World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseEleonore Mayr was born in Bad Aibling in the Bavaria region of Germany in 1885. Her mother passed away when she was an infant. At the age of five, her family moved to München (Munich). In 1899, she became a midwife's assistant. In 1900, at the age of 15, she gave birth of an illegitimate child. Four years later, she gave birth to a second illegitimate child named Willhelm. Shortly after, she moved to Cairo, Egypt by herself to work as a nurse's assistant. In 1907, she returned to München and worked for the Roman Catholic charitable order Gelbes Kreuz; it was around this time she adopted the nickname "Sister Pia", which would remain with her for some time. In 1908 or 1909, she married mechanical engineer Ludwig Baur and took on his surname; this marriage would end in a divorce five years later. During WW1, Eleonore Baur served as a nurse. In 1920, she met Adolf Hitler on a tram in München and was quickly persuaded by the Nazi Party's philosophies. Not long after, she was arrested for disturbing the peace following an anti-Semitic speech at a women's rally in München, making her an instant heroine within the Nazi Party. In 1923, she married a hotel manager named Sponseil, but that marriage would end in a divorce as well. Also in 1923, she became the only woman to participate in the failed Beer Hall Putsch; wounds sustained during the failed coup d'état led her to become one of the only 16 German and Austrian women to receive the Blood Order award. Through the remainder of the 1920s, she remained in close contact with top Nazi leadership. In 1933, Heinrich Himmler made her the welfare sister for the Waffen-SS at Dachau Concentration Camp. In 1934, she founded the Order of Sisters; in 1937, she became the order's honorary chairwoman. She was accused, by people such as Methodist pastor and Dachau prisoner Karol Minkner, of operating a brothel aboard a train that entertained military and SS officers with Polish and Ukranian women (not all of whom were willing). She also held a role in the administration of Dachau Concentration Camp, often using prisoners for personal matters such as cleaning her home and tending her garden. After the war, she was arrested for her involvement with Dachau Concentration Camp, but was released shortly after due to insufficient evidence. In Sep 1949, she was sentenced to ten years at Rebdorf labor camp for her role in Nazi Party leadership. In 1950, she was released for health reasons. She passed away in Oberhaching in Bavaria in 1981.

Eleonore Baur Timeline