Ilse Koch
German war criminal, wife of camp commandant Karl-Otto Koch (1906–1967)
- Fame58.8
- Momentum0.0
- Germany rank#235
Source-basedStable
- Fame58.8
- Momentum0.0
- Germany rank#235
- Wikipedia81.1K
Lived 1906–1967, aged 61Germany
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Summary
Updated 2026-06-09
Wife of the Buchenwald commandant, she became one of history's most widely known Nazi figures through sensational postwar accusations — lampshades made from human skin, selections for death — that two separate courts found unsupported by evidence. The rumors persisted anyway.
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Margarete Ilse Koch was born 22 September 1906. She held no official position in Nazi Germany but lived at Buchenwald concentration camp while her husband Karl-Otto Koch commanded it. Survivors testified to sadistic acts; newspapers around the world reported in 1947 that she had ordered prisoners killed to make lampshades and other objects from tattooed skin. Her U.S. military commission trial at Dachau that year drew global attention. Yet American Army lawyers reviewing the conviction noted the record contained little convincing evidence, and "in regard to the widely publicised charges that s…
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Stable58.8
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
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Historical25.6
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
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- WikidataHigh confidencewikidata · wikidata.org
- WikipediaHigh confidencewikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Pantheon 2.0High confidencedatabase · pantheon.world
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