VUGHT-The Commanders &“Aufseherinnen”

Picture credit: Jorinde – Part of the exhibition at Camp Vught
Himmler was the SS leader in charge of any concentration or death camp. Camp Vught had three different commanders succeeding each other.

Picture credit: Jorinde- Exhibition at Camp Vught
Commander Adam Grünewald was an impressive personage with a cruel streak…

Unknown photographer

Under Grünewald, there were other men, but the women dealt mostly with Oberaufseherin (pronounced /ohw-bur ouf-seehu-reen/) Gallinat, a dour woman who had been trained in Ravensbrück, which led her to believe that she should be feared. Since the Dutch women–who mockingly called her “the Ober Troll”-were not, Gallinat was perpetually angry, and seemed genuinely relieved when she was captured and tried.

Picture credit: Jorinde-Part of the exhibition at Camp Vught
When the compassionate “Mommy Mies” aka Mies Boissevain tried to understand why the mostly Dutch “Aufseherinnen” had turned on their fellow-country women, she became aware of her own culpability; the war had made her lay off her staff, who then had no income… The girls who worked in Camp Vught were attracted by the fat German salaries. Of course, some like Katja Schot were just cruel and true Nazis, while others were simply very young, uneducated, and bread winners for their many Catholic siblings.
The slightly older Suze Arts came from a broken home and was not only pregnant from a married Nazi in the camp, but already had an illegitimate child she could hardly provide for. After the “Bunker Drama,” Arts got apprehended when she was trying to get to her son. She got fired from Camp Vught, forcing her to take menial jobs. She had another illegitimate child the next month. When the war ended, she was imprisoned, and her daughter was taken from her never to see her again. She would only see her son a few years before her death. Released in 1953, she failed time and again to get a job until finally, the cozy women’s magazine Daisy hired her (be it under a different name) as editor and main contributor to the weekly puzzle.
Also see: https://www.brabantremembers.com/occupation/negen-vierkante-meter-wraak/?lang=en
similar galleries
discover
JOIN MY NEWSLETTER
To receive announcements about new blogs, images, essays, lectures, and novels, please sign up.
