Who were the SS Helferinnen shown in the famous Hoecker album?

[Mary Jane]

Hello,

Is there a way to identify these women? Are their names listed somewhere as members of the SS or as the staff of Auschwitz?

[Mary Jane]

I am making progress with my research.

In the meantime I chose this pic because it is the one most clearly displaying the faces of all the SS Helferinnen.

One of them is:

1. Charlotte Schünzel Bartsch.

Her details are below:

SS-Maid (SS-Nachrichtenhelferin)

"letzter bekannter Wohnsitz: Krefeld

vor 1945: Angehörige der Abt. I: Kommandantur, Fernschreibstelle im KL Auschwitz

Im KL Auschwitz lernt Sie den SS-Hauptsturmführer Bartsch Helmut (nach 1945 Kriminalhauptkommissar in der BRD) kennen.

Befreundet mit (friends with) der SS-Maid (SS-Nachrichtenhelferin) Drews Gisela

Hochzeit (marriage) 1948"

http://www.tenhumbergreinhard.de/1933-1 ... enzel.html


I can't match faces with names, I am not yet there, maybe I never will, however I am dedicated to identify (the names of) the women in this picture.

If you can contribute, please do so.

I am going to update this topic...

If you have a guess, even if it's a guess, tell me!

And in the meantime, if you have a list of the SS Helferinnen who worked at Auschwitz (not the guards, not the Aufseherinnen) please share it...

If you identify a relative in this picture, please tell us.

This is history, humanity deserves to know

[Hans1906]

Hi Mary Jane,

when you google the name "Charlotte Schünzel Bartsch" the second link leads you to this:

Zeugin Charlotte Bartsch
73. VERHANDLUNGSTAG 03.08.1964
1. Frankfurter Auschwitz-Prozess
»Strafsache gegen Mulka u.a.«, 4 Ks 2/63
Landgericht Frankfurt am Main
73. Verhandlungstag, 3.8.1964
Vernehmung der Zeugin Charlotte Bartsch

Link: https://www.auschwitz-prozess.de/zeugen ... Charlotte/

There is also the recording online, which is 49:05 minutes long.
In german language, which is in the nature of things from back then.


Hans

[Hans1906]

I took the liberty to enlarge and to sharpen the above photo a little bit:

Please click on the photo for a full view...

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXuasuErHQw
The male voice was Herr Fritz Bauer (Generalstaatsanwalt).

Fritz Bauer: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Bauer

Hans

[Hans1906]

More logs can be found here:

"Tonbandmitschnitte des Auschwitz-Prozesses (1963–1965)"

It's a lot of audio material, but it's good, that all this is still av. Online.

The Link: https://www.auschwitz-prozess.de


Hans
P.S. As far as I know, all of this is also available on film, I beg you to improve it..?
The volume of statements at that time is disturbing, I will probably never find the time to listen to all this...

[Mary Jane]

Hi Hans!

Thanks a lot for your contribution.

I will also try to restore and colorize photos from the Höcker album and add them here.

Charlotte knew every single one of those ladies shown in the pic(s)… They were her colleagues. It bugs my mind: Has she not been at any point asked to identify WHO her colleagues were, to NAME them? – Of course not because the album was around anywhere (but in the attic of an apartment in Frankfurt) back in time when she was questioned. But because all of them were relevant to the Auschwitz process along with Charlotte herself as witnesses (i.e. zeugin)…

I am only a beginner in German and it proves to be an agony sometimes when you are into this subject. I listened like 5 minutes of Charlotte’s testimony on the link you provide above, but I have actually read the whole text: https://www.auschwitz-prozess.de/zeugen ... Charlotte/

They keep mentioning a transport, and I wonder if that has anything to do with the 30,000 Hungarian Jews arriving at Auschwitz about the same date Höcker took the pictures of these SS Maidens at Solahütte.

I will search if there is a video recording of the Auschwitz process.

I will also contact the Fritz Bauer Institute to see if they can help us in any way.

