Irene Haschke

Haschke worked in a textile factory until 16 August 1944, when she was recruited by the Schutzstaffel, more commonly known as the SS, and sent to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp for five weeks for training as a guard, or Aufseherin.^[1]

She was transferred to the Mährisch-Weißwasser camp, at Bílá Voda in the Sudetenland, for three weeks as SS Aufseherin. Later she returned to the textile factory for a time but was removed on 15 February 1945 and sent to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, arriving on 28 February 1945.^[1][2]

Haschke was captured by the British Army on 15 April 1945 and ordered to bury the dead.^[3] On 17 September 1945 she was brought to trial by the British in the Bergen-Belsen trial, where the Court accused Josef Kramer and another 44 people, who worked in Auschwitz and Belsen, of war crimes. This trial was held at 30 Lindenstraße (Lime Street), in Lunenburg. On 17 November 1945 she was convicted and sentenced to 10 years for her participation in these crimes and was released on 21 December 1951.^[1]

• Image of the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp 1945, featuring Irene Haschke. Imperial War Museum.

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