Editing Dorothea Binz

{{Short description|Nazi German officer and supervisor at Ravensbrück concentration camp (1920–1947)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name              = Dorothea Binz
| image             = Dorothea Binz.jpg
| alt               = "Dorothea Binz"
| caption           = 
| birth_name        = 
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1920|03|16|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Templin|Försterei Dusterlake]], [[Province of Brandenburg]], [[Weimar Republic]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1947|05|02|1920|03|16|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Hamelin Prison]], [[Hamelin]], [[Allied-occupied Germany]]
| death_cause       = [[Execution by hanging]]
| conviction_penalty = [[Capital punishment|Death]]
| conviction        = [[War crimes]]
| nationality       = German
| other_names       = 
| occupation        = Supervisor at Ravensbrück concentration camp
| years_active      = 
| known_for         = 
| notable_works     = 
| criminal_status   = [[Executed]]
| trial             = Hamburg Ravensbrück trials
| motive            = [[Nazism]]<br>[[Sadomasochism|Sadism]]
}}

'''Dorothea "Theodora" Binz''' (16 March 1920 – 2 May 1947)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Daniel Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N_QkAQAAMAAJ |title=The Camp Women: The Female Auxiliaries who Assisted the SS in Running the Nazi Concentration Camp System |date=2002 |publisher=Schiffer Pub. |isbn=978-0-7643-1444-5 |language=en}}</ref> was a [[Nazi]] German officer and supervisor at [[Ravensbrück concentration camp]] during the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]]. She was known as one of the most brutal, ruthless and sadistic overseers in the Nazi system.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Bartrop |first1=Paul R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PwTHEAAAQBAJ&dq=dorothea+binz&pg=PA1923 |title=Perpetrating the Holocaust: Leaders, Enablers, and Collaborators |last2=Grimm |first2=Eve E. |date=2019-01-11 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=979-8-216-12767-3 |pages=1923 |language=en}}</ref> She was executed for [[war crime]]s on 2 May 1947.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Herbermann |first=Nanda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3JM3AdnmE18C&dq=dorothea+binz&pg=PA141 |title=The Blessed Abyss: Inmate #6582 in Ravensbrück Concentration Camp for Women |date=2000 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0-8143-2920-7 |pages=141 |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life==
Born to a lower middle-class German family in Försterei Dusterlake, [[Brandenburg]], Germany, Binz attended school until she was 15.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

==Atrocities at Ravensbrück concentration camp==
She volunteered for kitchen work at Ravensbrück in August 1939, when she was aged 19,<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last1=O'Reilly |first1=Bill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wxpNDwAAQBAJ&dq=dorothea+binz&pg=PA245 |title=Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History |last2=Dugard |first2=Martin |date=2018-10-09 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |isbn=978-1-250-16555-8 |pages=241–245 |language=en}}</ref> and was given a position of ''[[Aufseherin]]'' (female overseer) the following month.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarti |first=Wendy Adele-Marie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1CosAQAAMAAJ |title=Women and Nazis: Perpetrators of Genocide and Other Crimes During Hitler's Regime, 1933-1945 |date=2011 |publisher=Academica Press |isbn=978-1-936320-11-0 |pages=74–75 |language=en}}</ref>

Binz served as an ''Aufseherin'' under ''Oberaufseherin'' [[Emma Zimmer]], [[Johanna Langefeld]], [[Maria Mandl]], and [[Anna Klein (camp warden)|Anna Klein]]. Though she worked under higher-ranking guards, Binz was known as "the true star of the camp", and the "chief guard was completely overshadowed by her deputy."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Ravensbrück|last=Tillion|first=Germaine|year=1988|location=Paris|pages=139}}</ref> She worked in various parts of the camp, including the kitchen and laundry. Later, she is said to have supervised the bunker where prisoners were tortured and killed. She began as deputy director of her penal block in September 1940, and became director of the cell block in the summer of 1942.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title="Im Gefolge der SS": Aufseherinnen des Frauen-Konzentrationslagers Ravensbrück|last=Erpel|first=Simone|year=2007|location=Berlin|pages=59–71}}</ref>

Binz was unofficially promoted to ''Stellvertretende Oberaufseherin'' (Deputy Chief Wardress) in July 1943; the promotion was made official in February 1944.<ref name=":1" /> Her abuse was later described as "''unyielding"''. She was known to "watch for the weakest or most fearful prisoners, whom she would then shower with lashes or blows."<ref name=":0" /> As a member of the command staff between 1943 and 1945, she directed training and assigned duties to over 100 female guards at one time. Binz reportedly trained some of the cruellest female guards in the system, including [[Ruth Closius]],<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wMiwDAAAQBAJ&q=Binz+ruth&pg=PT86|title=Irma Grese - "The Beast of Belsen" & Other Twisted Female Guards of Concentration Camps|last=Gibson|first=Tyler|date=6 April 2017|publisher=Lulu Press, Inc|isbn=9781365237997|language=en}}</ref> and many conscripts who became guards testified after the war that they had been trained by her.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ingmann |first=Lorenz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oq0VEQAAQBAJ&dq=dorothea+binz&pg=PA2 |title=Female Camp Guards: In the Sights of the Investigators in »East and West Germany« |date=2024-07-23 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-7597-4039-7 |pages=2 |language=en}}</ref>

