Woman torturer was in charge of training dogs to attack prisoners in Chile

The life of the former agent is shown in a documentary which is nominated for an Oscar

Íngrid Felicitas Olderöck Bernhard, was known as the 'dog woman'. This woman specialized in dog training, in order to commit crimes against detainees.

Olderöck was an agent of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), a service founded by Augusto Pinochet, in 1973, after overthrowing Salvador Allende.

This woman, a former Carabineros officer, played a very important role in DINA. He was in charge of training dozens of young people to be able to face their enemies.

Strong testimonies reveal accusations of training the roads to be able to abuse political prisoners, in the different detention centers where many of them were disappeared.

Venda Sexy was one of the most attacked venues. This was a two-story house, it was located in the commune of Macul, in Santiago, a sector of the middle class. Ingrid used to make her attacks in that place.

In the first well-known Valech report or Report of the National Commission on Political Imprisonment and Torture, he highlighted that the agents named the clandestine center in that way, since that was Ingrid's favorite method, sexual harassment.

Survivor Statements

A complaint was made by Beatriz Bataszew, who is a survivor of the Venda Sexy. She stated that the dogs were used as a form of torture, in addition to drowning, hanging, forced pregnancy, electric shocks to the genitals, mock executions and forced abortions.

In the Venda Sexy establishment, there was a German shepherd dog, commissioned only to rape women, called Volodia, by the agents of the dictatorship, Bataszew said.

Alejandra Holzapfel was another of the survivors who decided to testify about what happened. Holzapfel was transferred to Venda Sexy, at the age of 19, and was sexually violated by the dog Volodia.

Alejandra pointed out that the dogs were nominated by Ingrid, and the other torturers forced the other inmates to position themselves so that the act could be carried out quickly.

Despite the statements, Olderöck did not assume responsibility for the accusations against her, so she was never put on trial.

special interview

One of the few media people who managed to talk to the former agent was journalist Nancy Guzman.

In 1996, she decided to visit Ingrid at her house, who received her with a cigarette in her hand, dressed in a handmade pink sweater, short boots and a flowered skirt, according to the journalist's description.

After this journalistic work, she decided to publish a book entitled ' Íngrid Olderöck, the woman with the dogs '. In this project, she was in charge of narrating the life of 'the most powerful and brutal woman in the DINA'.

In an interview, Guzmán said that the former detainees saw these tortures or went through them. They remember a particular young woman, Marta Neira, who arrived destroyed and crying, after being raped by the dog. Marta disappeared days later.

Ingrid's life

At the age of 29, Ingrid's father decided to emigrate from Germany in 1925.

Along with her two sisters, they were raised in an extremely strict family system. They were forbidden to have Chilean friends and speak Spanish.

Olderöck told Guzmán that, since she was a child, she was a Nazi when she learned that Germany was better when the Nazis were in power, since there was tranquility, work and there were no thieves.

In 1967, Olderöck entered the Carabinieri trials, when they accepted women into the Officers' School.

Íngrid was a specialist in parachuting, shooting, martial arts, dog training and horse riding. She also had a blue belt in judo, practiced tennis, mountaineering, was an expert in shooting and skiing.

All this helped in his entry into the DINA secret service, led by Colonel Manuel Contreras. While showing his capabilities, he was positioning himself within the service.

Olderöck was the first woman parachutist in Chile and Latin America.

Death of the dog trainer

His life was attempted by a team from the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), in July 1981, in the Santiago neighborhood of Ñuñoa. Despite being shot in the head and belly, he survived.

The identity of the woman became known within the population. Due to the accident, Ingrid had to withdraw from the security services of the Pinochet dictatorship.

After 20 years of retiring, in March 2001, Olderöck died in Santiago de Chile, due to a gastric hemorrhage and in profound loneliness.

The case in a documentary

The Chilean director, Hugo Covarrubias, was in charge of turning the story into a short film called 'Bestia', and it was nominated for an Oscar.

The director points out that this film is not biographical. The short film shows the life of the former agent of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), who is remembered for the particular use of trained dogs to carry out torture sessions that she herself directed.

This documentary will be competing in the ninety-third edition of the Oscars, in the category of best animated short film.

Said prize will be disputed with the appointments Robin Robin from the United Kingdom, the Russian Box Ballet and The wiper from Spain.