In addition to her attire, she used her words to demean the already morose women under her command. Olga Lengyl recalled Grese calling her “filthy scum,” “pig,” and “swine” moments before Grese reprimanded or beat her. The Jewish people view pigs as unclean and unholy. They do not eat pork for this reason. Irma Grese’s use of these specific terms on Jewish women contained an even worse connotation than if she said them to a woman of a different faith. Rabbi Mendy Kaminker wrote, “Colloquially
While researching things about Josef Kramer I found out things that I didn't know before. Such as concentration camps and what it was like to live back then. Josef Kramer was the commandant of the Bergen Belsen concentration camp he was nicknamed The Beast of Belsen. Kramer was born on November 10th, 1906 and died on December 13th, 1945 by being hanged. He was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. Josef Kramer was born and grew up in Munich as an only child in a middle class
waiting to see who would be chosen to die at each selection. In Anatomy of Auschwitz Death Camp, Danuta Czech stated, “The highest number of such deaths was in February 1943, when 25.5 percent of all Auschwitz inmates died or were put to death.” Irma Grese and Dr. Josef Mengele many times made these selections together. Alice Kahana remembered, “When the two of them appeared, it was terror and fear. I was…always meant death.” Those who made it into the camp with family members lived in constant
The response of the international community in the case of both female perpetrators was skewed and not adequate at all. I do not believe that the international community responded fairly to both situations. In the first case, Irma Grese was sentenced to death. I agree with that decision. She deserved to die, for all the pain and suffering she caused to the prisoners that were under her thumb. In the case of Pauline, the international community did not respond appropriately. I think
Thesis: Women being viewed as perpetrators in any type of violence in societies across the world is often overlooked, ignored, or their participation minimized (not only in their society, but also in judicial process especially when they are on trial for the same crimes as their male counterparts). In the book Hitler’s Furies by Wendy Lower, Lower attempts to address this double standard and shine light on the topic of German women’s participation in the marginalization and genocide of the European
women guards who showed signs of compassion inside the camps, except for one, Krüger. She was rumoured to have shared her food amongst the starving workers in the camp she oversaw, Ravensbrück (Wilmott). On the opposite end of the spectrum, was Irma Grese, commonly referred to as the “beast of Belsen”. Eventually sentenced to death, she was found guilty of committing numerous crimes against humanity (Roland). Witnesses claim that she would use her whip on the faces of good-looking women, in an attempt
From the beginning of the 20th century to the turbulent aftermath of the Second World War, America underwent a profound cultural shift marked by the resurgence of conservatism and traditional values alongside the struggle with corruption. San Francisco, a distinct city known for its vice and crime, embodied this cultural shift as depicted in Lisa Riggin’s narrative, “San Francisco’s Queen of Vice: The Strange Career of Abortionist Inez Brown Burns.” Inez Burns was a woman well-known for her illegal