during the second world war untold
horrors were inflicted upon the
prisoners of the concentration camps
under the guise of the conflict the
nazis used it as an excuse to
exterminate all those who they deemed
undesirable and because of this millions
were sent to their deaths
it's estimated that over 6 million jews
were killed during the holocaust and
still today many of the stories of those
prisoners are yet to be told
the suffering they endured at the hands
of the gods was truly horrifying but the
small number of guards after the
conflict had finished were ever brought
to trial
many different war crimes trials were
held across europe to bring the
perpetrators of atrocities to justice
and guards such as emma grazer elizabeth
falconrath and also commandants of camps
such as joseph kramer and rudolph hearst
stood trial
there was one trial that occurred
decades after the war had came to an end
but it was to bring the woman
responsible of executing a number of
children to justice
inside of rothensbrook concentration
camp and madanek it was alleged that
hermione brown steiner was the god who
had ordered the hanging of a young 14
year old girl
so join us today as we look at the story
behind the child execution
of my dinette concentration camp and
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inside of the concentration camps
executions were used to keep prisoners
in order to ensure they did not rebel or
defy their guards
often these killings were performed in
public in roll call yards to scare the
life out of the other prisoners
executions occurred in all of the
concentration camps in different ways
for example shooting but hangings were
used to deter any misbehavior
however what is incredibly harrowing is
the account and eyewitness testimony
that said how a female guard named brown
steinar had ordered the public execution
inside the yard of a concentration camp
of a girl aged just 14.
it's unknown what this girl had
allegedly done but what is the story
behind this shocking execution of just a
child
the woman referred to in this account of
having ordered the execution is hermione
brown steiner a female camp guard who
worked at ravensbruck and also midanek
she is remembered in history as a
stomping mare who would beat prisoners
to death with her bare hands and her
whip she would also throw children onto
trucks by their hair
these trucks would then transport the
children to the gas chambers where they
would be killed and she also gained her
nickname as she once stomped an old
prisoner to death with her jack boots
she was an immensely cruel woman but she
was known for hanging young prisoners in
the yards of the camps where she worked
often prisoners were punished for
smalling fractions of their rules at a
camp such as stealing food to ensure
that they survived this was deemed as
serious by the nazis and because of this
they could even be punished by death
brownsteiner initially applied for a job
inside of a concentration camp that she
could make four times more money than
what she was earning at the time
and she saw service in the midnight
concentration camp in poland
this was a labour camp and also an
extermination camp where it's estimated
that around 78 000 people would be
killed inside of over half of the 150
000 inmates
brownstein was involved in a number of
positions at the camp and she took part
in the selections in which she chose who
would be sent to the gas chambers and
who would live
she sent thousands of children and women
to the gas chambers and often whipped
women to death
she was known for her awful temper and
rages and as the second world war turned
against the germans she was sent to
ravensbruck as midanet had been
evacuated
whilst at robinsbrook she maintained her
sadistic approach towards prisoners and
beat many women to death using her horse
whip
it was said in one incident i watched
brownsteiner administer 25 lashes with a
riding crop to a young russian girl
suspected of sabotage
her back was full of lashes but i was
not allowed to treat her
after the war brownsteiner had emigrated
to america and became a us citizen in
1963 living in queens in new york city
she was known as a friendly person there
but was eventually tracked down by simon
wiesenthal the nazi hunter who sought to
bring many war criminals to justice
she had previously been sentenced to
three years in prison in austria for her
crimes and crimes against humanity but
was released early and after this she
traveled to america
but she was then extradited across to
germany as it was claimed her
citizenship was not valid as she had not
stated her previous convictions for war
crimes
during her extradition hearing in queens
many survivors of brownsteiner's
horrific brutality testified about the
woman she was and they told of the
horrific beatings and savage violence
she was known for she later was brought
to trial inside of germany also and was
indicted of murdering dozens of children
and people and also being a collaborator
in the murder of over a thousand
she was sentenced to life in 1981
because of this but during her trials
and hearing there was a story that
emerged about her executing a young girl
as mentioned there was an eyewitness
testimony that told of brownsteiner
being the one who ordered other ss
guards to hang a 14 year old girl inside
of a camp presumably my neck as their
efforts by other nazis here to massacre
all of the children in the camp
operation kinder was ordered in which
brownstein was complicit in the massacre
of a number of children at the camp
during the execution of the 14 year old
girl brownsteiner told an ss man to
fetch a stall so that the girl could
step up into their noose
inside of one of the courtyards was a
simple crossbeam gallows that stood
throughout the camp's operation dozens
of prisoners were executed on this
structure but that day it would be the
sight of a young girl who would haunt
the memories of the prisoners the ss man
fetched a stall and the noose had been
dangling from the cross beam
left up as a constant reminder of death
at the camp to terrify the prisoners
the young girl was then stood onto the
stall helped up by the ss man in front
of the noose
brownsteiner then screamed at the girl
in her own language asking if she
understood why she was going to be
executed and hanged
the girl stated that she did understand
but she was known for standing solemnly
not crying or screaming
the noose was placed around her neck and
then the stool was removed
the sight of the 14 year old girl
executed at the hands of the nazi guards
was a harrowing one for the prisoners
who were there that day forced to watch
the proceedings
but very little is known about who this
girl is and what she had actually done
inside of the camp to be executed at
such a young age
what we do know is that the woman who
allegedly ordered this execution was a
sadistic war criminal who gained a
reputation for ordering the executions
of children and being complicit in their
mass murders even helping them to be
thrown onto the trucks to be transported
to their deaths inside the gas chambers
it's alleged that brownsteiner may have
even hanged many other young children
inside of the camps where she worked
showing what a disgusting and evil woman
she truly was
she later died but spent the last three
years of her life free after she was
released from a german prison after
suffering from complications from
diabetes
what is strange about hermione
braunsteiner's case is that the courts
and authorities clearly had a guilty war
criminal whose brutality was so severe
and who was known for executing
prisoners and murdering them but they
did not sentence her to death after
world war ii
many other female guards such as emma
grazer maria mandel and elizabeth
falconrath all met their end at the
gallows being sentenced to death for
their crimes committed at various
concentration camps
but it's bizarre to consider why
hermione brown steiner did not hang for
her crimes
the story of the 14 year old girl
brutally executed the hands of
brownsteiner is one that still remains
relatively untold in the canon of the
holocaust and the second world war
little is known about her and it's
presumed that after her execution her
remains were then cremated inside the
crematoria
but for many of the inmates who were
forced to watch that day the site was
truly horrific and it was something that
stuck with them for the rest of their
lives
this was just one account of just one
child who was executed at the hands of
the nazis as there were hundreds of
thousands of innocent children who were
murdered by one of history's most evil
regimes the world has ever seen
once again thanks for watching
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