This article will focus on whose hands killed thousands of innocent people before and during World War II. This is Josef Kramer, commandant of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, whom the prisoners nicknamed the “Belsen beast” for his bitterness. Moreover, he was personally responsible for the deaths of tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people.
Kramer's biography
Josef was born on November 10, 1906 near Munich, Bavaria, Weimar Republic. Already in 1931, as a 25-year-old guy, Kramer joined the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers' Party). A purebred German, in 1932 he also joined the SS, after which he worked in prison guards, and then, when World War II began, he became a warden and commandant in various concentration camps.
Here it is important to note the fact that the boy was brought up on the ideals of nationalism, therefore, in principle, it could not be otherwise in terms of his attitude towards people. And even without a special education, Josef Kramer served in Hitler's secret service. In 11 years he has donea brilliant career, having changed a large number of concentration camps:
- 1934 – Dachau;
- 1934-1936 – Esterwegen;
- 1936-1937 – Dachau;
- 1937-1939 – Mauthausen;
- 1940 – Auschwitz;
- 1940-1944 – Natzweiler-Struthof;
- 1944 – Auschwitz;
- 1944-1945 – Bergen-Belsen.
It was in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, which was located on the territory of modern Saxony, that Kramer and several dozen of his "colleagues" were arrested by the 21st Army Group of the Allied Forces of England and Canada. The Belsen Beast was charged with war crimes, for which the British Military Court sentenced him to capital punishment. The process took place on November 17, 1945. Kramer was hanged in mid-December 1945 in the Hameln prison.
Josef Kramer: climbing the "career" ladder
Kramer achieved his greatest success with the advent of World War II. He was a ruthless, resolute, prudent and rude overseer who did not spare anyone. Hitler in his large army needed just such workers. He personally encouraged the deeds of Kramer and tried his best to thank the young warden for his faithful service. This happened with enviable regularity, because almost every day Hitler was reported on Kramer's "rough" work. Josef, meanwhile, was not afraid to miscalculate his strength, he was not afraid to kill a person by accident: for him, taking the life of a Jew was the same as slapping a fly.
In each of the 6 concentration camps that he managed to visit,Josef Kramer left his mark. It was for his ruthlessness that he received one promotion after another. First in Mauthausen and Sachsenhausen, and then in Auschwitz.
Auschwitz and subsequent transfer to Bergen-Belsen
In 1940 Kramer was transferred to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and extermination camp. For about a year he worked there as a warden under the command of Rudolf Hess, the local commandant. Soon Josef himself occupies a similar position in Notzweiler-Struthof. This promotion made him even more violent as he felt stronger. At that time, at least 80 people were killed by his hands. And not just killed, but with special cruelty. This number is probably much higher. Josef Kramer ("Belsen beast") personally managed all the gas chambers of death and torture rooms. Making fun of people was his favorite pastime.
After being transferred to Bergen-Belsen, Kramer commanded not only the prisoners, but also the guards. In photographs preserved in the archives, one can often see Josef next to a fair-haired young girl. This is Irma Grese, who at the time of her service in the concentration camp was only 20 years old. She is credited with numerous novels with the guards of the concentration camp, including with Kramer himself. It is difficult to make comparisons here, but the girl, perhaps, was no less cruel than the “Belzenian beast”. Maybe that's why they got along? The female prisoners called her the "angel of death", she could mock the girls for hours, oppressing them both physically and morally.plan.
Personal characteristics
Kramer Josef (commandant of the concentration camp) was so imbued with the idea of nationalism and hatred for other peoples that it was very easy for him to work with prisoners. He was a determined, cruel, rude and ruthless man who silently, without blinking an eye, could take the life of a child, a pregnant woman or an old woman, not to mention men. He had an incredible imagination and easily invented more and more sophisticated methods of torture. And he was so cold-blooded and fearless in front of the enemy that he silently met the allied troops among the mountain of corpses of prisoners.
Arrest of Kramer and other guards
In 1945, the Anglo-Canadian unit reaches the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. As already mentioned above, Josef Kramer (photo below) met the "guests", while everyone else rushed in all directions. Then 44 guards were arrested. In November, they were put on trial, and on 13 December, many of the detainees were hanged in the cells of the Hameln prison. But there were also guards who received only a couple of years in prison, served time, and then with a calm soul were released.
Josef Kramer: diary
Many people are trying to find the personal records of the Belzen beast. However, there is no information about the existence of the diary. In general, many guards, commandants and other "employees" of the concentration camps kept records, for example, Kramer's namesake, Josef Mengele. He was a doctor at Auschwitz, famous for experimenting onprisoners. But Kramer, apparently, did not want to leave documentary evidence of his inhuman acts.
