Johanna Dorothea Emilia (Bormann) Borman (1895 - 1945)

Born 10 Sep 1895 in Birkenfelde, East Prussia

Ancestors

Died 13 Dec 1945 at age 50 in Hameln-Pyrmont, Hanover, Prussia, Germany

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Biography

Juana (Bormann) Borman is Notable.

Johann Dorothea Emilia Bormann was born September 10, 1895^[1] in Birkenfelde, East Prussia. She was a daughter of Christian Wilhelm Bormann and Johanne Dorothea Emilie Bergfeld.^[1] She was baptized November 10, 1895 in Heinholz Hannover, Hannover, Preußen, Germany.^[1]

She was a deeply religious catholic woman who at one time did missionary work at a lunatic asylum looking at the sick.^[2] She joined the Auxiliary SS in March 1, 1938 as a civilian employee to earn more money. Bormann served at the Lichtenburg concentration camp first working in the kitchen.^[2]

In 1939, she was assigned to oversee a work crew at the new Ravensbrück women's camp near Berlin. In March 1942, Bormann was one of a handful of women selected for guard duty at Auschwitz in Poland. Short in stature, she was known for her cruelty. Victims called her "Wiesel" and "the woman with the dogs". In October 1942, Bormann went to Auschwitz-Birkenau as an Aufseherin. Witnesses constantly repeat how she would set her dog upon prisoners and watched as they were torn apart.^[3] At least two deaths were recorded due mauling, and it is said that one of her favorite diversions was unleashing her German Shepard dog on the prisoners.^[4] Juana was eventually moved to Budy, a nearby subcamp where she continued her abuse of prisoners.

In 1944, as German losses mount, Bormann was transferred to the auxiliary camp at Hindenburg (present-day Zabrze, Poland) in Silesia. In January 1945, she returned to Ravensbrück. In March she arrived at her last post, Bergen-Belsen, near Celle. She was one of the oldest SS staff members at age 52, and has a reputation as a sadist.^[3] On 15 April 1945, the British army took Bergen-Belsen, finding over 10,000 corpses and 60,000 survivors. The liberators forced all SS personnel to carry the dead.

Bormann was later incarcerated and interrogated by the military, then prosecuted at the Belsen Trial, which lasts from September 17, 1945 to November17, 1945. The court heard testimony relating to murders she had committed at Auschwitz and Belsen, sometimes unleashing her "big bad wolfhound" German shepherd on helpless prisoners. Questions of her sanity arise during the Bergen-Belsen Trial but they are not enough to keep her from being found guilty by the British Military Tribunal.^[3] Bormann was charged on various counts dating back to her time in Auschwitz, with witnesses testifying she selected prisoners to be sent to the gas chamber as well for experiments with Josef Mengele and Fritz Klein.^[3] Juanna decided not to appeal.

Death

Johann Dorothea Emilia Bormann was sentenced to death and hung on December 13, 1945 in Hameln, Germany.^[3] She was buried at the jail's courtyard until 1954, when her body is removed to an unmarked grave at the Am Wehl Cemetery in Hameln.^[4][5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898 Johann Dorothea Emilia Bormann, 10 Nov 1895; citing ; FHL microfilm 185,081.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} War Crimes Trials - Vol. II The Belsen Trial. 'The Trial of Josef Kramer and Forty Four Others' Evidence for the Defendant Juana Bormann 12th October, 1945
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4} United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Juana Bormann, part of a series of mug shots taken of former guards and prisoners from the Belsen camp before their trial in front of a British Military Tribunal.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Bartop, Paul R. & Grime Eve E., Perpetrating the Holocaust: Leaders, Enablers, and Collaborators Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO Inc., 2019. Pg. 39
5. ↑ Find A Grave, memorial page for Juana Bormann (10 Sep 1893–13 Dec 1945), Find a Grave Memorial ID 67494633, citing Am Wehl Cemetery, Hameln, Landkreis Hameln-Pyrmont, Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juana_Bormann