Who was Ilse Koch?
Netflix viewers are curious about the figure after watching Monster: The Ed Gein Story
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Netflix’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story
Monster: The Ed Gein Story landed on Netflix today (October 3) and people are already binging through the new episodes.
This marks the third season of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix true crime anthology series after The Jeffrey Dahmer Story in 2022 and The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story in 2024.
This time, real-life serial killer and body snatcher Ed Gein (played by Charlie Hunnam) is the focus of the story.
In the drama, Gein is depicted as developing a fascination with killing and skinning bodies after learning about Nazi atrocities during WWII.
The show depicts Gein seeing Holocaust victims in a newspaper report and photographs his friend Adeline (played by Suzanna Son) brings him.
Gein also reads a comic book titled The B**** of Buchenwald about real-life Nazi Ilse Koch (Vicky Krieps), with the show bringing to life warped scenes from the comic as part of the killer’s twisted fantasies.
Many viewers have questions about the historical figure and her life, given the Netflix drama has taken some creative licence.
Who was Ilse Koch?
Ilse Koch was a Nazi war criminal who committed atrocities while her husband Karl-Otto Koch served as the commander of the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Despite not having an official role, she became an infamous figure and was given the moniker the ‘Kommandeuse of Buchenwald’ and the ‘B**** of Buchenwald’.
During her time at Buchenwald, Koch gained a reputation as a sadist and nymphomaniac. She was said to have beaten prisoners with a riding crop and subjected them to exhausting activities for her own amusement.
The couple had a lavish house on the grounds of the concentration camp and are alleged to have held orgies in the property for the SS staff, according to Britannica.
After World War II, Koch was put on trial in 1947 in an Allied military tribunal and was charged with abusing prisoners, including ordering those with “interesting” tattoos to be killed and their skin used to create household objects, such as lampshades, book covers, and gloves.
Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.
This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like Stranger Things and The Last of Us.
Former prisoners, who had been forced to make these gruesome items, gave their testimony.
Witnesses also testified to how weak, malnourished inmates were forced to carry rocks to her house before she beat them, causing them to fall and become injured.
Although prosecutors couldn’t conclusively prove that she had taken part in the more morbid crimes, she was convicted of abusing prisoners and sentenced to life in prison.
She was later released amid huge controversy and re-arrested the same day by the West German government, who incarcerated her for abusing German citizens during her time at Buchenwald.
Koch died by suicide in her prison cell after nearly 24 years behind bars in 1967.
Nonetheless, Koch became a symbol for the depravity and barbarism of the Third Reich.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming on Netflix now