By J. Bellinger
This will conclude our examination of the book "The Beautiful Beast," by Michael Patrick Brown, who writes in Chapter VI:
"…British legal teams began to arrive at Bergen and the initial investigations into Nazi war crimes at the camp began. In very short order, investigators began to hear numerous startling accusations against the strikingly beautiful SS-guard named Irma Grese."
COMMENT: Of course, as Brown himself had proven in prior chapters, Miss Grese was not SS, but merely an SS auxiliary helper, as women were prohibited from SS membership. Furthermore, it would certainly have been much more interesting had the author supplied us with the names of these "British" investigators and interrogators, as well as a description of the methods employed by them to collate "evidence" against the accused. However, the author does manage to share at least one interesting tidbit with us:
"Following their arrest, the SS-Aufseherinnen were imprisoned in the
neighboring Wehrmacht Tank Training School,
(By this the author means
those women who had not died from typhus, due to British maltreatment and war
crimes violations concerning correct treatment of POW's—jb)
approximately
3 kilometers up the road from Bergen-Belsen. Prior even to the formal
indictment being read against the accused SS-guards, an English journalist
arrived to write a story about the "beautiful Nazi woman." The
correspondent, accompanied by a French survivor who was…filled with rage,
was granted permission to interview Grese and the ensuing interview quickly
evolved into a shouting match, the young "survivor" ordered Miss Grese
to stand up straight and not to lean against the wall."
COMMENT: In fact, vengeance day had arrived for all the anti-Nazis and Communists imprisoned in the camp. Now, the inmates of the asylum were giving the orders to their former warders and wardresses, much as if a foreign unit of troops invading America should happen to "liberate" San Quentin, and divest authority in the hands of the hateful, vengeance starved inmates. As is to be expected, the author omits any personal details concerning the identity of the "Frenchman" or the reasons why he was arrested or interned at the camp. But let's continue:
"he also reminded her that she was now the prisoner. Rather than allowing Grese to respond to the journalist's questions, the "survivor" began to recount a series of stories, all of them recalling "the unending cruelties perpetrated by the SS."
COMMENT: In other words, he simply began spewing Communist propaganda agreed upon before hand by old members of the so-called "Red Orchestra," who were in virtual control of all the camps in Germany. This very scene conjures up visions of Tituba accusing the elderly of crimes of "witchcraft" in Salem. And who, it may be asked, authorized this inmate to browbeat the accused and vomit his endless accusations against the SS as a whole? After all, the journalist had not come to interview HIM. Thus, it is clear that this scenario was dictated by the British themselves, who allowed and encouraged scenes of this type for propaganda purposes.
"When the Frenchman yelled, "Why did you do these things?" the former SS woman flung back emphatically, "It was our duty to exterminate anti-social elements, so that Germany's future would be assured."
COMMENT: As this sentence was pulled out of context and in the midst of a recriminating shouting match between former warder and inmate, and then translated and most likely re-translated, I find the comment to be incredible, or else so twisted out of context that it bears no resemblance to the actual interchange at the time.
"This act of contemptuous stony defiance, coupled with the numerous reports of Grese inflicting wanton beatings on helpless inmates, led the foreign press to pick up on the story. Already infatuated with her physical appearance, the print media began to refer to Grese as "The Beautiful Beast."
COMMENT: Sounds like they were enamoured with her, doesn't it?
"In late April, the Nelsen guards were transferred from the Wehrmacht Tank Training Kaserne to Celle for their pre-trial incarceration. An investigating officer from His Britannic Majesty's Legal Department interrogated Grese through an interpreter."
COMMENT: OF course, all records of these numerous interrogations are completely unavailable to the researcher. It should also be pointed out that we have virtually no descriptions whatsoever concerning how the accused were treated during and in-between interrogations, for rather obvious reasons. It is most likely that Miss Gresewas not only struck, abused verbally, physically, and intimidated, but was also most likely the victim of repeated sexual assaults by her jailers. This mistreatment would be in accord to the usual treatment meted out to those accused of crimes by the allies.
"Armed with a stack of eye-witness affidavits documenting Greses's (alleged-jb) atrocities, the investigator challenged the SS-(auxiliary-jb) about her (alleged-jb) involvement in Nazi war crimes."
COMMENT: Someday someone will have to inform these apostles of jurisprudence that even one thousand accusations do not constitute proof of a crime. The sad fact here is that these former inmates were given a blank cheque by the British Government to make the most outlandish accusations against the accused without the least bit of forensic proof to support them.
