irma grese

irma grese was one of the female nazi perpetrators, her career is explained as “full of depravity, horror, extreme cruelty, forced bisexuality, and murder.” she is known for performing her duties without hesitation and doing so without remorse.

in the prosecution of irma grese, having numerous witness accounts of her cruelty, grese still maintained that she did not purposely harm anyone. she denied many accusations of beating prisoners unconscious, sending them outside the camp to be shot or allowing her dog to attack prisoners. grese does, however, admit some beatings at the bergen-belsen trials, here are a few questions and answers taken from the trial transcripts:

• in lager "c" you used to carry a walking-stick, too, and sometimes you beat people with the whip and sometimes with the stick? - yes.
• were you allowed to beat people? - no.
• so it was not a question of having orders from your superiors to do it. you did this
against orders, did you? - yes.

grese’s responses to these questions demonstrate that superiors did not order her to take these actions. there is also the understanding that superiors felt the prisoners were replaceable; railways constantly brought in new prisoners, allowing camp guards to see them as disposable.