Massacre of Female Prisoners in Auschwitz Subcamp Bór Revealed

The Bór subcamp, established on lands cleared of Polish villages, housed a forced-labor company where roughly 400 women were imprisoned, including a large contingent of young French Jewish inmates. On an evening in October 1942, six German female functionaries, led by Elfriede Schmidt, coordinated with SS guards to launch a violent assault on the women sleeping in the attic of a former school. The attackers used clubs, axes and rifle fire, pushing some victims down stairs, hurling others out of windows, and shooting those who tried to escape.

Approximately 90 women were killed in the ensuing carnage. Camp commander Rudolf Höss was informed of a "suppressed revolt" and the site was inspected before the Gestapo took over the investigation. The following day, the SS executed surviving inmates and disposed of the bodies at Birkenau crematoria, while the six female guards were later killed to remove inconvenient witnesses.