Following the end of the Second World War in Europe, there were many different war crimes
trials that took place which brought concentration camp guards and staff in front of a judge.
Many were sentenced to death for their crimes which included murder, incredibly shocking
acts of violence and causing the suffering inside of the camps.
Many former guards such as Josef Kramer the Beast of Belsen, and Irma Grese the Hyena
of Auschwitz were put to death for their brutality, but there were a number of other former members
of staff who were sentenced to time in prison.
Many of these prison sentences were rather short considering the crimes of the former
guards.
One of these former guards was Ilse Forster, but what did she do inside of Bergen-Belsen?
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Ilse Forster was born on the 2nd September 1922 in Silesia, and during the Second World
War she worked inside of a factory.
But as the conflict was turning against the Germans following the Normandy Invasions and
the Battle of Stalingrad, more soldiers were drafted to the front lines.
Many concentration camp staff were sent to fight the Allies, and this left a shortage
of workers inside of places such as Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen.
The Germans drafted scores of women into the concentration camp system, and Ilse Forster
went into the SS and was sent to a labour camp at Langenbielau.
Whilst here, she was given a course of 6 weeks training as a guard, and then she went back
to the factory at Grunberg where she was working.
But she then took over camp duties at a site close to the factory.
She worked here until the end of January 1945, and then accompanied the prisoners on a death
march to Ruben which took 5 days.
Then she went with the prisoners towards Bergen-Belsen where she arrived on the 17th February 1945.
After she reached the camp, Ilse Forster worked inside of the bath house and then the Kitchens
in the mens compounds, and she worked to ensure that work was done.
Ilse also was placed in charge of ensuring that no prisoners stole from the kitchen.
Bergen-Belsen at this time was in a state of depravity, as thousands of prisoners were
dying each week from disease such as Typhus which was rife at the camp.
Also there was a severe lack of food, and many prisoners were also dying from malnourishment,
and things became very desperate especially when thousands of prisoners arrived at Belsen
which became very overcrowded.
Forster said how there were around 60 female prisoners cooking for the other prisoners,
and when she arrived there were very few female guards.
She claimed that she worked 20 hour days initially, and then worked 10 hour shifts a few weeks
later.
Forster stated that prisoners inside of the kitchens were given sufficient food, and claimed
that the problem with food was that Belsen was being given hardly any and none was being
sent.
She said that she tried to get some more food for the prisoners, and did mention that they
did get an additional supply, claiming that the prisoners who worked in the kitchen could
eat as much as they wanted whilst others were starving.
Many of Forster crimes revolve around how she treated those prisoners who tried to take
food from the kitchens.
She admitted that she did beat prisoners with her hands and Alsop with a stick, but said
she never carried a truncheon.
Forster would go on to say without her work violently attacking prisoners, then others
would not have eaten.
However witnesses would testify about the violence of her attacks.
One witness claimed that she would beat prisoners with a thick stick, and that some of them
were beaten so badly that they were knocked out and she continued to beat them whilst
unconscious, with these being left on the floor.
Forster denied this, but more allegations emerged.
She was accused of dragging prisoners away from the kitchens into a side room where she
then administered terrifying beatings.
Another allegation said that two of three times a day, women were taken into a small
office next to the kitchen where Forster laid into them with a rubber truncheon or a weapon.
Shockingly, even other guards who worked at Belsen would testify about Ilse Forster’s
violent beatings.
Hertha Ehlert claimed that along with another guard Forster would beat prisoners to an unreasonable
extend.
But she did not speak to her about this behaviour, even though Ehlert did come to speak about
how things were going in the kitchens.
Forster would face allegations that she even admitted to Hertha Ehlert that she was excited
about the fact she caught some prisoners stealing sugar, and was proud of the fact she gave
them a good beating.
Another witness testified and identified Forster for being a murderer, and a woman who with
her bare hands beat a young girl to death.
Prisoners would continue to complain about Ilse Forster’s violence inside of the cookhouse,
and she was also accused of carrying a rubber hose which she beat others with.
Further interrogation at her trial took place about her actions, and specifically about
how violent she was towards others.
Claims continued that Ilse Forster was a murderer, and it was alleged that she had killed a Russian
girl, after beating her to death.
It was said that she also seemed proud in this, and she admitted she did beat this girl
but then was found out at trial that she beat her so badly that she did not come to work
the next day.
It seems at her trial that Forster was being exposed for her lies, but the judges had a
rather tough decision to make as to what to do with her.
At the Belsen Trials, what led to many of the defendant’s executions was if they had
worked at other camps as well as Belsen.
Most of those who worked at Auschwitz and also Belsen were executed including Elisabeth
Volkenrath and Irma Grese.
But what may have saved Ilse Forster is the fact she came into the concentration camp
system late in the conflict because of a shortage of staff.
It’s clear that she was a brutal guard, and was as violent as other Aufseherins’
such as Grese or Maria Mandl, but she had not the chance to work at other camps such
as Auschwitz where there was mass scale killing.
There was a huge amount of death at Belsen, but the majority of the prisoners in the final
days were killed by the conditions.
Much of her sentence was given out due to the issues in the testimony of others.
There was no real concrete proof of Ilse Forster’s actions.
If there was circumstantial proof and evidence of her killing prisoners, then she would have
been sentenced to death.
It was clear she was violent and a brute, but the extent that she injured prisoners
would not be established.
With this, Ilse Forster was sentenced to a period of 10 years imprisonment alongside
other guards such as Hertha Bothe, Irene Haschke and Anna Hempel.
However Forster would never spent the full 10 years in prison, as on the 21st December
1951 she was released from her incarceration, after spending just around 6 years behind
bars.
Today it is not known what happened to Ilse Forster after she was released, and there
are no accounts as to what happened to her after this.
It’s not known whether she has died or whether she still is alive, but when she went into
the concentration camp system she was in her early 20s.
Despite being imprisoned for her crimes, what saved her ultimately is the fact there was
not concrete proof about if she did commit murder and kill female prisoners.
It was certain though that with either a stick, rubber truncheon or weapon that Ilse Forster
was a brutal SS guard who struck fear into the hearts of the prisoners.
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