Therese Brandl
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Therese "Rose" Brandl (February 1, 1902 – December 22, 1947) was a Nazi concentration camp guard.
Born in Staudach, Austria, she entered Ravensbruck in March, 1940 to begin her training under SS-Oberaufseherin Maria Mandel. She quickly rose through the ranks there and became a Rapportaufseherin (or Rapportfuhrerin) [Report Leader]. Her main task was to count women at roll call and hand out punishments.
In March 1942, Brandl was one of several SS women to be assigned to Auschwitz I camp in occupied Poland. Her jobs there included watching over women in the sorting sheds and as a Rapportfuherin. In October 1942, she was moved to the newly opened Auschwitz II camp at Birkenau. That same month a new Oberaufseherin named Maria Mandel arrived from Ravensbruck, and former SS-Oberaufseherin Johanna Langefeld was sent back to Ravensbruck.
At Auschwitz, Brandl soon rose through the ranks and became an Erstaufseherin (First Guard) alongside Margot Dreschel and Irma Grese. In the summer of 1943, she received a medal from the Reich for her "good conduct" in the camps. In November 1944, with the approach of the Red Army, she was sent to the Muhldorf Forest subcamp of Dachau along with Mandel. There she was demoted to Aufseherin. Not many reports have surfaced about Brandl's behavior at Muhldorf.
Brandl ultimately fled from Muhldorf on April 27, 1945, weeks before the arrival of the US army. On August 29, 1945, the US army arrested the former SS woman in the Bavarian Mountains of Germany and sent her to a holding camp to await questioning. In November 1947 she was tried along with Alice Orlowski, Luise Danz, Maria Mandel and Hildegard Lachert in a Kraków courtroom. She was found guilty of selections and hanged on December 22, 1947.
