Elisabeth Marschall | |
|---|---|
 Marschall at her trial | |
| Born | (1886-05-27)May 27, 1886 |
| Died | May 3, 1947(1947-05-03) (aged 60) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Occupation | Nurse |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Motive | Nazism |
| Conviction | War crimes |
| Trial | Hamburg Ravensbrück trials |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
Elisabeth Marschall (May 27, 1886 – May 3, 1947) was the head nurse(Oberschwester) at the NaziRavensbrück concentration camp and was executed after theHamburg Ravensbrück trials.[1]
Marschall was born in 1886 and received her nursing education inMeiningen, passing the state exam in 1910.[2] She joined theNazi party because "Hitler could save Germany from its misery".[2]
Marschall worked asOberschwester atRavensbrück concentration camp from April 1943 until the camps liberation, where her duties included selecting prisoners for execution,[3] overseeingmedical experiments, and selecting around 800 prisoners to be shipped toAuschwitz. She worked withAdolf Winkelmann and Percival Treite,[4] assisting in torture of prisoners[5] and providing postoperative care to the subjects of their experimental operations.[2]
A survivor who worked as a prisoner-nurse testified that Marschall had loaded a group of 50 women with new-born infants onto a cart and did not provide them with food, milk or water. All of the prisoners passed away.[2] Another witness testified that "I have seen schwester (nurse) Lisa beating sick women without any reason at all."[6]
Mil Le Coq, a French trained nurse, reported an incident with Marschall, recounted inThe Scourge of the Swastika: A Short History of Nazi War Crimes:[7]
She "passed through the hospital courtyard one day on her way to the laboratory and saw five wheelbarrows containing ... five Jewesses - the triangle on their dresses indicated that... Mil Le Coq went to the barrows and touched the bodies to see if whether they were alive and if anything could be done for them. They were alive. At that moment Marschall came on to the scene and, shouting across the yard, forbade the French girl to do anything to help the women. She returned to her block and bought two friends ... but Marshcall appeared and drove them away. The barrows remained there all night and by the morning the three survivors were dead."
Marschall was arrested when the camp was liberated. At theHamburg Ravensbrück trials, she was found guilty and sentenced to death. On 2 May 1947,[8] she washanged by British executionerAlbert Pierrepoint on thegallows inHamelin Prison. Nearly 61 when she died, Marschall was the oldest female Nazi war criminal to be executed by the British occupation authorities.[9]