Herta Ehlert (née Liess; 26 March 1905 – 4 April 1997) was a female guard at many Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.
During the war
Ehlert was working as a bakery assistant until she was called for Schutzstaffel (SS) work by the Labor Exchange on 15 November 1939. She maintained that she was a conscript when she began working as a "novice" at Ravensbrück concentration camp.
Halina Nelken described Ehlert at Plaszow in these words: "immensely obese, sly, vicious in character, and an absolute master in using the whip. She was the overseer in charge of the kitchen. Through a small window, she would spy on the Jewish women while they were at work peeling potatoes or onions, washing dishes, and doing other chores necessary in the kitchen. Once, Ehlert even ordered the women who were at work to undress completely. After they had stripped, Ehlert searched each one extremely thoroughly, looking, no doubt, for rings, money, wrist watches, and other valuables. She remained at her job until the final liquidation of the Plaszów camp. She, too, was on the death march when the time came for us to retreat along with Germans."
Trials
When the British Army liberated the Belsen camp, Ehlert was arrested and tried at the Belsen Trial. She was defendant #8 during the trial. While on trial, Ehlert was asked if she had committed theft, witnessed severe beatings, had committed murder and so on, to which she had denied most accusations. Ehlert was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Her sentence was reduced 12 years, and Ehlert was released early on 7 May 1953.
After the war
After the war, she remarried and lived under the name Herta Naumann. She died in April 1997, aged 92.