The young woman was wearing a kind of pajama that covered every inch of her skin


 The young woman was wearing a kind of pajama that covered every inch of her skin, a large hood hid her head. Sergeant Major O’Neal, under the supervision of Her Britannic Majesty’s executioner Albert Pierrepoint, wrapped a huge noose around the hood and awaited orders. The method of execution was that of the “long rope” that broke the neck of the condemned man before he was even strangled. “Schnell!” (Quick) shouted the young woman. O’Neal obliged her and sprung the trapdoor. Thus ended the life of Irma Grese, 22 years old, “The hyena of Auschwitz” or if you prefer “The dog of Bergen-Belsen” considered one of the cruelest women of the 21st century. She was born in 1923 in northern Germany. A violent father, a suicidal mother, at 15 she ran away from home and took refuge in the SS medical corps. We find her in Ravensbruch, guard at the women's camp, in Birkenau, then in Auschwitz as assistant to Dr. Mengele. Finally in Bergen-Belsen where she was "works director". She was captured in April 1945 and tried in the same year (pictured is the defendant with no. 9). Witnesses were generous with stories of her atrocities.

She had wounds inflicted on the prisoners' breasts with the aim of causing infections and their subsequent removal, which was done without anesthesia; she was one of those responsible for selecting those who were sent to the gas chambers. She gave orders not to feed the dogs for days on end so that the animals were hungry and would bite the prisoners considered undisciplined or weaker. She was also accused of torturing children, working prisoners to death, stoning men and women by hitting them on the head with large stones, and kicking women to death (for this reason she almost always wore heavy, pointed boots). During the trial, the woman maintained a contemptuous and indifferent attitude. The judges did not have many doubts. In November, the president of the Tribunal, General Berney-Ficklin, read the verdict for the defendant: "The Allied Tribunal has found Irma Grese guilty of genocide and massacre and has sentenced her to death by hanging." She was executed on December 13, 1945. It was the first capital punishment applied to a woman for war crimes. It was only the beginning, others would follow.

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