![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Ilse_Koch.png/640px-Ilse_Koch.png&w=640&q=50)
Ilse Koch
German war criminal, wife of camp commandant Karl-Otto Koch / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ilse Koch (22 September 1906 – 1 September 1967), was the wife of Karl-Otto Koch. (Before getting married, Koch's maiden name was Margarete Ilse Köhler.) During World War II, Karl-Otto Koch was the Commandant (commander) of the Nazi concentration camps at Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, and finally Majdanek. In 1947, Ilse Koch became one of the first important Nazis to be tried by the United States Military.
Ilse Koch | |
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Born | Margarete Ilse Köhler (1906-09-22)22 September 1906 |
Died | 1 September 1967(1967-09-01) (aged 60) |
Cause of death | Suicide by hanging |
Burial place | Unknown |
Nationality | German |
Other names | The Witch of Buchenwald |
Citizenship | German |
Years active | 1936-1945 (as wife of Karl Otto Koch) |
Era | Nazi Era |
Organization | Nazi Party (1932-1945) |
Known for |
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Notable work | Disgusting Objects of dead prisoners |
Political party | National Socialist German Workers Party “Nazi Party” |
Movement | National Socialism “Nazism” |
Criminal charges | War Crimes,Crimes Against Humanity |
Criminal penalty | Life Imprisonment |
Criminal status | Dead by Suicide (1967) |
Spouse(s) | Karl-Otto Koch (1937-1945, his death) |
Mass media around the world covered Ilse Koch's trial. People who had survived the Buchenwald and Majdanek camps talked about how she enjoyed abusing prisoners at the camps. For example, they said she used to like beating prisoners with her riding crop, and that she used to make prisoners do exhausting exercise because she liked watching them suffer.[1] In Germany after the war, Koch was seen as "the concentration camp murderess."[2] She was accused of having prisoners with interesting tattoos murdered so she could take their skin as souvenirs.[1]
The prisoners at the concentration camps called Koch Die Hexe von Buchenwald ("The Witch of Buchenwald") because of she would act cruelly and sexually towards prisoners at the same time. In English, she has also been called "The Beast of Buchenwald,"[3] the "Queen of Buchenwald,"[4][5] the "Red Witch of Buchenwald,"[6][7] the "Butcher Widow,"[8] and, most often, "The Bitch of Buchenwald."[9]