EXECUTION of Emma Zimmer - Brutal NAZI Guard at Ravensbrück and Auschwitz Concentration Camps
EXECUTION of Emma Zimmer - Brutal NAZI Guard at Ravensbrück and Auschwitz Concentration Camps
Execution of Emma Zimmer - Brutal Nazi Guard at Ravensbrück and Auschwitz Concentration Camps. Emma Zimmer, the eldest child of the pharmacist Oscar Mezel and his wife Maria was born on the 14th of August 1888 in Haßmersheim, then part of the German Empire. Zimmer was 44 years old when in 1933 Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party came into power in Germany. Women, such as Emma, were central to Adolf Hitler’s plan to create an ideal “Aryan” community. Hitler valued women for both their activism in the Nazi movement and their biological power as generators of the race. In Nazi thinking, a larger, racially purer population would enhance Germany’s military strength and provide settlers to colonize conquered territory in eastern Europe. The Third Reich’s aggressive population policy encouraged “racially pure” women to bear as many children as possible. Nazi population policy took a radical turn in 1936 when SS leaders created the state-directed program known as Lebensborn meaning Fount of Life. Lebensborn ordinance prescribed that every SS member should father four children, in or out of wedlock. Lebensborn homes sheltered single mothers with their children, provided birth documents and financial support, and recruited adoptive parents for the children.
In the end, however, the Lebensborn program was never promoted aggressively and only around 7,000 children were born into the Lebensborn homes during the program’s nine-year-long existence. Instead, Nazi population policy concentrated on the family and marriage. The state encouraged matrimony through marriage loans, dispensed family income supplements for each new child, publicly honored “child-rich” families, bestowed the Cross of Honor of the German Mother on women bearing four or more babies, and increased punishments for abortion.
Part of that camp system was Lichtenburg concentration camp where Emma Zimmer became a guard in 1937. One year later she was appointed assistant to the female superintendent of this camp Johanna Langefeld. Housed in a Renaissance castle, Lichtenburg was among the first concentration camps to be built by the Nazis and was operated by the SS from 1933 to 1939. From 1937 to 1939, it held only female prisoners.
One of the camp’s most prominent prisoners was Olga Benário Prestes – a German Communist activist. In February 1938, after the birth of her child, she was first sent to the Lichtenburg concentration camp and, later when it was closed in May 1939, Benario Prestes as well as Emma Zimmer and the remaining Lichtenburg Nazi staff and prisoners were sent to the newly opened Ravensbrück concentration camp. At Ravensbrück, which replaced Lichtenburg as the main camp for female prisoners, Benário Prestes was whipped, tortured, and placed in a punishment bunker while working as slave labor in a Siemens factory.
At Ravensbrück, Zimmer became a guard in the Bunker – the punishment block – dealing with prisoner punishment and was known in the camp for being brutal and sadistic in her guard duties. After the war, Maria Wiedmaier, a Holocaust survivor, recalled how at Ravensbrück Zimmer became infamous for brutal treatment of prisoners whom she would beat with everything that was at hand without any reason until they lay still. According to Wiedmaier, on one occasion Zimmer grabbed a young Polish woman who was having hysterical fits one winter morning during roll call, and ‘threw her into the water repeatedly’. The Polish woman was then expected to work outside the camp without changing and died shortly after.
At Auschwitz, Zimmer was notorious for her brutal and sadistic behavior towards the prisoners. After the war, one Holocaust Survivor remembered Emma Zimmer as follows: “Our supervisor was an old and mean SS-woman called Emma Zimmer. She was vicious and dangerous and frightening us constantly with threats, proclaiming in a sadistic voice, “I will report you and then you will go away, you know where? Just one way-up the chimney.” We hated her and were scared of her.” From May 1943 Zimmer headed the postal censorship office in the women’s camp of the Auschwitz concentration camp and in September 1943 she was awarded the War Merit Cross II Class without swords.
Disclaimer: All opinions and comments below are from members of the public and do not reflect the views of World History channel. We do not accept promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on attributes such as: race, nationality, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation. World History has right to review the comments and delete them if they are deemed inappropriate.
► CLICK the SUBSCRIBE button for more interesting clips: / @worldhistoryvideos
#ww2 #worldwar2videos #worldhistory
Content
0.9 -> The 30th of January 1933, Germany. Adolf
Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party,
8.16 -> is appointed chancellor of Germany and aims
to lead the German “master race” to victory
12.96 -> in the "racial struggle" against those deemed as
“inferior” peoples, especially the Jews. The Nazi
19.68 -> regime quickly begins to restrict the civil and
human rights of the Jewish people and gradually
24.84 -> excludes them from professions, businesses,
and public spaces. The first concentration
30.36 -> camp – Dachau – is established less than 2
months after Hitler became the chancellor.
