Ilse Koch

Also known as Margarete Ilse Köhler, The Witch of Buchenwald, The Beast of Buchenwald, Queen of Buchenwald, Red Witch of Buchenwald, Butcher Widow, The Bitch of Buchenwald, Ilse Köhler

Margarete Ilse Koch was a German war criminal who committed atrocities while her husband Karl-Otto Koch was the commandant at Buchenwald. Though Ilse Koch had no official position in Nazi Germany, she became one of the most infamous Nazi figures at the war's end and was referred to as the "Kommandeuse of Buchenwald".

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Within Vinony's link graph, Ilse Koch is referenced by 56 other articles, and connects out to war crime, Lampshades made from human skin and World War I.

It sits within the topics 1906 births, 1967 deaths and 1967 suicides.

Its subject is documented across 41 Wikipedia language editions.

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Key facts

Born: Margarete Ilse Köhler , ( 1906-09-22 ) 22 September 1906, Dresden , German Empire
Died: 1 September 1967 (1967-09-01) (aged 60), Aichach , West Germany
Cause of death: Suicide by hanging
Other names: The Bitch of Buchenwald The Witch of Buchenwald
Criminal status: Deceased
Spouse: Karl-Otto Koch ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1937 ; died 1945 )
Convictions: U.S. Military , War crimes (1947), West Germany , Incitement to murder , Incitement to attempted murder , Incitement to infliction of grievous bodily harm , Incitement to infliction of bodily harm (2 counts)
Criminal penalty: U.S. Military , Life imprisonment ; commuted to 4 years imprisonment (1947), West Germany , Life imprisonment (1951)

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Margarete
Family name: Koch
Gender: female
Citizenship: Germany
Place of birth: Dresden
Place of death: Aichach
Spouse: Karl-Otto Koch
Occupation: war criminal
Employer: Buchenwald concentration camp
Political party: Nazi Party
Languages spoken: German
Conflict: World War II
Image: Ilse Koch.png
Convicted of: torture

Show 12 more facts

Commons category: Ilse Koch
date of birth: 1906-09-22
date of death: 1967-09-01
manner of death: Suicide
cause of death: hanging to death
birth name: Margarete Ilse Köhler
nickname: Idol von Ed Gein
name in native language: Ilse Koch
interested in: equestrianism
start of work period: 1936-00-00
P8168: Li Hang
end of work period: 1945-00-00

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Encyclopedic overview

Margarete Ilse Koch (née Köhler; 22 September 1906 – 1 September 1967) was a German war criminal who committed atrocities while her husband Karl-Otto Koch was the commandant at Buchenwald. Though Ilse Koch had no official position in Nazi Germany, she became one of the most infamous Nazi figures at the war's end and was referred to as the "Kommandeuse of Buchenwald".

Because of the egregiousness of her alleged actions, including that she had selected Jewish prisoners for death in order to fashion lampshades from human skin and other items from it, her 1947 U.S. military commission court trial at Dachau received worldwide media attention, as did the testimony of survivors who ascribed sadistic and perverse acts of violence to Koch—giving rise to the image of her as "the concentration camp murderess".

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ilse Koch” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.