1. Maria Mandl was an Austrian war criminal who served as at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration camp.
29 Facts About Maria Mandl
1. 2.
Maria Mandl was executed in 1948 after being found guilty of committing crimes against humanity at the Auschwitz trial.
3.
Maria Mandl was born on 10 January 1912, in Munzkirchen, Austria-Hungary, to shoemaker Franz Mandl and housewife Anna Streibl.
4.
Maria Mandl grew up on her family's farm with three older siblings: Georg, Anna, and Aloisia.
5.
Franz Mandl was known in Munzkirchen for his opposition to the Nazi Party and instead supporting the Christian Social Party.
6.
Maria Mandl withdrew from school on 20 July 1924, at the age of twelve, without an exit certificate to help with the family farm.
7.
Maria Mandl resumed her studies in 1927 after her father put forth the money for her to attend a Catholic boarding school in Neuhaus am Inn, where she spent the final three years of her education.
8.
Maria Mandl was unable to find work in Munzkirchen after graduating, prompting her to move to Brig, Switzerland, where she worked as a housekeeper and cook.
9.
Maria Mandl resigned from her position after thirteen months due to homesickness, returning to Austria to live with her parents until 1934.
10.
Maria Mandl eventually found employment as a maid at a private villa in Innsbruck.
11.
Maria Mandl eventually left this job in 1936 and returned home when her parents' health began to decline.
12.
Maria Mandl was fired from her position at the post office at this time.
13.
Maria Mandl moved to Munich in September 1938 to live with her uncle, a police constable, hoping to get a position in the force with his help.
14.
Maria Mandl completed a training program that included classes on Nazi ideology and the appropriate attitude that should be had towards the Third Reich.
15.
Maria Mandl took a twenty-question test that evaluated her knowledge of geography, history, and significant dates in the Nazi Party.
16.
On 15 May 1939, Maria Mandl was transferred to the Ravensbruck concentration camp, where she continued to work under Kogl and Langefeld.
17.
Maria Mandl had a short-lived relationship with Edmund Brauning, which ended when Brauning became involved with another woman.
18.
In 1942, Maria Mandl was transferred to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, where she succeeded Langefeld in rank for the second time after being promoted from to.
19.
Kommandant Rudolf Hoss was the only superior SS officer Maria Mandl was required to report to.
20.
Maria Mandl was given command of all the female subcamps of Auschwitz, including Hindenburg OS.
21.
Maria Mandl signed inmate lists, sending thousands of women and children to their deaths in the gas chambers of Auschwitz I and II.
22.
Maria Mandl chose Zofia Czajkowska to be the orchestra's first conductor; however, she was later replaced by established Austrian violinist Alma Rose, whom Maria Mandl arranged to be transferred to Auschwitz.
23.
In November 1944, Maria Mandl was awarded the War Merit Cross, Second Class.
24.
In May 1945, Maria Mandl fled from Muhldorf to the southern Bavarian mountains to return to Munzkirchen.
25.
Maria Mandl was eventually apprehended by the US Army on 8 October 1945, and spent some time in a cell at the former Dachau concentration camp.
26.
Maria Mandl was filmed by US soldiers on 14 May 1946, while sharing a cell with former Auschwitz II-Birkenau Elisabeth Ruppert.
27.
On 22 December 1947, Maria Mandl was tried by Poland's Supreme National Tribunal in the Auschwitz trial, found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging.
28.
Maria Mandl was in the cell next to the one Mandl and Brandl shared.
29.
Maria Mandl later revealed that the last time she saw the two women was shortly before their execution date, and they both asked for her forgiveness.