The first-ever biography of SS Overseer Maria Mandl, the
highest-ranked woman in the Nazi killing machine and one of the few
female perpetrators of the Holocaust.
With new details and previously unpublished photographs, this gripping,
unflinching examination charts her transformation from engaging country
girl to "The Beast" of Auschwitz.
By the time of her execution at thirty-six, Maria Mandl had achieved the
highest rank possible for a woman in the Third Reich. As Head Overseer
of the women's camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, she was personally
responsible for the murders of thousands, and for the torture and
suffering of countless more.
In this riveting biography, Susan J. Eischeid explores how Maria Mandl,
regarded locally as "a nice girl from a good family," came to embody the
very worst of humanity. Born in 1912 in the scenic Austrian village of
Münzkirchen, Maria enjoyed a happy childhood with loving parents--who
later watched in anguish as their grown daughter rose through the Nazi
system.
Mandl's life mirrors the period in which she lived: turbulent, violent,
and suffused with paradoxes. At Auschwitz-Birkenau, she founded the
notable women's orchestra and "adopted" several children from the
transports--only to lead them to the gas chambers when her interest
waned. After the war, Maria was arrested for crimes against humanity.
Following a public trial attended by the international press, she was
hanged in 1948.
For two decades, Eischeid has excavated the details of Mandl's life
story, drawing on archival testimonies, speaking to dozens of witnesses,
and spending time with Mandl's community of friends and neighbors who
shared their memories as well as those handed down in their families.
The result is a chilling and complex exploration of how easily an
uordinary citizen chose the path of evil in a climate of hate and fear.