35.52 -> Between 1933 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its
European allies would establish more than
43.44 -> 44,000 camps and other incarceration sites,
including ghettos. The perpetrators would
49.2 -> use these locations for forced labor, detention
of people deemed to be "enemies of the state,"
53.82 -> and the mass murder of millions. One such
perpetrator is a German Nazi guard Emma Zimmer.
60.41 -> Emma Anna Maria Zimmer, the eldest child
of the pharmacist Oscar Mezel and his wife
67.44 -> Maria was born on the 14th of August 1888 in
Haßmersheim, then part of the German Empire.
74.46 -> Zimmer was 44 years old when in 1933 Adolf
Hitler and his Nazi Party came into power in
81.18 -> Germany. Women, such as Emma, were central to
Adolf Hitler’s plan to create an ideal “Aryan”
86.88 -> community. Hitler valued women for both their
activism in the Nazi movement and their biological
92.4 -> power as generators of the race. In Nazi thinking,
a larger, racially purer population would enhance
100.08 -> Germany’s military strength and provide settlers
to colonize conquered territory in eastern Europe.
105.78 -> The Third Reich’s aggressive population
policy encouraged “racially pure” women
110.22 -> to bear as many children as possible.
Nazi population policy took a radical turn
115.44 -> in 1936 when SS leaders created the state-directed
program known as Lebensborn meaning Fount of Life.
122.76 -> Lebensborn ordinance prescribed that every
SS member should father four children,
127.56 -> in or out of wedlock. Lebensborn homes
sheltered single mothers with their children,
133.56 -> provided birth documents and financial support,
and recruited adoptive parents for the children.
138.54 -> In the end, however, the Lebensborn program
was never promoted aggressively and only around
145.2 -> 7,000 children were born into the Lebensborn homes
during the program’s nine-year-long existence.
150.24 -> Instead, Nazi population policy concentrated on
the family and marriage. The state encouraged
157.5 -> matrimony through marriage loans, dispensed
family income supplements for each new child,
162 -> publicly honored "child-rich" families,
bestowed the Cross of Honor of the German
166.38 -> Mother on women bearing four or more babies,
and increased punishments for abortion.
170.82 -> However, German women played a vital role in
the Nazi movement, which by far exceeded the
176.7 -> Nazi Party’s propaganda that a woman’s place was
strictly in the home as mothers and child-bearers.
181.8 -> Of the estimated forty million German women
in the Reich, some thirteen million were
186.84 -> active in Nazi Party organizations serving
as welfare workers, teachers, secretaries,
192.42 -> nurses, auxiliaries in the armed forces
and police, and in many other occupations
197.52 -> including as guards in concentration camps.
A minority of German women who resisted the
203.52 -> regime’s policies or were branded biologically
inferior were persecuted. Hundreds of thousands
209.46 -> were forcibly sterilized and tens of thousands
more were incarcerated in the camp system.
214.32 -> Part of that camp system was Lichtenburg
concentration camp where Emma Zimmer
219.72 -> became a guard in 1937. One year later she was
appointed assistant to the female superintendent
225.96 -> of this camp Johanna Langefeld.
Housed in a Renaissance castle,
230.1 -> Lichtenburg was among the first concentration
camps to be built by the Nazis and was operated
235.44 -> by the SS from 1933 to 1939. From 1937
to 1939, it held only female prisoners.
244.02 -> One of the camp’s most prominent prisoners
was Olga Benário Prestes – a German Communist
249.84 -> activist. In February 1938, after
the birth of her child, she was first
255.06 -> sent to the Lichtenburg concentration camp
and, later when it was closed in May 1939,
259.92 -> Benario Prestes as well as Emma Zimmer
and the remaining Lichtenburg Nazi staff
265.08 -> and prisoners were sent to the newly opened
Ravensbrück concentration camp. At Ravensbrück,
270.72 -> which replaced Lichtenburg as the main camp for
female prisoners, Benário Prestes was whipped,
276.06 -> tortured, and placed in a punishment bunker while
working as slave labor in a Siemens factory.
281.88 -> Ravensbrück, opened in May 1939, was the only
major women's camp established by the Nazis.
289.26 -> In total, some 132,000 women from all over
Europe passed through the camp, including Poles,
295.56 -> Russians, Jews, Roma and Sinti people, and others.
Of that number, over 92,000 women perished.
303.84 -> Ravensbrück camp was staffed both by SS men,
who served as guards and administrators, and by
310.44 -> 150 women, who served as supervisors. These female
supervisors were either SS volunteers or women who
317.64 -> had taken the job for the good pay and working
conditions. Ravensbrück also housed a training
323.34 -> camp for female SS guards who were trained here
how to handle the prisoners that they were going
327.48 -> to supervise. These prisoners would have to work
until they died and the task of their supervisors,
333.6 -> such as Emma Zimmer, was to get a maximum amount
of work out of them whilst they were still alive.
