Nazi Camp Commandant’s Wife Who Shot Prisoners for Sport: Elisabeth Willhaus
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15m
After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the city of Lviv fell under brutal German occupation. In the Janowska camp, thousands of Jewish prisoners were subjected to forced labour, torture, executions, and systematic terror carried out by SS personnel and camp authorities.
Living inside the camp was Elisabeth Willhaus, wife of commandant Gustav Willhaus. From the balcony of their villa, she reportedly shot prisoners working below, often in front of guests and even her young daughter. Witness testimonies described random killings carried out “for sport,” turning everyday violence into part of life inside the camp.
This story follows Elisabeth Willhaus’s rise within the Nazi system, the crimes committed at Janowska camp in German-occupied Poland, and the postwar investigations into her actions after the collapse of the Third Reich.
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