[2] On 1 April 1940, aged 19, she became a member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and until November 1944 worked as a streetcar conductor for a railway company.

[1] On 4 November 1944, Kohlmann was conscripted into the SS Women's Auxiliary and was appointed as Aufseherin at the Neugraben subcamp of the notorious Neuengamme concentration camp system.

[4] In March 1945, she was transferred to the slave-labor camp in Hamburg-Tiefstack, and when it closed on 7 April 1945 she assisted with the transport of female prisoners to Bergen-Belsen.

"Survivor Edith Kraus recalled that:[3] "Yes, we could have asked ourselves why she had chosen to suffer with us and endure lice, infections and intolerable living conditions if she did not have to.

[2] Soon after the liberation Kohlmann was arrested on the grounds of Bergen-Belsen after her former victims from Neugraben and Tiefstack identified her wearing prisoner clothes.

[1] Another guard named Maria Borowski testified that Kohlmann particularly physically abused older women,[2] and survivor Marianne Braun testified that: "Kohlmann apparently thought I was about to insult her, and she hit me roughly 30 times with a piece of wood in the face, on the head, on the hands, arms, and sides.

[2] After serving her sentence at Fuhlsbüttel prison (cut in half by time spent in jail before trial[12]), Kohlmann remained in Hamburg.