The Disturbing History Of The Killer Women Under Hitler's Regime

As the conflict dragged on, more and more men of the Third Reich's SS elite were shipped to the front lines, leaving Germany with massive personnel shortages. The answer was — in part — to replace guards in camps like Auschwitz with women who signed on to not only fill critical roles in the vast communications network but to act as guards, too.

According to the BBC, the Third Reich recruited women to work as guards with advertisements luring applicants with "Good wages and free board, accommodation and clothing." Those accommodations were cottages a stone's throw away from the camps, and even as they retired there at night, they sent their dogs after prisoners during the day.

One unnamed guard described it as "the most beautiful time of my life," and in a 1999 interview, Herta Bothe said, "Did I make a mistake? No. The mistake was that it was a concentration camp, but I had to go to it, otherwise, I would have been put into it myself. That was my mistake." Interestingly, though, records suggest that if recruits decided that the beatings and the executions that were a daily part of camp life weren't for them, they could leave. Many — like Bothe — didn't leave: She later acted as an escort on a death march to Bergen-Belsen. After liberation, Bothe was tasked with helping bury the dead at Belsen and complained about it to Allied liberators: Carrying the bodies caused her back to hurt.