Irma Grese & Auschwitz: Holocaust and the Secrets of the The Blonde Beast (WW2, World War 2, D-Day, Hitler, Soldier Stories, Concentration Camps) by Raymond Jennings

Author:Raymond Jennings [Jennings, Raymond]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-08-31T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5: Atrocities of Irma Grese

It has been somewhat difficult to gain an objective understanding of the activities that Irma Grese took part in. This, despite the numerous accounts of the atrocities about the holocaust in general, and about Irma in particular. The problem is that none of these accounts are objective in any way. Irma inspired vituperative hatred against herself from the prisoners. However, she had no accounts or diaries through which we can decipher information regarding her activities during her time at Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen. Further, the information available about her life before she joined the SS. Most of the information we have is through the account of her sister Helen. However this information is not objective either, as this information was given during her trial, by which time Irma was already on the front pages of the newspapers. Any information pertaining to her has been studied through the accounts, diary entries, journals, and books of the inmates of the concentration camp. Some of the accounts are also by her family members who were subsequently interviewed and survivors of the holocaust. Further we have some of the records of the concentration camps, which Irma Grese signed, marking her participation in the selection process and the transportation of the prisons.

The few reports we have of her as a child, was that she tended to be a shy and timid girl who did not do very well in school. She was a small town girl and left school early, leaving her with very little of an education. She was also bullied and abused by her classmates. This is a completely different portrait from the ones drawn by the inmates of the concentration camp – for whom Irma Grese would be the embodiment of cruelty. She would become a harbinger of death for the prisoners, who would remember her vividly. Her fanatical loyalty towards the Nazi ideology and the way she enjoyed the work she did at a time when several questioned themselves about their violent actions meant that she was fast tracked to becoming one of the highest authorities in the largest camp in the Nazi Empire.

She along with her other companions who guarded the concentration camps, inflicted a huge amount of pain and suffering on the inmates. One of the striking aspects of her behavior was completely unprovoked. This is in odds with the testimony of her sister, Helene, who claimed that Irma was in fact shy and timid, and would shy away from any sort of violence, preferring to run away. Irma had replied that she had ‘grown out of the running away phase’. Her crimes are well documented by the accounts of the prisoners, which form the basis of the atrocities that have been listed below. These descriptions are based on the accounts of the survivors and the transcript of her trial.

This chapter also gives an insight into why Irma Grese earned her several monikers such as the Beast of Belsen, the Bitch of Belsen, the Hyena of Auschwitz, and the Beautiful Beast.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.