Josef Kramer - "Belzensky beast". Biography, work in concentration camps and photos

This article will focus on whose hands thousands of innocent people were killed before and during the Second World War. This is Josef Kramer, the commandant of the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, whom the prisoners nicknamed for his bitterness "Belzensky beast." Moreover, he was personally responsible for the death of dozens, and maybe hundreds of thousands of people.

Biography of Cramer

Josef was born on November 10, 1906 near Munich, Bavaria, Weimar Republic. Already in 1931, as a 25-year-old boy, Kramer joined the Nazi Party (the National Socialist German Workers' Party). A thoroughbred German, in 1932 he joins the SS, after which he works in the prison guard, and then, when the Second World War began, becomes 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 have been different in terms of his attitude towards people. And even without special education, Josef Kramer served in Hitler's secret service. For 11 years he has made a brilliant career, having replaced a large number of concentration camps:

• 1934 - Dachau;
• 1934-1936 - Esterwegen;
• 1936-1937 - Dachau;
• 1937-1939 - Mauthausen;
• 1940 - Auschwitz;
• 1940-1944 - Natsweiler-Struthof;
• 1944 - Auschwitz;
• 1944-1945 - Bergen-Belsen.

It was in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, which was located on the territory of modern Saxony, Cramer and a few dozen of his "colleagues", that the 21st Army Group of Allied Forces of England and Canada arrested. "Belzensky beast" was charged with war crimes, for which the British military court sentenced him to death. The trial took place on November 17, 1945. Kramer was hanged in mid-December 1945 in the prison of Hameln.

Josef Kramer: climbing the "career" staircase

The greatest success Cramer achieved with the advent of World War II. It was a ruthless, determined, prudent and coarse supervisor, who spared no one. Hitler in his large army needed just such workers. He personally encouraged the actions of Cramer and tried in every possible way to thank the young overseer for his faithful service. This happened with an enviable regularity, because almost every day Hitler was reported about the "rough" work of Cramer. Josef, meanwhile, was not afraid of not calculating his strength, he was not afraid of killing a man by accident: for him to deprive a Jew of life was the same as flapping a fly.

In each of the 6 concentration camps, where 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 the subsequent transfer to Bergen-Belsen

In 1940, Cramer was transferred to a concentration camp and the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. For about a year he works as a supervisor under Rudolf Hess, the local commandant. Soon, Josef himself occupies a similar position in Nozweiler-Struthof. This increase made him even more cruel, as he felt stronger. At that time, at least 80 people were killed by his hands. And not just killed, but with particular cruelty. Probably, this figure is much greater. Josef Kramer ("Belzensky Beast") personally ran all the gas chambers of death and torture rooms. To mock people was his favorite pastime.

After the transfer to Bergen-Belsen, Kramer commanded not only the prisoners, but also the warders. On the photographs preserved in the archives, you can often see Josef next to a blonde young girl. This is Irma Greze, who at the time of the service in the concentration camp was only 20 years old. She is credited with numerous novels with the protection of the concentration camp, including with Kramer himself. It is difficult to make comparisons, but the girl, perhaps, was no less cruel than the "Belzensky beast". Maybe that's why they agreed? Prisoners called her "the angel of death", she could mock the girls for hours, oppressing them both physically and morally.

Personal characteristics

Kramer Josef (commandant of the concentration camp) was so imbued with the idea of nationalism and hatred of other nations that he was very easy to work with prisoners. He was a determined, cruel, rude and ruthless man who silently, without batting an eyelash, could have deprived the life of a child, a pregnant woman or an old woman, not to mention men. He possessed an incredible imagination and easily invented increasingly sophisticated methods of torture. And he was so cold-blooded and fearless before the enemy that he silently met allied troops among the mountain of corpses of prisoners.

The arrest of Cramer and other warders

In 1945, the Anglo-Canadian compound reaches the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. As it was already written above, Josef Kramer (photo below) met the "guests", while all the others rushed in all directions. Then 44 guards were arrested. In November, a court ruled over them, and on December 13, many of the detainees were hanged in the cells of Hameln prison. But there were also such guards who received only a couple of years of imprisonment, served time, and then with calm soul left to freedom.

Josef Kramer: a diary

Many people try to find personal records of the Belzan beast. However, there is no information about the existence of the diary. In general, the records were kept by many overseers, commandants and other "employees" of the concentration camps, for example Kramer's namesake - Josef Mengele. He was a doctor in Auschwitz, famous for conducting experiments on prisoners. But Kramer, apparently, did not want to leave documentary evidence of his inhumane deeds.