339.66 -> Ravensbrück thus also became a training
center or school of violence for about
345 -> 3,500 female guards who went on to serve
either there or at other concentration camps.
351 -> At Ravensbrück, Zimmer became a guard in the
Bunker – the punishment block – dealing with
356.46 -> prisoner punishment and was known in the camp for
being brutal and sadistic in her guard duties.
361.98 -> After the war, Maria Wiedmaier, a Holocaust
survivor, recalled how at Ravensbrück Zimmer
367.86 -> became infamous for brutal treatment
of prisoners whom she would beat with
371.7 -> everything that was at hand without any reason
until they lay still. According to Wiedmaier,
377.16 -> on one occasion Zimmer grabbed a young Polish
woman who was having hysterical fits one winter
382.8 -> morning during roll call, and ‘threw her
into the water repeatedly’. The Polish
387.18 -> woman was then expected to work outside the
camp without changing and died shortly after.
393.54 -> For her brutal treatment of the female prisoners,
in mid-1940 Zimmer was promoted to deputy head
399.42 -> warden and in October 1942 a head warden. One of
her new duties in these positions was selection
406.92 -> of internees to be killed at the Bernburg
Euthanasia Centre which was one of the six gassing
411.9 -> installations for adults established as part of
the Nazi "euthanasia" campaign code-named T4. As a
418.26 -> part of Action 14f13, seriously ill concentration
camp inmates or those who, for other reasons,
424.38 -> were unable to work were murdered at Bernburg
as well. They were referred to as "ballast".
430.92 -> Action 14f13 also dealt with Jewish prisoners,
regardless of their actual state of health.
437.46 -> By the spring of 1942, 1,400 women from
Ravensbrück had been killed in Bernburg. One such
444.6 -> prisoner was previously mentioned Benário Prestes
who was gassed alongside hundreds of other female
450.48 -> political prisoners at Bernburg Euthanasia Centre
in 1942. A total of 9,384 sick and handicapped
459.3 -> people from 33 welfare institutions and nursing
homes as well as around 5,000 prisoners from six
465.24 -> concentration camps were killed there in
a gas chamber using carbon monoxide gas.
470.58 -> From October 1942 Emma Zimmer was
deployed in Auschwitz-Birkenau,
475.26 -> which was located in German occupied Poland.
478.26 -> Birkenau was the largest of the more than 40 camps
and sub-camps that made up the Auschwitz complex.
484.32 -> It was divided into ten sections
separated by electrified barbed-wire
488.76 -> fences. It was patrolled by SS guards,
including—after 1942—SS dog handlers.
495.9 -> During its three years of operation, it had a
range of functions. When construction began in
501.72 -> October 1941, it was supposed to be a camp for
125 thousand prisoners of war. It opened as a
509.1 -> branch of Auschwitz in March 1942, and served at
the same time as a center for the extermination
514.68 -> of Jews. In its final phase, from 1944, it also
became a place where prisoners were concentrated
521.52 -> before being transferred to labor in German
industry in the depths of the Third Reich.
527.16 -> At Auschwitz, Zimmer was notorious for her brutal
and sadistic behavior towards the prisoners. After
534.12 -> the war, one Holocaust Survivor remembered Emma
Zimmer as follows: "Our supervisor was an old and
540.48 -> mean SS-woman called Emma Zimmer. She was vicious
and dangerous and frightening us constantly with
547.38 -> threats, proclaiming in a sadistic voice, "I
will report you and then you will go away,
552.84 -> you know where? Just one way-up the chimney." We
hated her and were scared of her." From May 1943
561.9 -> Zimmer headed the postal censorship office in
the women's camp of the Auschwitz concentration
566.34 -> camp and in September 1943 she was awarded
the War Merit Cross II Class without swords.
573.06 -> However, at the end of 1943 she was released
from concentration camp service. Whether due
579.84 -> to old age or because of alcohol consumption
is not known. From June 1944 Zimmer lived
586.44 -> in Schlüchtern where after the end of
the Second World War she was arrested.
590.46 -> Justice finally caught up with Zimmer when
she was tried at the Seventh Ravensbrück
595.92 -> trial which started on the 2nd of July 1948.
The charges against her and 5 other female camp
602.94 -> wardens were mistreatment of inmates of Allied
nationality and participation in the selection
608.04 -> of inmates for the gas chamber. On 21st of
July 1948 the military tribunal sentenced
615.42 -> Emma Zimmer to death by hanging.
She was 60 years old when she was
620.52 -> hanged by Albert Pierrepoint on the gallows at
Hamelin Prison on the 20th of September 1948.
627.48 -> There were no tears shed for Emma Zimmer.
637.2 -> thanks for watching the World History
Channel be sure to like And subscribe
640.92 -> and click the Bell notification
icon so you don't miss our next
644.16 -> episodes we thank you and we'll
see you next time on the channel
