English source-aligned edition
Greta Bösel
Greta Bösel served as guard assigned to women prisoners’ labour deployment at Ravensbrück. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in Ravensbrück · Germany through documented office, decisions, supervision or operational conduct. It does not assign every crime committed by an institution or region to one individual.
Confirmed findings
- Greta Bösel (also “Grete Boesel” in court files) was born on 9 May 1908 in Elberfeld. She arrived at Ravensbrück in late August 1944 and worked in prisoner labour deployment. (Source: Silke Schäfer / Technische Universität Berlin — dissertation, printed pp. 185 and 256, biographical paragraph and personnel table)
- Witness evidence cited from British trial files describes her beating sick or weak women prisoners; she herself admitted slapping prisoners. No specific victim count is inferred. (Source: Ljiljana Heise / British National Archives WO 235/306–312 — chapter on Greta Bösel, around lines 1105–1110, 1171–1177 and 1208–1209; cites files WO 235/306, 308, 310 and 312)
- The British military court in the first Ravensbrück trial sentenced her to death on 3 February 1947. She was executed at Hameln on 2 May 1947. (Source: Silke Schäfer / Technische Universität Berlin — dissertation, printed pp. 185 and 256, biographical paragraph and personnel table; Source: KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme — exhibition panel on the first Ravensbrück trial, PDF p. 20, lines on Grete Bösel)
Place in the chain of responsibility
Individual responsibility is grounded in her labour-deployment role and the testimony and admission of violence, not the camp’s entire crime record. (Source: Silke Schäfer / Technische Universität Berlin — dissertation, printed pp. 185 and 256, biographical paragraph and personnel table; Source: Ljiljana Heise / British National Archives WO 235/306–312 — chapter on Greta Bösel, around lines 1105–1110, 1171–1177 and 1208–1209; cites files WO 235/306, 308, 310 and 312)
Key events and mechanisms
- 9 May 1908 – birth in Elberfeld (Source: Silke Schäfer / Technische Universität Berlin — dissertation, printed pp. 185 and 256, biographical paragraph and personnel table)
- 28 August 1944 – assigned to Ravensbrück (Source: Silke Schäfer / Technische Universität Berlin — dissertation, printed pp. 185 and 256, biographical paragraph and personnel table)
- 1944–1945 – prisoner labour deployment and violence (Source: Silke Schäfer / Technische Universität Berlin — dissertation, printed pp. 185 and 256, biographical paragraph and personnel table; Source: Ljiljana Heise / British National Archives WO 235/306–312 — chapter on Greta Bösel, around lines 1105–1110, 1171–1177 and 1208–1209; cites files WO 235/306, 308, 310 and 312)
- 3 February 1947 – death sentence (Source: Silke Schäfer / Technische Universität Berlin — dissertation, printed pp. 185 and 256, biographical paragraph and personnel table; Source: KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme — exhibition panel on the first Ravensbrück trial, PDF p. 20, lines on Grete Bösel)
- 2 May 1947 – execution at Hameln (Source: Silke Schäfer / Technische Universität Berlin — dissertation, printed pp. 185 and 256, biographical paragraph and personnel table; Source: Ljiljana Heise / British National Archives WO 235/306–312 — chapter on Greta Bösel, around lines 1105–1110, 1171–1177 and 1208–1209; cites files WO 235/306, 308, 310 and 312)
The circle records authority, function and agency. Several profiles may describe different parts of the same persecution chain, so profile-level totals must not be added together.
Postwar accountability
A British military court sentenced Bösel to death in the first Ravensbrück trial on 3 February 1947; the sentence was carried out at Hameln on 2 May 1947. (Source: Silke Schäfer / Technische Universität Berlin — dissertation, printed pp. 185 and 256, biographical paragraph and personnel table; Source: Ljiljana Heise / British National Archives WO 235/306–312 — chapter on Greta Bösel, around lines 1105–1110, 1171–1177 and 1208–1209; cites files WO 235/306, 308, 310 and 312; Source: KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme — exhibition panel on the first Ravensbrück trial, PDF p. 20, lines on Grete Bösel)
Limits of the evidence
The British judgment lacks written reasons attributing findings to each particular allegation. The records vary between Greta/Grete and Bösel/Boesel; her own signatures support Greta. No portrait with established publication rights was chosen. (Source: Ljiljana Heise / British National Archives WO 235/306–312 — chapter on Greta Bösel, around lines 1105–1110, 1171–1177 and 1208–1209; cites files WO 235/306, 308, 310 and 312)
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.