to his victims.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting post because it showed that while corruption among SS officers ran rampant, when people went too far and stole too much, even the SS would take action.
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