Maria Mandl

Maria Mandl was born on January 10, 1922, and grew up in Austria. When Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany back in 1938, she moved to Munich. There, she was amongst one of the very first groups of female volunteers, through the League of German Girls Program, to become staff at the concentration camps. She started as a female guard at one of the earliest camps for women, Lichtenburg. She was there for around fifty years and eventually moved to Ravensbrück

She later joined the Nazi as Chief Guard and was given that role because of her enthusiasm for work. Maria Mandl was a very tempered and ruthless woman when it came to “disciplining” the inmates, which also why she had a huge impact on those she beat. According to the book “ Irma Grese-” The Beast of Belsen] & other twisted Female Guards of the Concentration camps”, the is a statement for a Holocaust survivor, Lina Haag, where she stated that inmates were beaten for the slightest errors. Haag also mentioned that inmates were stripped naked, tied to a wooden post, and were then beaten until Mandl could no longer lift her arms. Additionally, if she was feeling “extra”, she would go out of her way to find something to beat the inmates for. An example of this would be if she found an inmate with curled hair of a curled strand of hair, she would kick them, beat their heads, and also shave their head and have them wear a sign that said they broke the rules. Mandl would rather beat people herself rather than having others do it for her. In Auschwitz, she was responsible for choosing who was sent to the gas chambers. For some reason, she found pleasure in choosing women and especially children. Mandl was responsible for sending an estimate of “500,000 people to their death”.This is the main reason why she earned the name of “ The Beast”.

Although she was known as “The Beast”, she was also known for being quite intelligent and sophisticated. Maria Mandl has a “softer side”. She was also known for her good taste in music, and for enjoying literature. An inmate said that after she saw Mandl savagely beat another inmate she later saw and heard her play the piano beautifully. Mandl also started a women orchestra in the Auschwitz concentration camp, which entertained and brought tears to even the most cold-hearted SS officers. But the “The beast” side of her overpowered her softer side.


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