The War Merit Cross was awarded to both military personnel and civilians. Twelve women overseers (SS-Aufseherinnen) in the concentration camps are known to have been awarded the War Merit Cross-2nd Class without Swords (Kriegsverdienstkreuz II. Klasse ohne Schwerter) for their dedication to duty. Many others were nominated but apparently never received them. Most Aufseherinnen nominated for the War Merit Cross, only received it without swords.
Below is a list of female guards known to have received the War Merit Cross 2nd class without swords for Concentration Camp duty:
Bernigau, Jane: (Gross-Rosen)
Binz, Dorothea ‘Thea’: (Ravensbrück)
Brandl, Therese: (Auschwitz Birkenau)
Braunsteiner, Hermine: (Majdanek)
Brunner, Luise: (Ravensbrück)
Lächert, Hildegard: (Majdanek)
Langefeld, Johanna: (Ravensbrück)
Liehr, Gertrud: (Auschwitz Birkenau)
Lotze-Kock, Elfriede: (Auschwitz Birkenau)
Mandl, Maria: (Ravensbrück, Auschwitz Birkenau)
Pritzkoleit, Dorothea: (Auschwitz Birkenau)
Steinhoff, Gerda: (Stutthof)
One woman, Emma Zimmer, received the War Merit Cross with swords.
Mezel was born in 1888 in Schlüchtern. In 1938, she became a guard at the Lichtenburg early Concentration Camp, where she progressed to become assistant chief wardress under Johanna Langefeld. In 1939, when the Lichtenburg camp closed, she was transferred to Ravensbrück where she served as assistant chief wardress, and in October 1942 she became assistant chief wardress at Auschwitz II (Birkenau).
Zimmer stood trial at the seventh Ravensbrück Trial and was sentenced to death for participation in the selection of inmates for the gas chamber. She was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint on the gallows at Hamelin Prison on 20 September 1948; she was 60 years old.
On September 15, 1943, in an SS ceremony at Auschwitz, Zimmer, along with eighteen SS men received the War Merit Cross Second Class with Swords for their camp service.
The following SS-Helferinnen are listed on an Auschwitz document dated December 1944. They were recommended for the War Merit Cross, 2nd class without swords but didn't receive the medals due to the liberation of the camp by the Russians in January 1945.
Image - ssaufseherin.blogspot.com