"Rather than deny or evade such charges, Grese asserted that she was "convinced that all that had happened was right." The fact finding commission found ample evidence to accuse Irma Grese as one of the SS guards participating in war crimes and a royal warrant was issued for her indictment."
COMMENT: So because the Royal "fact-finding" commission accepted unsubstantiated affidavits as "proof", Miss Grese was charged with non-existent crimes. I suppose this commission was appointed to rival the "Soviet Extraordinary Fact-Finding Commission." Next, the author has the audacity to write:
"The British authorities, careful to insure that none of the SS guards were charged unless there were specific allegations of criminality by credible witnesses, proceeded in a slow, painstakingly judicious manner."
COMMENT: "Credible witnesses," did he say?
"To this end, 30 of the 83 Belsen guards were not charged (some of whom had succumbed to typhus).."
COMMENT: I wonder WHY? It has already been shown that these liberators
contravened the articles of war by compelling these guards to engage in
activities which so endangered their health that a large number of them died
soon afterward. Note how the author avoids the issue of publishing exactly how
many guards, men and women, died as a result of this illegal treatment by their
captors.
Curiously, and on a lighter note, there may be some who may
remember the debate between myself and a number of others who posed the
question, "The SS guards look fat and healthy. Why didn't they share their
rations with the inmates? So, did they and do they still seriously expect that
83 people sharing their rations with 60,000 inmates was going to do any good in
the long run?
"but specific charges were laid against 9 camp trusties,
(In other
words, Kapos-who were inmates and criminals themselves-jb)
the so-called
kapos who sometimes outdid their masters in barbarity."
COMMENT: "SOMETIMES?" Nearly ALWAYS. Curiously, the Kapos were all found not guilty for the most part.
As the trial began, the author notes:
"From day one of the trial Irma Ilse Ida Grese was the center of
attention.
(As Ilse Koch was to prove at her "trial."—jb)
….Irma
Grese stood out….She was alert, spirited, and (her) tunic was pressed and
smartly tailored.
(In contrast to the other accused, who appeared shabby.
In contrast. One wonders who authorized this in order to further draw attention
to Miss Grese?--jb)
…Finally, the fact that Grese was so young, coupled with her handsome features, made her an instant journalistic sensation….While Grese attempted, apparently through a carefully orchestrated plan….
COMMENT: Nizkook conspiracy theory shines through bright and clear here.
"…to maintain a facial expression emblematic of her new found celebrity status as the "young queen of the SS, court events would eventually tear the fanatical facade from her face."
COMMENT: It is curious that the author of this essay, who has seen dozens of photos of Miss Grese, has not seen any evidence whatsoever of this alleged "fanatical facade."
Even the author admits, by quoting the Communist Hermann Langbein: "It
should be remembered that Grese was immature, and, in turn, had some unrealistic
ideas and grandiose visions.
(Like Joan of Arc—jb)
She believed
that she would ultimately become a film actress".
"When the prosecution presented its case early in the trial, the British film of the liberation of Belsen and the Soviet film of the liberation of Auschwitz were shown. Court observers noticed how unaffected Grese was by these disturbing visuals. In fact, while the films were played, the 21 year old woman "calmly fixed her hair and blew her nose."
COMMENT: Well, what does this author expect of the woman? For her to
scream, rend her garments, weep, wail, and then claim, like Maximillian Grabner
that she was personally responsible for the deaths of 3.5 million people at
Auschwitz? I mean, REALLY, people….
Is this author seriously
suggesting that Miss Grese was responsible for the conditions in the
concentration camps? This 19 year old telephone operator and mail room stamp
licker?
Isn't it incredible the way the human mind functions under such
circumstances, whereby a simple act like blowing one's nose is suddenly
distorted and magnified into an admission of guilt? One rarely finds such
irrational behavior in the annals of jurisprudence, unless one reverts back to
the days when beasts in the field were once charged, tried and executed rape,
homicide, and theft. If the poor beast happened to satisfy its bodily urges in
front of the "court" it was cited with contempt!
"On another occasion, as chilling, gruesome details about the decomposing corpses were being described for the tribunal, all the defendants except Grese "lost their impassivity."
COMMENT: And what of it? Who and why were these people whose eyes were perpetually fixed upon the accused as if they were beasts in a three ring circus--jotting down every blinking of the eyes, blowing the nose, and heaven only knows what else! Why should Miss Grese have shown the least amount of interest in these frightful images designed to provoke a hateful response in the minds of the public? After all, she was hardly responsible for these conditions. SHE did not order bomber squadrons to decimate the rail lines in Germany, or warehouses, or supplies, and so on.
