Nazi Female Guard Who Always Carried a Riding Whip: Herta Sauer #ww2 #history #documentary

Gertrud Sauer was one of the many female guards who served in the Nazi concentration camp system during the Second World War. Born in 1904 in Görlitz, Germany, Sauer entered adulthood as Hitler rose to power and the Nazi regime took hold. By 1944, with the war escalating and German losses mounting, Sauer was conscripted and sent to work at Gross-Rosen concentration camp, where she supervised female prisoners, mostly Jewish women, forced to work in textile and munitions factories. As the Soviets advanced, Sauer participated in a death march in early 1945, escorting prisoners in freezing temperatures and without sufficient food or water. Thousands died during such forced evacuations. Sauer ultimately arrived at Bergen-Belsen, a camp that became infamous for its horrific overcrowding, starvation, disease, and death. In April 1945, when the British 11th Armored Division liberated Bergen-Belsen, they found over 13,000 unburied corpses and 60,000 sick and starving prisoners. Sauer had worked across multiple sections of the camp, including the kitchens, the bathhouse, and wood labor commandos. Captured days after liberation, she was tried at the Belsen Trials in 1945. While denying much of the brutality attributed to her, she admitted to some beatings. The court found her guilty and sentenced her to 10 years in prison, of which she served six, being released in 1951. Her fate after that remains unknown. Sauer is remembered not only as a war criminal but as a symbol of how ordinary individuals became instruments of terror in Hitler’s regime. Her story is a chilling reminder of how ideology, obedience, and personal cruelty can intersect in times of war. Narrator: Marchand Steenkamp. Disclaimer: All opinions and comments below are from members of the public and do not reflect the views of the World History channel. We do not accept promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on attributes such as: race, nationality, religion, sex, gender, sexual orien