In 1942, the first female concentration camp guards began working at Auschwitz and Majdenek. By the end of the Holocaust, 3,500 women worked as guards. Most were recruited via ads in newspapers. You had to be single and 21-45 years old. They were trained at Ravensbruck for up to six months. Two things they were trained in were punishment of inmates and getting them to work harder. They only dealt with female inmates. If they were not brutal enough, they would be relieved of their position. One of the most infamous was Maria Mandl. She was known as The Beast. She became a guard at age 26. She rose to head of all female inmates and female guards at Auschwitz/Birkenau. She answered only to the camp commandant. She was in charge of which prisoners were sent to the gas chambers. It is estimated she had a hand in the deaths of 500,000 women. She would choose a Jewish woman to be her pet. When she tired of her, she would have her executed and would find another pet. At roll calls, she would have the women stand with eyes down until someone looked at her and she would have them executed. She was hung for war crimes in 1948.
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