Orli Wald

Who was Orli Wald?

Orli Wald was a member of the German Resistance in Nazi Germany. She was arrested in 1936 and charged with high treason, whereupon she served four and a half years in a women's prison, followed by "protective custody" in Nazi concentration camps until 1945, when she escaped. She was a prisoner functionary in the infirmary at Auschwitz-Birkenau and because of her helpfulness to Jewish and other prisoners, was called the "Angel of Auschwitz". After the war, Wald was often ill with physical problems stemming from illness during her confinement. She was also plagued by depression, unable to cope with her memories of the concentration camps and she made numerous suicide attempts. She wrote stories about her experiences in an attempt to overcome the past, but died at the age of 48 in a psychiatric hospital.