In the shadow of the Holocaust, in which humanity’s darkest impulses were unleashed, figures like Gertrude Saurer emerge as a chilling reminder of how ordinary people could become instruments of terror. She was notorious among survivors for her sadistic cruelty. Saurer served as a female guard in the Nazi concentration camp system during World War II. She was one of the women who, under the banner of the SS, enforced the regime’s genocidal policies at Bergen-Belsen —a place that became synonymous with unimaginable suffering.
Convicted in the 1945 Belsen Trial and sentenced to ten years in prison, Saurer’s story exposes the complicity of women within the Nazis’ murderous apparatus. This article examines her background, her war crimes, the trial, and her legacy—offering those interested in dark history a compelling look at one of the lesser-known but profoundly disturbing perpetrators.

Early life and path to the SS

Little is documented about Gertrude Saurer’s early years—a typical characteristic of many lower-ranking SS members whose personal histories were overshadowed by their crimes. Born in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century, Saurer likely came from humble beginnings, like most women who joined the SS Auxiliary Service —the support organization that assisted the SS Death’s Head Units
. As the camp system expanded, there was an acute need for female guards, since many men were being sent to the front.

From 1939 onward, with the outbreak of war, women like Saurer were drafted or volunteered. Their training began at the Ravensbrück women’s concentration camp , north of Berlin, where recruits were indoctrinated in Nazi ideology, antisemitic propaganda, and brutal disciplinary and punitive methods. Films like Jud Süß were shown to incite hatred, and female guards were taught to view prisoners—Jews, Roma, political opponents, and others—as subhuman.
Saurer, like her colleagues, was indoctrinated to see her role as contributing to the “racial purity” of the Reich. Historical estimates suggest there were approximately 3,500 female guards in the camps; Saurer’s path led to Bergen-Belsen , where her reputation for cruelty was rapidly solidified.

Service in Bergen-Belsen – A reign of sadism

Bergen-Belsen , originally established in 1940 as a prisoner-of-war camp, degenerated into a nightmare for Jews and other “undesirables” by 1943. Under commandants like Josef Kramer , the camp overflowed; hunger, disease, and death were omnipresent.
Saurer arrived in Belsen as a guard in 1944. She supervised female prisoners during work details, selections for deportation to extermination camps (Belsen itself had no gas chambers but served as a transit camp), and was responsible for the daily enforcement of SS discipline.

Eyewitnesses described her as particularly cruel. She used whips, boots, and fists to punish women for the slightest transgressions—working slowly, perceived insolence, or weakness due to malnutrition. One survivor reported that she beat women to death while laughing—the symbol of the sadism that permeated many female guard detachments.
Unlike those who later claimed coercion, Saurer’s actions displayed a certain pleasure in violence . She participated in selections and appropriated valuables from the dead—a common but especially despicable crime.

As the war turned against Germany, Belsen fell into complete disrepair. By early 1945, over 50,000 prisoners were crammed inside, and typhus and dysentery were claiming thousands of lives every week.
Saurer remained until liberation: On April 15, 1945, British troops discovered 13,000 unburied corpses and tens of thousands of dying prisoners. Saurer was immediately arrested – her SS uniform insignia now a symbol of horror.

The Belsen Trial – Justice and Reckoning

The Belsen Trial , held in Lüneburg from September 1945 to November 1946 , was one of the first major war crimes trials.
Forty-five defendants, including sixteen women, stood trial under British jurisdiction. Saurer was charged with crimes against humanity : mistreatment, torture, and murder.

Witness testimonies described her beatings, her involvement in deadly forced labor, and her indifference to the starving and sick.
Unlike well-known perpetrators such as Irma Grese or Elisabeth Volkenrath , Saurer was not a senior supervisor, but her personal responsibility was clear.
She denied everything, claiming to have “only followed orders”—a standard excuse—but evidence and witness testimony refuted her.
On November 17, 1945, she was found guilty and sentenced to ten years in prison —a relatively harsh sentence for a woman of her rank. She served her sentence in a British prison. The trial became a precedent , demonstrating that even lower-ranking officials could be complicit.

Post-war period and legacy

Saurer was released around 1955. Afterward, she disappeared from public view—like many former female guards who reintegrated into civilian life after denazification.
There is no evidence of remorse or any later statements. She likely died unnoticed in the late decades of the 20th century.
Her case illustrates the inequality of the postwar justice system —while some were executed, others escaped milder sentences or were forgotten.

Saurer’s story serves today as a warning of how the Nazi system corrupted women and turned them into perpetrators. Historians like Wendy Lower ( Hitler’s Furies ) demonstrate that female participation was not accidental, but rather part of an ideologically fueled system.
It forces us to confront uncomfortable truths: cruelty knows no gender , and complicity can take many forms.

Gertrude Saurer’s ten-year prison sentence was a small price to pay for the suffering of countless victims.
Yet her story remains a dark lesson of human history – a call for remembrance, responsibility, and vigilance so that such darkness never returns.