Born as Alice Minna Elisabeth Elling in Berlin in 1903, she began to train as a guard at the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany in 1941.

In October 1942, she was selected as one of the Schutzstaffel (SS) Aufseherin to be posted at the Majdanek camp near Lublin, in German-occupied Poland, where, along with Hermine Braunsteiner, she came to be regarded as two of the most brutal overseers.

[3] When a child was left over, the two would throw him or her on the top of the adults like luggage and bolt the door shut in what they called "a space-saving operation".

[citation needed] As the SS Aufseherin, Orlowski supervised over 100 women, who sorted through items taken from prisoners who had been gassed: watches, furs, coats, gold, jewellery, money, toys, glasses, and so on.

[6] In early January 1945, Orlowski was among the SS women posted on the death march to Auschwitz-Birkenau and it was during this time that her behaviour, previously observed as being brutal and sadistic, became more humane.