Who was Ilse Koch and what did she do? Netflix's Ed Gein drama sheds light on figure

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Netflix's Monster: The Ed Gein Story

Monster: The Ed Gein Story, the latest instalment in Ryan Murphy's true crime anthology series, has just dropped on Netflix today (October 3), and viewers are already devouring the new episodes, reports the Mirror.

This chilling season follows on from Netflix's The Jeffrey Dahmer Story in 2022 and The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story in 2024.

The spotlight this time is on real-life serial killer and body snatcher Ed Gein, portrayed by Charlie Hunnam.

The drama paints a disturbing picture of Gein developing a morbid fascination with killing and skinning bodies after learning about Nazi atrocities during WWII.

The series shows Gein being exposed to images of Holocaust victims in a newspaper report and photographs brought to him by his friend Adeline, played by Suzanna Son.

Gein is also shown reading a comic book titled The B**** of Buchenwald, which tells the story of real-life Nazi Ilse Koch, played by Vicky Krieps. The show vividly brings to life the twisted scenes from the comic, depicting the killer's warped fantasies.

Given the creative liberties taken by the Netflix drama, many viewers are curious about the historical figure of Ilse Koch.

Ilse Koch was a notorious Nazi war criminal who committed horrific acts while her husband Karl-Otto Koch was the commander of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Despite not holding an official position, she became an infamous figure, earning the nicknames 'Kommandeuse of Buchenwald' and the 'B**** of Buchenwald'.

During her tenure at Buchenwald, Koch earned notoriety as both a sadist and nymphomaniac.

She was reported to have thrashed prisoners with a riding crop and forced them into exhausting tasks purely for her own twisted entertainment.

The pair maintained a luxurious residence within the concentration camp grounds and allegedly hosted orgies at the property for SS personnel, according to Britannica.

Following World War II, Koch faced trial in 1947 before an Allied military tribunal and was charged with prisoner abuse, including allegedly ordering the execution of those bearing "interesting" tattoos so their skin could be fashioned into domestic items such as lampshades, book covers, and gloves.

Former inmates, who had been coerced to craft these ghastly objects, provided their testimony.

Witnesses also described how frail, undernourished prisoners were made to transport rocks to her residence before she assaulted them, causing them to collapse and sustain injuries.

Whilst prosecutors failed to definitively establish her involvement in the more grotesque crimes, she was found guilty of prisoner mistreatment and handed a life sentence.

She was subsequently freed amid enormous public outcry and rearrested the very same day by West German authorities, who imprisoned her for maltreating German nationals during her Buchenwald period.

Koch took her own life in her prison cell following nearly 24 years of incarceration in 1967.

Nevertheless, Koch became an emblem of the Third Reich's depravity and brutality.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story is streaming on Netflix now