Anneliese Kohlmann

Anneliese Kohlmann (23 March 1921 – 17 September 1977) was a German SS guard at the Neugraben and Hamburg-Tiefstack subcamps of the Neuengamme concentration camp during World War II. Born in Hamburg, she joined the Nazi Party in 1940 and was conscripted into the SS-Gefolge in 1944. As a guard, she was accused of physically abusing prisoners, including whipping and kicking them. Kohlmann, a self-identified lesbian, also engaged in a coercive relationship with a Czech Jewish prisoner, involving sexual barter. After the liberation of Bergen-Belsen in April 1945, Kohlmann was arrested while disguised as a prisoner and tried for war crimes at the Belsen trials in 1946. She was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison. Following her release, she worked as a truck driver in Hamburg and later West Berlin, where she lived until her death in 1977. Kohlmann's actions at Bergen-Belsen, including her role in burying victims' bodies, were documented in widely published photographs. Her story, particularly her relationship with the prisoner, has been depicted in the play Under the Skin by Yonatan Calderon.