"According to the New York Times, "only Irma Grese, the 21 year
old blonde who was Kramer's chief woman guard
(She was no such thing-jb)
managed to maintain the defiant, contemptuous look that marred her
undeniable good looks. Grese glared at her accusers and when Belsen survivor
Ada Bimko (Hadassah Rosensaft) walked down the dock to identify individual
guards guilty of maltreating prisoners she stopped in front of the "fierce-eyed,
coldly pretty blonde. And identified her."
COMMENT: Now where have revisionists heard of Ada Bimko, alias Hadassah
Rosensaft before!? Sure…she is the "witness" who testified UNDER
OATH that 4 million human beings had been gassed to death at Auschwitz and that
she herself had been given a guided tour through the showers of death by a
Sonderkommando and an SS guard!!!
I think much more would have been
accomplished at this trial had anyone thought to ask her to identify by NAME her
alleged sources for this nonsense instead of asking her to point an accusing
finger at innocent people like Miss Grese. The author, who up till now, has
praised Miss Grese's physical beauty, next quotes the following quaint passage:
"The British soldiers who guarded Grese nicknamed her "Jutjaw."
COMMENT: Of course, those who are truly unbiased will not be interested in
what her tormentors had to say about her. How often has history itself recorded
the petty taunts of evil men, gloating over the helplessness of their victims?
These would have been the same men who were continuously making improper
advances toward her. In fact, it would not have mattered one whit HOW
Miss Grese responded to anything at this farce of a trial.
If she
withstood the foul and baseless accusations made against her by perjurers with
an impassive face, she was immediately nicknamed "Jutjaw;"
if she
happened to laugh, giggle, or blow her nose, she was accused of being apathetic,
cold, and uncaring,;
if she happened to weep, she was then accused of
acknowledging her "guilt" and the "enormity of her "crimes."
In short, under such hateful conditions, there was not one thing which
Miss Grese could have said or done to deter her tormentors from killing her or
portraying her in the worst possible light, anymore than St Joan of Arc was able
to sway those stuffy old impenetrable judges who accused her of "witchcraft."
The result was all a foregone conclusion in any event. St Joan was
pre-sentenced to burn and St Irma was pre-sentenced to hang. And as for Miss
Bimbo, aka Rosensaft, even Brown was honest enough to record:
"Cranfield acknowledged that she was one of the few witnesses with any intelligence, but nevertheless he argued that when she had been asked a "perfectly simple question" during cross-examination, the witness "had prevaricated and refused to answer in case she should say a word which might be thought to be in favour of any of the accused."
Furthermore, the author admits that Grese and the other defendants were not accorded legal and human rights as we know of them in America. Thus, any and all statements made by her, whether under compulsion, torture, threat, or whatever means, were declared to be perfectly legal by the magistrate, especially if they could be twisted and distorted by the prosecution to cast an unfavorable light upon the accused. Also, the author confirms what this author has frequently maintained as well, namely, that one of Miss Grese's captors, who also testified against her, later changed his mind concerning the unfair sentence received by Miss Grese. I am referring to Derrick Sington, a Jewish soldier in the British Army, who, before the war, had already evinced an extreme dislike of National Socialist Germany through the publication of an anti-Goebbels book. Brown writes:
"In their chapter devoted to Grese, Giles Playfair and Derrick Sington argue that Grese did not deserve her ultimate fate …They argued that she was actually immature, which was carefully hidden behind the stoic, obstinate facade she wore and that had fooled many of the courtroom observers."
COMMENT: IN other words, she still had the heart and mind of a little girl. In fact, as Brown points out,
"A co-defendant of Grese's reported that Grese expressed "great delight" when Luneberg children yelled out "Irma Grese!" Irma Grese!" as their prison truck passed on its daily trek to and from the courthouse."
COMMENT: Fear not, Irma, for they shall once again echo your praises as a great German heroine in the decades to come. As the case against Miss Grese neared its conclusion, her sister was called to the stand to testify on behalf of her victimized sister. Brown records:
"As Helene spoke, Irma Grese openly cried. As the testimony continued,
the weeping became outright sobbing….Irma Grese was not quite as hard as
she had originally seemed,
(Or was DELIBERATELY depicted-jb)
; indeed,
an emotionally vulnerable, even frail personality had been revealed to the
world."