At Ravensbrück, the young Binz is said to have beaten, slapped, kicked, shot, whipped, stomped and sexually abused prisoners<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bergoffen |first1=Debra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gnJeBwAAQBAJ&dq=dorothea+binz&pg=PA26 |title=Confronting Global Gender Justice: Women's Lives, Human Rights |last2=Gilbert |first2=Paula Ruth |last3=Harvey |first3=Tamara |last4=McNeely |first4=Connie L. |date=2010-11-17 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-87872-5 |pages=26 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sjoberg |first=Laura |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GS5ADQAAQBAJ&dq=dorothea+binz&pg=PA104 |title=Women as Wartime Rapists: Beyond Sensation and Stereotyping |date=2016-11-22 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-7140-2 |pages=104 |language=en}}</ref> and set trained fighting dogs on them.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McGill |first=Mary |date=2017-07-31 |title=The Forgotten Horror of Ravensbrück, the Nazi Concentration Camp for Women |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-forgotten-horror-of-ravensbruck-the-nazi-concentration-camp-for-women/ |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=VICE |language=en-US}}</ref> Witnesses testified that when she appeared at the ''[[Appellplatz]]'', "silence fell" as she instilled panic and fear.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Willmott |first=Lauren |date=2015-06-10 |title=The Forgotten Brutality of Female Nazi Concentration Camp Guards |url=https://time.com/3915391/the-forgotten-brutality-of-female-nazi-concentration-camp-guards/ |access-date=2024-09-21 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref> Any prisoners who dared to look at her risked having her [[Selection (Holocaust)|select]] them to be killed in the gas chambers.<ref name=":3" /> She reportedly carried a [[whip]] in hand, along with a leashed [[German Shepherd]], and without any provocation notice would kick prisoners to death.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ravensbrück: training center for SS female guards – Alliance for Human Research Protection |url=https://ahrp.org/ravensbruck-training-camp-for-himmler-s-new-female-prison-guard/ |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=Alliance for Human Research Protection |language=en-US}}</ref> It was also believed that she hacked a prisoner to death with an axe during work detail.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Roland |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P8TKBAAAQBAJ&dq=dorothea+binz&pg=PT289 |title=Nazi Women: The Attraction of Evil |date=2014-08-15 |publisher=Arcturus Publishing |isbn=978-1-78428-046-8 |language=en}}</ref>

Binz reportedly had a boyfriend in the camp, an SS officer, Edmund Bräuning.<ref name=":4" /> The couple reportedly went on romantic walks around the camp to watch prisoners being flogged, after which they would stroll away laughing. They lived together in a house outside the camp walls until late 1944, when Bräuning was transferred to [[Buchenwald concentration camp]].<ref name=":2" />

==Capture and execution==
Binz fled Ravensbrück during the [[Death marches during the Holocaust|death march]], but was captured on 3 May 1945 by the British in [[Hamburg]],<ref name=":4" /> and incarcerated in the [[Recklinghausen]] camp (formerly a [[Buchenwald concentration camp|Buchenwald]] subcamp). She was tried for war crimes with other SS personnel by a British court in the [[Hamburg Ravensbrück trials|Ravensbrück trial]] in 1947.<ref name=":5" /> Binz was found guilty and sentenced to death.<ref name=":4" /> Hours after her death sentence was confirmed in April 1947, she attempted to kill herself by slashing her wrists. However, officials intervened before she could bleed to death.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1947-04-18 |title=Flucht in den Tod |language=de |magazine=[[Der Spiegel]] |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/flucht-in-den-tod-a-db1b3c03-0002-0001-0000-000041121764 |access-date=2022-09-08 |issn=2195-1349}}</ref>

Binz was subsequently [[Hanging#Long drop|hanged]] at [[Hamelin Prison]] by British executioner [[Albert Pierrepoint]] on 2 May 1947.<ref name=":2" /> Her last words were to Pierrepoint, and she supposedly said to him: "I hope you will not think we are all evil people" just before her death.<ref name=":4" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
Information in this article comes from the following sources: 
* Adele, Wendy & Sarti, Marie. ''Women and Nazis: Perpetrators of Genocide and Other Crimes During Hitler's Regime, 1933-1945.'' Academia Press, Palo Alto CA, 2011. {{ISBN|978-1936320}}
* Erpel, Simone. ''"Im Gefolge der SS": Aufseherinnen des Frauen-Konzentrationslagers Ravensbrück.'' Berlin, 2007.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Binz, Dorothea}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:1947 deaths]]
[[Category:German people convicted of torture]]
[[Category:People from Templin]]
[[Category:People from the Province of Brandenburg]]
[[Category:Nazi Party members]]
[[Category:Female guards in Nazi concentration camps]]
[[Category:Executed German women]]
[[Category:Hamburg Ravensbrück trials executions]]
[[Category:Executed people from Brandenburg]]