Requesting a transfer to Poland in 1942, Maria Stromberger arrived at the Auschwitz concentration camp to work as a head nurse for SS officers. Driven by religious conviction and reports of prisoner abuse, she utilized her position to smuggle vital supplies, weapons, and intelligence to the camp's underground resistance movement for over two years.
Early Career and Education
Born in Metnitz in 1898, Stromberger spent her early life in various Austrian locales before settling in Graz. After years of service in high-class hotels, she transitioned to medicine at age 39. She began studies at the Sanatorium Bregenz-Mehrerau in 1937, followed by training in Heilbronn. Her professional medical path led her to the Klagenfurt District Hospital and eventually the Lienz District Hospital, where she treated German soldiers and learned of the dire situation in occupied Poland.
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In 1942, Stromberger accepted a post at an infectious disease hospital in Królewska Huta. There, she treated two typhus-stricken former Auschwitz inmates whose accounts of the camp compelled her to act. Despite warnings from her physician and family, she secured a transfer to Auschwitz, where she arrived on October 1, 1942. Though technically serving as a German Red Cross nurse for SS staff under Eduard Wirths, she secretly joined the Kampfgruppe Auschwitz to provide aid to the persecuted.
Resistance and Liberation
For two and a half years, Stromberger operated within the camp's infirmary, funneling food, medicine, and information to prisoners while reporting camp atrocities to the outside world. Her overt sympathy for inmates drew attention, yet she escaped punishment due to Wirths' protection. Following the war, she faced arrest but was released after former inmates testified to her humanitarian work. She later provided formal testimony against commandant Rudolf Höss before returning to civilian life in Bregenz.
Fast facts
- Born: 1898, Metnitz
- Died: 1957, Bregenz
- Citizenship: Austria
- Occupation: Nurse
- Employer: Auschwitz I concentration camp
- Member: Kampfgruppe Auschwitz
- Language: German
Questions readers ask
Was Maria Stromberger a member of the Nazi Party?
No evidence exists to suggest she was a member of the Nazi Party, despite the nursing administration misinterpreting her transfer request as ideological devotion.
Why was her service at Auschwitz terminated?
Her time at the camp ended following an unexplained irregularity discovered in her medical history, which led to her mandatory reassignment.
Achievements
- Held posts at Auschwitz I concentration camp
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