Curiosidades

Filmed on the set of Los héroes de Hogan (1965). The series had already been cancelled, and, on learning that the movie had the camp being burned down at the end, the set was given over to save the cost of demolition.

The film was twice rejected for a UK cinema certificate by the BBFC.

Shot in nine days.

Very loosely based on the life of Ilse Koch (known as "The Bitch of Buchenwald"), the wife of the SS commandant of the Nazi extermination camps of Buchenwald and Majdanek during World War II. She was infamous for her sadistic treatment of prisoners, including selecting ones with unique tattoos, having them murdered, sometimes even killing them herself, then skinned, and then after which have lampshades made from the tattooed skin. She was arrested after the war, tried for crimes against humanity, and sentenced to life in prison. She committed suicide in her cell in 1967.

To play Ilsa the creative team found Dyanne Thorne, an actress who had worked with the legendary teacher Stella Adler, who recommended Thorne for her first film, a 1965 short called Encounter, which also was Robert De Niro's first onscreen credit. However by the mid-1970's, Thorne was struggling, forced to take a day job as a chauffeur. She was in her chauffeur's get-up when she showed up for the Ilsa audition; she got the part two days later. "When I read the original script I was appalled," Thorne said in 2009. "It was just awful. But this was typical of the 1970's. Sometimes you'd just get a script outline, make yourself available, and then everything would get filled in later. So I was a little worried initially signing on, but a friend at the time told me that he knew [director] Don Edmonds personally and that I shouldn't worry 'cause I would be in good hands."