Eleonore Baur, “Sister Pia” (7.9.1885 Kirchdorf/Rosenheim – 18.5.1981 Munich)

Eleonore Mayer was born near Rosenheim and grew up in poor circumstances in Munich starting in 1890. She left school and her parental home at the age of 14 and kept herself afloat with temporary jobs. She delivered a son in 1904. Without the appropriate vocational qualification, she had been attending to those in need as 'Sister Pia' since 1907. In the same year, she entered into a marriage of convenience with the mechanical engineer Ludwig Baur; the marriage was dissolved in 1913.

Active on the side of the right-wing extremist German ethnic-chauvinist Oberland Free Corps, she participated in Munich in the suppression of the Revolution of 1918/19 and took part in various street fights, hall battles, and uprisings beyond the Bavarian borders in 1921/22. Due to violent conflicts and anti-semitic remarks between 1920 and 1923, she was arrested seven times and convicted in 17 cases. In 1920, she became acquainted with Adolf Hitler, who invited her to a political assembly at the Sterneckerbräu. Here she joined the nucleus of the German Workers' Party (DAP) and was among the first hundred party members. In 1923, she participated in the Hitler putsch and helped care for injured putschists. For this dedication, she was the only woman to be awarded the Order of Blood Medal.

With the seizure of power by the National Socialists, the party comrades of the Nazi Party advocated for Eleonore Baur. She was a co-founder of the Nazi Nursing Association, which she headed as an honorary chief nurse starting in 1937. In 1934, she was employed as a 'care nurse' in the Dachau Concentration Camp. She was the only woman with unrestricted access to the Dachau Concentration Camp. There she witnessed the criminal medical experiments on inmates and brutal mistreatment. She had a specifically set up concentration camp satellite unit for private building and gardening tasks.

On May 5, 1945, Eleonore Baur was briefly arrested for the first time and interned in various labor and medical camps in the following years. In 1949, classified as a major offender in her denazification proceedings, her assets were confiscated. She lost her pension rights and was sentenced to ten years in a work camp. However, Baur was released prematurely in 1950 and returned to Oberhaching.

Prosecutor's investigations were terminated in 1950 for lack of evidence. Her compensation application with the Official Care Authority for War Victims and Survivors at the District Office Munich was approved in 1958, and Eleonore Baur was awarded a pension. Until her death in 1981, she remained true to her right-wing beliefs in Oberhaching and maintained close contacts with right-wing networks such as the 'Comradeship Free Corps and Oberland Federation' and the 'Silent Assistance'.