COMMENT: In fact, Irma still had the heart and mind of a little girl. This was further accented by the fact that observers would see her scribbling something down on her notepad whenever malicious accusations were made against her by perjuring witnesses. While the observers ASSUMED that Miss Gresewas writing down information to prepare for her rebuttal or defense, in reality all she was writing were little words of encouragement to herself, such as "Kopf hoch!," (Head high!) and so on.
Now, amazingly, the author on page 76 finally summoned up enough courage to write the following, which is most pertinent to the case:
"As the trial moved toward its conclusion, Major Cranfield did yeoman's service in his effort to clear his defendants as best he could. Since no corpus delecti existed and the case against the guards hinged largely on eye-witness testimony, he tried to discredit and impugn key witnesses. This was particularly important in Grese's case. Gertrude Diament, a Jewess from Czechoslovakia, had sworn that she had seen Grese, both at Auschwitz and Belsen, beat women with sticks and when they fell to the ground, that she saw the Aufseherin kick them as hard as she could with her heavy boots." Diament went to say that Grese"frequently caused blood to flow and in the deponent's opinion many of the people she injured were likely to die from such injuries."
COMMENT: Of course, Diament was lying or mistaken, and her opinion, simply another form of "Because I say so" is hardly qualified evidence. The author correctly notes:
Since the witness Diament had no direct evidence of deaths resulting from the beatings, Major Canfield argued that this testimony was exaggerated at best and undoubtedly "led" by her interrogator. As noted previously, Ilona Stein, a Jewess from Gyongyos, Hungary, was one of the most crucial witnesses for the prosecution. At 21 and only slightly younger than Greseherself, Stein was targeted by Cranfield for cross-examination. Although he had sensed he could discredit Stein's recollection, Cranfield was unable to "shoot down" Stein's testimony….Stein held on to her original statement that she had seen Grese shoot prisoners at point blank range."
COMMENT: This author has examined Stein's testimony and it is false throughout, as I have proven in previous essays. Even Brown admits that Stein could not verify that those whom she claimed as dead, were, in fact, were truly and really deceased. In fact, she could not even provide a name for the victims, nor dates, nor any other information which would have lent credence to her testimony, which was then what it remains today—perjury. Brown has the gall to remark upon this later that:
"..no one in the courtroom doubted that the majority of these
(faceless
and Nameless-jb)
victims did succumb to their wounds; in effect, the flaws
Cranfield exposed in the survivor's testimony were inconsequential when the
weight and enormity of the crimes
(ER-that should read "ACCUSATIONS—jb)
were considered."
COMMENT: As I have just written, there was not one iota of factual independent evidence offered during the course of this trial to support the malicious claims made against Miss Grese's by her accusers. Nonetheless, she was sentenced to die, and the brave young woman received her sentence with as much dignity and equanimity as Joan of Arc received hers, much to the annoyance of their tormentors. In seeking to address the causes for Miss Grese's conviction, Brown remarks rather naively:
"Irma Grese's own courtroom demeanor was one of the best weapons that the prosecution had….Grese did not help her case at all, as she returned to an obstinate denial of all the charges against her."
COMMENT: So the "Truth is No Defense" pre-dates Mr. Zundel's current problems by five decades!!! So, according to Brown, Miss Grese was convicted by her appearance, and blowing her nose in court! And to top it all off, she had the impudence to deny the false accusations made against her! One item I read from the quill of Mr. Brown amused me no end. In attempting to come to grips with the fact that throughout his entire book, he was unable to present any independent documentation or evidence in support of the accusations made against Miss Grese, Brown asks rhetorically:
"How many lives could this young woman have actually been responsible for taking?"
And here is his answer to his own question:
"The answer to the …question will never be known. As previously noted, she may very well have been responsible for "the most bestial sadism and killings committed by any woman in this century." Irma Grese clearly was accountable for thousands of deaths, but no one was keeping score."
COMMENT: In fact, no one was keeping score to the extent where not even ONE human victim alleged to have been killed by this young woman was EVER produced by name in any court at any time, either during or since the trial! The author's comments above really have to count as being among the most pathetic responses ever coined relative to these bogus trials, for here is a young woman he has no problem accusing of thousands of murders and sadistic tortures, yet acknowledges that he can not even cite ONE alleged victim!
In describing Miss Grese's final days on this earth, the author writes: "Irma Grese did begin to come to grips with the death sentence once she was taken back to the holding cells where her composure was definitely shaken. When Major Cranfield went to the cells to see his convicted client after sentencing, he found her crying like a child. When a different British officer visited Gresein her Luneberg cell later, the formerly stoic woman was again weeping. In addition, the neat, well-kept appearance was gone and her hair was in disarray."
