Government Officials at Buchenwald
In 1937, Karl Otto Koch was appointed as the commanding officer of Buchenwald. His wife since May 1937, Ilse Koch, one of the female guards at the camp, became the SS-Aufseherin or the overseer at the camp. Originally a colonel of German Schutzstaffel or the SS, Koch was the first commandant of Buchenwald until 1941when he was transferred to Majdanek (Karl Otto Koch). Koch was regarded as a notoriously brutal and corrupt administrator, often stealing valuables from numerous inmates whom he then had killed in order to conceal his thefts (Weber). When Koch was transferred to the Majdanek concentration camp in Lublin, Poland, in 1941, on the charge that he had not payed his taxes brought against him by Weimar local authorities, he was replaced by Hermann Pister (Commandant Karl Otto Koch).
The "Bitch" of Buchenwald was Karl Otto Koch's wife; Ilse Koch. She was born in Dresdan, Germany 1906. She joined the Nazi Party in 1932. Since her husband was head of Buchenwald, she had free range of the entire camp. She is known for her cruelty and sadistic acts against humanity. Ilse would ride her horse around camp and whip prisoners who caught her interest. She would force prisoners in sexual acts and was known for her hobby in collecting lampshades, book covers, and gloves made from prisoner's human skin. She had a "fetish" for unique tattoos and would choose specific prisoners to be skinned and then their skin made into the object she wanted. After the war ended Illse would be arrested and tried for her acts of cruelty against humanity. Ultimately, she would commit suicide September 1, 1967 while in a Bavarian prison (Jewish Virtual Library and History Channel).
An Extract from the Nuremberg Trial on Isle Koch's "fetish"
Mr. Dubost (French prosecutor): Could you please tell us about the tattooed skin?
Witness Bachalowsky: Yes.
Mr. Dubost: Please tell us what you know.
Witness Bachalowsky: In Buchenwald, human tattooed skin was placed in Block 2. This block was called the "pathological block".
Mr. Dubost: Could you tell us if there was much tattooed skin in this block?
Witness Bachalowsky: There was always human skin there. I can't tell you exactly how much there was because there was a lot of traffic in this block. There was not only tattooed skin but also tanned human skin without tattoos.
Mr. Dubost: Does this mean that they skinned prisoners?
Witness Bachalowsky: They skinned prisoners, then they tanned the skin.
Mr. Dubost: Could you give us more details about that?
Witness Bachalowsky: I saw the SS leaving Block 2 with human skin in their arms. Some comrades who worked in this block told me the SS received orders for human skin, and that tanned skin were given to the guards and visitors. Human skin was also used to make book covers.
Mr. Dubost: We have been told here that the former commandant, Koch, was punished for that.
Witness Bachalowsky: I don't know about that case, I was not in the camp at this time.
Mr. Dubost: So, were there human tattooed and tanned skin in the camp after Koch left?
Witness Bachalowsky: There was always skin. When the Americans liberated the camp, they still found tattooed and tanned skin...
(Buchenwald (Germany)).
Mr. Dubost (French prosecutor): Could you please tell us about the tattooed skin?
Witness Bachalowsky: Yes.
Mr. Dubost: Please tell us what you know.
Witness Bachalowsky: In Buchenwald, human tattooed skin was placed in Block 2. This block was called the "pathological block".
Mr. Dubost: Could you tell us if there was much tattooed skin in this block?
Witness Bachalowsky: There was always human skin there. I can't tell you exactly how much there was because there was a lot of traffic in this block. There was not only tattooed skin but also tanned human skin without tattoos.
Mr. Dubost: Does this mean that they skinned prisoners?
Witness Bachalowsky: They skinned prisoners, then they tanned the skin.
Mr. Dubost: Could you give us more details about that?
Witness Bachalowsky: I saw the SS leaving Block 2 with human skin in their arms. Some comrades who worked in this block told me the SS received orders for human skin, and that tanned skin were given to the guards and visitors. Human skin was also used to make book covers.
Mr. Dubost: We have been told here that the former commandant, Koch, was punished for that.
Witness Bachalowsky: I don't know about that case, I was not in the camp at this time.
Mr. Dubost: So, were there human tattooed and tanned skin in the camp after Koch left?
Witness Bachalowsky: There was always skin. When the Americans liberated the camp, they still found tattooed and tanned skin...
(Buchenwald (Germany)).
During the onset of World War II in 1941, numerous physicians and scientists performed a program of medical experimentation on the prisoners at Buchenwald in certain barracks in the northern part of the main camp. The intent of these medical experiments was to test the efficacy of vaccines and treatments against contagious diseases such as typhus, typhoid, cholera, and diphtheria but these experiments actually results in hundreds of deaths. One Danish physician Dr. Carl Vaernet began a series of experiments in 1944 the he claimed and believed would "cure" homosexual prisoners via the use of hormonal transplants (Buchenwald).
A list of SS officers and Nazi physicians who served at Buchenwald:
- Karl Otto Koch: SS-Standartenfurher
- Hermann Pister: SS-Oberfuhrer
- Dr. Erwin Ding-Schuler
- Dr. Hannes Eisele
- Hermann Florstedt
- Erich Floss
- Kurt Franz
- Dr. Werner Heyde
- Karl Hoffman
- Dr. Waldemar Hoven
- Rudolf Kenn
- Franz-Xaver Maier
- Dr. Max Popiersch
- Artur Rodl
- Dr. Gerhard Schiedlausky
- Hans Stark
- Arnold Strippel
- Egon Zill