Le Chienne De Buchenwald – Le Chienne De Buchenwald – “The Bitch of Buchenwald” by Domenica di Constanza, First French Edition. Jean Froiseart Publishing. Paris, 1952. A horrifying publication revealing the character and horrific war crimes of the Nazi criminal Ilse Koch, an SS officer at Buchenwald and other concentration camps. Ilse Koch, known for her sadistic cruelty, committed acts so heinous that they shocked even the judges at the “Buchenwald Trial.” This comprehensive publication is based on numerous sources about her personality and the violence of one of the most brutal women in human history. Many chapters are extremely difficult to read due to the horrific atrocities described.
This early publication exposes one of the most notorious Nazi women and the horrors she committed in the camps. Ilse Koch, the wife of Karl Koch, the commandant of Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany and Majdanek extermination camp in Poland, was a notorious war criminal. The author collected testimonies about her monstrous acts, reviewed five thousand pages of the Dachau Trial archives preserved in Frankfurt by the American authorities, gathered countless reports from journalists from twenty countries who attended the court sessions, and examined the memoirs of former Nazi leaders and testimonies written by former Buchenwald prisoners, among others.
From the Author’s Preface:
“I saw Ilse Koch only twice. The first time, in 1947, when she stood before the military court in Dachau along with 31 other SS criminals; the second time, in Augsburg, when the German court sentenced her to life imprisonment in January 1951. During the numerous trials, Ilse and I exchanged many glances, but I never had the opportunity to speak with her. It may surprise you that I devoted over 300 pages to a woman with whom I never had a private conversation… During her life, Ilse Koch changed or destroyed the lives of many people. Some she caused to die, others she robbed (Koch regularly stole money from the prisoners), and others she caused immense suffering. I spoke with these people to learn about her actions… Slowly, I was exposed to the true face of ‘the bitch woman’…”
When the author first saw Ilse Koch in the courtroom, he describes her appearance as “monstrous”:
“Her forehead was unusually broad, her Mongolian brow drew the eye, her gaze was unbearably pale. In photographs, her pupils were almost invisible, and it was necessary to retouch them to avoid giving her the appearance of a plaster figure…” To cover the horror phenomenon known as “Ilse Koch, ” the author documents her life from her childhood in Munich—the atmosphere in the home where she grew up, her drunkard parents, the hatred she developed for everything around her, the bullying she endured from boys her age, her violent tendencies from a young age, her association with the most notorious crime gangs in the city, and later her connection with the most ruthless activists in the Nazi party and how she learned their sadistic ways, and more.
The author then details, from countless sources, her cruelty and sadistic actions at Buchenwald camp – Koch took “souvenirs” from the bodies of victims, using some to make accessories such as lampshades, gloves, and book covers (Koch had worked as a bookbinder in a bookstore in her youth). She participated in experiments to assist the prison doctor Erich Wagner in his research on the connection between crime and tattoos, and she was involved in the murder of tattooed prisoners and the removal of their skin. The book also covers her denial attempts during the court sessions and how she managed to obscure various evidence, which eventually led to a reduction in her sentence. The author attended the sessions that lasted for six weeks, where nearly 400 witnesses testified against her. Among other things, he provides full transcripts of the indifferent responses she gave to the tough questions about her horrific crimes:
“Is it true that you ran over prisoners while riding a horse in the camp?” (Koch was known for whipping camp prisoners while riding a horse)
, she shrugged disdainfully, “I never had a riding horse… Did you order the SS doctors to kill the condemned with injections? She grumbled, ‘That’s really more stupid than all the previous inventions… So what were your activities in the camp? I did laundry and cooking…” The author faithfully presents the extremely difficult-to-read testimonies of Buchenwald prisoners who were tortured by Koch and had the courage to come to the Dachau court to testify about her horrific acts, despite the bitter memories these testimonies stirred up after the war. One Jewish prisoner testified how “the bitch walked around the groups of Jews, cruelly beating them with her riding whip for no reason.” He testified about human skulls of prisoners after they were murdered, which Koch and her husband kept preserved. The author also describes how Koch participated in the selection process and how she sent prisoners already assigned to life back to the path leading to death.
There were moments during the trial when prisoners who remembered her deeds burst out, shouting to the judge, “Let me kill her, we must eliminate this woman, ” as the guards quickly escorted her out of the courtroom to her cell.
Koch committed suicide by hanging on September 1, 1967, in a women’s prison in the town of Aichach, southern Germany, after suffering from hallucinations and becoming convinced that concentration camp survivors would come to avenge her in her cell. The book was originally published in 1950 in German and Italian editions. This is the first French edition.
Rare. Only a few copies are listed in the WorldCat global library catalog.
298 [2] pages. Slight wear on the cover. Good – very good condition.