Especially because I suspect that about 2 names on the Auschwitz process list may be among the photographed Auschwitz Helferinnen, in addition to Charlotte Bartsch. But I need to do more research to clarify…

It does not help when women are listed with their contemporary (1963-65) and not past occupations, and without their maiden names, just like our SS Nachrichtenhelferin Charlotte (Schünzel) Bartsch is listed as a housewife…

In the meantime, I contacted the Auschwitz Memorial and they gave me a list of 25 names which they identified as the SS Helferinnen who worked there. Charlotte was on the list. I easily eliminated some of those names as the women were guards or worked in different positions. But we are very clearly and precisely looking for the SS Nachrichtenhelferin who were members of the same team sharing the same rank, who worked at the same office at Auschwitz, at the same (or matching) time period, and who are pictured in the Höcker album together. There is more… I suspect a couple of names on that list along with Charlotte are the gals we are looking for. But research is needed and their details need to match. Without supporting evidence, I can’t cite any names here as “them”.

This is not easy. But it is not hard either. And we are going to find out.

Last but not least: Does Karl Höcker has a grandson alive, who is a businessman? Because I have read something like this: https://www.heretherareblueberries.com/

If so, I hope he finds this forum and helps us with any information he may have.

Cheers to all and hopefully see you soon with new updates.

[Mary Jane]

Question for all: Have the Auschwitz SS female auxillaries been ever listed in the camp records as members of staff?

I have went for no, due to their status, but I may as well be wrong.

Their names, back in time, should have been recorded and kept somewhere in the camp.

What do you think/know?

[Mary Jane]

It proves to be an agony to find a decent app to colorize and restore (at the same time) all the pics in the way I want to, but so far I am satisfied with these results. I hope it helps...

[Mary Jane]

Our number 2 is:

2. Johanna Rautschka (1924 – unknown)


Image credit: Federal Archives, Berlin







"Johanna Rautschka was born in Ulibitz in the Sudetenland. She attended a public vocational school in Bischofteinitz.

Rautschka was influenced by the growing National Socialist movement in the Sudetenland at a young age, becoming a member of the German Gymnastics Association and the Youth Movement of the Sudeten German Party. After attending business school in Regensburg, she was assigned by the District Administrator of Bischofteinitz to service with the SS. In 1944, she received training as a signaler at the SS Reich School in Oberehnheim, Alsace. She then worked as a signaler in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Rautschka was transferred to the Information Office at the Flossenbürg concentration camp in 1945. Nothing is known about her subsequent career." https://www.gedenkstaette-flossenbuerg. ... -personnel

[Ponury]

The author of the post writes - these women were not members of the SS! Auxiliary service, supporting?!

[Mary Jane]

The author of the post writes - these women were not members of the SS! Auxiliary service, supporting?!

"SS Maiden" calls Karl Höcker himself in the album. Yes, I know what you mean, they are defined as "SS Helferinnen" (helpers). Hope this clarifies the issue.

[Hans1906]

Hi Mary Jane,

your topic is quite foreign to me personally, and unfortunately I can't contribute much to it.
But one should differentiate:

SS-Helferinnenkorps: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS-Helferinnenkorps

SS-Gefolge: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS-Gefolge

And since I know next to nothing on the subject, just these two links above.
I wish you the best of luck with your research, and I will continue to read your topic here in the forum with great interest...


Hans
P.S. It also makes no sense to dig up old memories from families and circles of acquaintances here, the people involved have long since died and only exist on paper and on old photos, if at all.

Maybe the documentary on Arte is interesting for you, see above in the "Movies, games & other fiction" section, "Frauen der NS-Zeit "

[steve248]

The SS-Hstuf Helmut Bartsch mentioned above, was a Kripo officer investigating corruption at KL Auschwitz, 1943-1944.

[Matt Gibbs]

There's an online thesis by Hayden Mueller that includes three helferin from Auschwitz as a case study. I have not got a copy but it's bibliography might help you regarding names and sources?

https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/782/

[Hans1906]

Hi Matt,

I don't believe in such sources at all, sorry.

Tonbandmitschnitte des Auschwitz-Prozesses (1963–1965)

Link: https://www.auschwitz-prozess.de

The balancing act is narrow, none of us was a contemporary witness.
A German crime, a German trial, the perpetrators were largely exonerated, the victims were invisible, a disgrace for German jurisdiction, no ifs or buts.

One still has to be ashamed of it today.


Hans