Irma Grese

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Irma Grese Full Name: Irma Ida Ilse Grese Alias: The Hyena of Auschwitz The Beast of Belsen The Beautiful Beast Origin: Wrechen, Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Weimar Republic Occupation: Concentration camp guard Crimes: War crimes Torture Crimes against humanity Mass murder Rape Misogyny Psychological abuse Mutilation Xenophobia Anti-Semitism Cruelty to animals Genocide Type of Villain: Sadistic Nazi

Irma Ida Ilse Grese (7 October 1923 – 13 December 1945) was an SS guard at the Nazi concentration camps of Ravensbrück and Auschwitz Birkenau, and served as warden of the women's section of Bergen-Belsen.

Grese was convicted of crimes involving the ill-treatment and murder of prisoners committed at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, and sentenced to death at the Belsen trial. Executed at 22 years of age, Grese was the youngest woman to die judicially under British law in the 20th century. Auschwitz inmates nicknamed her the "Hyena of Auschwitz" ("die Hyäne von Auschwitz").

Biography

Epitomizing Adolf Hitler's blonde, blue-eyed Aryan ideal, Irma Grese developed into one of Germany's most notorious war criminals, performing some of the most brutal and sadistic murders committed by any woman in this century. Born to a hardworking family, she was employed on a farm and later as a nurse before becoming involved with the Nazi youth groups, against her father's wishes. Like so many other well-intentioned but naive German youths, Grese believed that Adolf Hitler would bring a sound moral leadership to her country. She soon became obsessed with the military supremacy of Germany and the Nazi ideology.

During World War II, Grese was a supervisor at the concentration camps at Ravensbrück and later at Auschwitz. Fanatical in her dedication to the Nazi commitment to eradicate the Jews, she was particularly cruel to the female prisoners in her charge. Dressed in an SS uniform, wearing heavy hobnailed boots, and carrying a pistol and whip, she was frequently accompanied by two half-starved Alsatian hounds. When prisoners displeased her, the dogs were ordered to attack and kill. Grese not only murdered at will, but she seemed to enjoy inflicting mental and physical torture. She would mock those scheduled for the gas chambers with such taunts as: "Your turn comes Friday."

Activies as a guard

According to Auschwitz survivor Olga Lengyel, Grese had many affairs with other Nazis, including Josef Mengele. When it came time to select women for the gas chamber, Lengyel noted that Irma Grese would purposely pick out the beautiful female prisoners due to jealousy and spite.

According to professor Wendy A. Sarti’s research, Grese had a sick fondness for striking women on their breasts and for forcing Jewish girls to be her lookout as she raped inmates. As if this wasn’t enough, Sarti reports that Grese would sick her dog on prisoners, whip them constantly, and kick them with her hobnailed jackboots until there was blood.

Capture and execution

In 1945, Grese was transferred briefly to the Bergen-Belsen camp where she was captured by Allied troops at the end of the war; by then, she was known as the "Beast of Belsen."

At her war crimes trial, the 22-year-old Grese sat stone-faced as survivors came forward with shocking testimony against her, details that nauseated members of the British court. Grese, who claimed until the end, like Hermann Göring, that she had no conscience, that her conscience was that of Adolf Hitler, was eventually condemned to death. Her subsequent appeal was rejected.

She was hanged on December 13, 1945, in Hamelin, Germany.