COMMENT: Of course, the media-lap dogs would have been delighted had Miss
Grese broken down at the time of sentencing, for this would have warmed the
cockles in the hearts of hardened German haters from Tel Aviv to Washington,
D.C., but the courageous young German heroine deprived these wretches of the
squalid spectacle they so craved. The author mentions that Miss Grese's hair
was in disarray…
Does he expect her to have been jumping with joy over
the unjust and unholy sentence she received? Does he expect that she would have
wished to have a new coiffure for the benefit of her executioner?
For the execution, the British called in their premier hangman, Albert Pierrepoint. Miss Grese was brought out of her cell for the benefit of the hangman, who wished to measure and weigh his victim. Pierrepoint writes that :
"She walked out of her cell and came towards us laughing. She seemed as bonny a girl as one could ever wish to meet."
In regard to the other condemned prisoners, both male and female,
Pierrepoint was so shocked by their horrid appearance that he expressed pity for
them. For instance, 52 year old Juana Bormann was so thin and frail, that she
groaned when the hangman placed her upon the scale…According to Pierrepoint
himself, this woman was so fragile appearing that she resembled a little child.
Dr Klein likewise presented a pathetic figure, no doubt after months of
abuse, beatings, and torture at the hands of his guards.
Only the former
Commandant, Josef Kramer, still presented an imposing figure to the hangman,
but even he had written to his beloved wife from prison denouncing his testimony
and "confession" claiming that the Allies were determined to kill him
simply because he had been in the SS-a man in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The night before their executions, Pierrepoint noted how the women, and Grese in particular, faced their death with steadfast courage. Unhinged by this courageous display of Aryan womanhood, Brown notes annoyingly:
"Bonding in racial unity with her fellow Aufseherinnen, Grese now regained her transitory mask and the three women sat up during most last night alive and sang almost non-stop the standard Nazi hymns."
(In fact, neither the author nor Pierrepoint knows WHAT the women were singing, as no mention is ever made of any particular titles)
Perhaps as puzzled and perplexed as Nero once was by the singing of the condemned and courageous Christians he had commanded to be burnt to alight his gardens, Brown remarks:
"This particular scene was extraordinary: Here, literally hours before
their ignominious deaths
(Not ignominious to THEM-jb),
these 3 women
sang spirited Nazi anthems together. Incredibly, with execution imminent, a 52
year old woman [Juana Bormann] sang like an adolescent as she accompanied 2
young women whose combined age would be less than her's. All three laughed and
sang the night away in a rousing SS songfest."
COMMENT: Why this should puzzle the author is indeed a puzzle to me, for I have not read of either this man or any other exterminationist questioning the tale of Filip Mueller where he claims that Jews condemned to the "gas chambers" went to their deaths singing the Israeli National Anthem or the Anthem of the Internationale. Be that as it may, the attempt by allied propagandists to depict the deaths of these nobly condemned resulted in utter fiasco, as Brown notes:
"The actual execution of Irma Grese has been erroneously depicted in a variety of sources. Many accounts portray her as having to be dragged by the British guards to the gallows. "
In fact, Brown does right in quoting Pierrepoint's description of the execution of this heroic woman: Page 87:
"When Albert Pierrepoint came to Grese's cell, the door was opened and
she stepped out. After being pinioned in the corridor by the executioner, Grese
was escorted by Pierrepoint, a huge man dressed in a British uniform who was
barely older than Grese, to the scaffold. Grese then mounted the 7 steps
leading to the gallows as quickly as she could. Pierrepoint had placed a chalk
mark on the trap door and she hurriedly stood on the designated spot. Grese
then kissed a crucifix extended to her by a regimental chaplain and closed her
eyes. Pierrepoint was trembling as he muttered, "forgive me" and
placed the white hood over her head. Grese faintly said "Schnell" and
the executioner sprang the trap at 10:03 a.m.
Albert Pierrepoint and a
court-appointed physician went below the gallows and the physician pronounced
Grese dead. After 20 minutes the corpse was cut down and placed into one of the
12 coffins prepared for the executed SS guards, and, following this, a speedy
burial took place in the adjacent courtyard of the prison."
In 1952, the martyrs corpses were exhumed and transferred to a neighboring cemetery, where, to this day, and to Brown's great consternation, the graves are regularly visited by White Europeans, mainly youngsters from new generations, bringing flowers and other items eulogizing the memory of the dead.
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