THE MARE

Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize 2025 The knock on the door changed everything Until then we were happy we knew who we were You ve got the wrong person I told him My wife is gentle and kind She wouldn t hurt a fly In 1939 when she was just nineteen years old Hermine Braunsteiner applied for a job in a new prison opening near her home She had heard the pay was better than working on the factory line The prison was called Ravensbrück A few months later the Second World War would break like a wave across Europe By the time it was over she had become one of the most notoriously cruel and violent guards in the Nazi death camps The prisoners nicknamed her the Mare she was known for kicking her victims to death After the war Hermine disappeared back into civilian life A few years later she met a US war veteran who was holidaying in Europe He had no idea who she was He fell in love with her married her and brought her back to America where she lived for years as a well liked suburban housewife until one day a tip off from a Holocaust survivor sent a New York Times journalist to her door and the questions started Based on a true story The Mare offers a gripping portrait of the descent of ordinary people into inhumanity And it asks what h