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Irma
Grese was accused of being the most notorious SS guard in the history of Auschwitz.
She was in charge of Krema Three
She came to Auschwitz camp from the small village of
Wrechen,
at the age of 18
She was accused of being the lover to Josef Mengele and camp
commandant Kramer, among others. She was said to have coerced Jews into
perverted sexual
acts. Her brutality included choosing who would go to the gas chamber, beatings,
whippings, shootings and skinning of three Jews.
She was brought to trial by a kangaroo court, the 12 prosecution
witnesses were hysterical Jewesses that wanted blood. She denied all the absurd charges,
but was found guilty, and was hung. |
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The Trial Irma Grese ( middle ) at the Belsen
trials. It was a British Military Tribunal with six judges.
The Jewish witnesses were in the camps for being criminals and Communist
partisans.
After a fifty three day trial she was sentenced to hang. |
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Irma Grese's Defense
At 16, I was an apprentice
nurse at
Hohenluchen, next
the Labour Exchange stationed me at a dairy in Fürstenburg. In
July, 1942, I was sent to Ravensbrück Concentration Camp, which I
protested against it. In March, 1943, when I went to Birkenau Camp in
Auschwitz, In January, 1945, I was sent to Belsen.
I was not SS, women are not allowed to be
inducted into the SS, I
was as Aufseherin
(assistant). I was a postal clerk in the mail-room, answered
telephones, and working in the commandant's gardening squad, arranged SS
funerals at Belsen. At Auschwitz I took roll call for section C.
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Lüneburg courthouse
When the allies captured
Auschwitz she was
tried in Lüneburg courthouse.
On 13 December 1945,
at Hameln Jail, Irma and 11 others were sentenced to death and were to be hanged
by Ronald Cook, assisted by Regimental Sergeant-Major O'Neill.
e, in the
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MP's refused orders
Sgt O'Hare and Cpl Rick Smith were
court marshaled for refusing to walk her to the gallows. |
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Irma was called "Stirb nicht" or little
singer
She would sing German folk ballads at night
in her cell. She hummed these tunes as she
walked to the gallows.
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The hangman
commits suicide
The army hangman refused to hang Griese
Ronald Cook the original hangman refused. Major Jerome Burdik
ordered him to, and that night he went home and shot himself.
Albert Peirpont was on record as the hangman ,but in
1978 two of Irma's MPs revealed the truth.
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Second hangman Samuel Lutzheim a local Jewish hangman
was subsequently chosen. Miss Grese swore that she would return from the dead if Lutzheim
was allowed to touch her.
She bravely went to the gallows,
smiling at the MPs who were all mesmerized by her looks and charm. |
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She refused a
hood
As the hangman tried to put the rope
over her head she became violent, and refused to be touched. The hangman then slapped her
repeatedly and forced the rope over her neck |
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The gallows At 12:01 on Dec
13, 1945 she was led to
these gallows and hung
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The hangman miscalculated the
drop and Irma's neck didn't snap. She slowly suffocated as she fought the rope for three
minutes. |
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Grese now
becomes a folk hero
Irma Grese now becomes a legend in all
of Germany |
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Buried In Unholy Ground
The British judge,
Major-General HMP Berney-Ficklin who feared German martyrdom, ordered Irma buried in the Hamelin
prison yard. |
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Irma Is Moved
In 1954 Irma is
reburied in holy ground at Am Wehl Cemetery. |
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Later the prosecution
main witness recanted and said she lied |
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| Sarah Langbein |
Rachel Gold |
Lei Flem |
Lena
Kapinski |
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Other
witnesses such as Watinik, Diament, Kopper, Lobowitz and Trieger, Catherine Neiger. Olga
Lenygel, Dr Ada Bimko and Dr. Bendel stuck with their stories. |
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Another Witness Was
Abraham
Glinowieski
The author refers
in apparent desperation to the testimony of a Jew named
Abraham
Glinowieski,
who testified that he witnessed Grese send "thousands and thousands of
people, ill and in quite good health, to the gas chambers." |
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In late 1948
the hauntings began On Jan 12 - 1948 Harak Visen was the night watchman
who claims he saw the ghost.
Russian caretakers decided to
close off Krema Three rather than let the legend of Irma Grese continue |
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This pictured was taken over 40 years ago |
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Between the ovens is
the faint outline of a women |
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The
building is sealed |
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The Russians
in charge of Auschwitz sealed up the doors and windows |
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It seems Irma had reached '
Cult status ' and the Jewish Communists were afraid this would become another
Ipatiev house or the Berghof. |
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Leni Riefenstahl wanted to make a movie about the haunting
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The German government told her she would be
arrested |
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After the fall of the
Berlin wall researchers were allowed access In late 1992 Heim Lansky led four of
his team to Krema 3 which has been padlocked for 38 yrs
They
didn't last the night ! |
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The building had to
be resealed with outside workman because none of the regular Auschwitz crew would
touch it. |
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Krema Three is finally destroyed |
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