Lecture: Women in Rennelberg Prison During the Nazi Period

“If released, she would always pose a serious threat to the national community.”

This quote is from the judgement of Milda Rudroff, who was sentenced to death for theft, among other crimes, when she was twenty-nine in March 1943 and was executed in June 1943 in Wolfenbüttel Prison. She was one of 31 women who waited for their execution in Rennelberg Prison between 1937 and 1945. The prison was one of the only facilities with its own women’s wing during the Nazi period. Research into this, as well as into the general role of prisons during the Nazi era, is still very much in its early days. This lecture will provide an initial overview of the women who were imprisoned, their time in captivity and current gaps in research.

Lisanne Schmitz studied History as well as English and American Studies in Düsseldorf and Comparative Modern History in Freiburg. She researches female perspectives and possibilities for action during the Nazi era and has been a research trainee at the Memorial in Wolfenbüttel Prison since November 2024.