For crimes against humanity, specific people are punished very severely. For the first time, convictions were passed on Nazi criminals after World War II. Irma Grese was sentenced to death.
Interrupted childhood
The events that took place in Germany in the 1920s are described in the works of many writers. The situation prevailing at that time in the country influenced the psyche of both children and representatives of the adult population. Irma Grese was born on October 7, 1923 in a large family. Parents at that time lived in a village near the famous city of Mecklenburg. The girl turned out to be the first child in a house of five. Mother and father were systematically quarreling among themselves, sorting out the relationship. The reason for the quarrel was always the same - the head of the family was fond of women on the side.
Regular scandals could not continue indefinitely. In 1936, the mother committed suicide. The children were left in the care of their father, who began to abuse alcohol. Irma barely survived the bereavement. She did not finish her studies at school and did not even receive a secondary education. Has made several attempts to get a job. For some time she washed dishes in the factory canteen. Then she got a job as a nurse's assistant in a sanatorium, where SS officers rested. Then she joined the Union of German Girls.
Concentration camp service
When the war began, the entire population of the country was put under arms. Irma Grese responded to the call to serve the motherland and entered short-term courses, where they trained overseers for the concentration camps. By 1942, the system for the destruction of people, launched by the Nazis, was in full operation. In the state of the concentration camp, it was easy to make a career and get a decent salary. The girl presented documents confirming her Aryan origin, and she was accepted into the ranks of the auxiliary units of the SS.
Irma's service began in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Thousands of young women who had no other options to arrange their personal life were trained here. Most of the men were at the front. You could only rely on yourself. Irma regularly sent food parcels to her younger brothers and sisters. The service in the camp was not so difficult. The most attractive thing was that people who were behind the barbed wire were looking at her with fear. Irma could do with them whatever came into her head. And she did it.
Tribunal's verdict
It is difficult to retell the atrocities that Irma Grese committed towards prisoners. Numerous episodes of the overseer's black "creativity" are reflected in the minutes of the tribunal. It is difficult for a normal person to understand the motives of a young woman's behavior. There are psychiatric reports, but they do not justify the cruelty shown in relation to defenseless people.
Irma did not have time to get married in a timely manner. I did not know the joy of motherhood. A British military tribunal sentenced the overseer of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Irma Grese, to death. The verdict was carried out on December 13, 1945.
