Josef Kramer | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kramer in 1945 | |
| Born | (1906-11-10)10 November 1906 |
| Died | 13 December 1945(1945-12-13) (aged 39) |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Other names | The Beast of Belsen |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Motive | Nazism |
| Conviction | War crimes |
| Trial | Belsen trial |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
Josef Kramer (10 November 1906 – 13 December 1945) was aHauptsturmführer in theSS and theCommandant ofAuschwitz-Birkenau (from 8 May 1944 to 25 November 1944) andBergen Belsen (from December 1944 to its liberation on 15 April 1945)concentration camps. DubbedThe Beast of Belsen by camp inmates, he was a GermanNazi war criminal, directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. He was detained by theBritish Army after theSecond World War, convicted ofwar crimes, andhanged on thegallows in the prison atHamelin by British executionerAlbert Pierrepoint.
Josef Kramer, an only child, was born and raised inMunich in a middle-class family. His parents, Theodore and Maria Kramer, brought him up as a strictRoman Catholic.[1] In 1915, the family moved from Munich toAugsburg, where Josef Kramer attended school. He began an apprenticeship as an electrician in 1920. From 1925 to 1933, except for working in a department store and as an accountant, he was mostly unemployed.
He joined theNazi Party in 1931 and theSS in 1932. His SS training led him into work as a prison guard and, after the outbreak of war, as a concentration camp guard.
In 1934, Kramer was assigned as a guard atDachau. His promotion was rapid, obtaining senior posts atSachsenhausen andMauthausen concentration camps. Kramer became assistant toRudolf Höss, the Commandant atAuschwitz in 1940. He accompanied Höss to inspect Auschwitz as a possible site for a new synthetic oil and rubber plant, "a vital industry given Germany's shortage of oil.".[2]
Kramer was named Commandant ofNatzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in April 1941. Natzweiler-Struthof was the only concentration camp established by the Nazis on present-dayFrench territory, though there were French-run transit camps, such as the one atDrancy. At the time, the area inAlsace-Lorraine in which it was established had been annexed byNazi Germany.[3]
As commandant at Natzweiler-Struthof, Kramer personally carried out the gassings of 80 Jewish men and women,[4][5] part of a group of 87 selected at Auschwitz to become anatomical specimens in a proposedJewish skull collection to be housed at the Anatomy Institute at theReich University of Strasbourg under the direction ofAugust Hirt.[citation needed]
Ultimately, the 87 inmates were transported to Natzweiler-Struthof; 46 of these individuals were originally fromThessaloniki, Greece. The deaths of 86 of these inmates were, in the words of Hirt, "induced" in an improvised gassing facility at Natzweiler-Struthof, and their corpses, 57 men and 29 women, were sent to Strasbourg. One male victim was shot as he fought to keep from being gassed.
Kramer was promoted to the rank ofHauptsturmführer (Captain) in 1942 and, in May 1944, was transferred to become theLagerführer (camp commander) in charge of operations atAuschwitz II-Birkenau, the main centre used to kill inmates within the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, from 8 May 1944 to 25 November 1944.[6] He was brought to Auschwitz to manage the gassings of new transports in May 1944, according to the Prosecution Judge Advocate at the War Crimes tribunal that convicted him of being responsible for the deaths committed at Auschwitz. There were a number of witnesses who said that he took an active part in the selection parades in that, for instance, he loaded people into the trucks and beat them when they resisted.[5]At Auschwitz, Kramer soon became known among his subordinates as a harsh taskmaster. One of the defendants at theFrankfurt Auschwitz Trial, Dr.Franz Lucas, testified that he tried to avoid assignments given to him by Kramer by pleading stomach and intestinal disorders. When Lucas saw that his name had been added to the list of selecting physicians for a large group of inmates transferred fromHungary, he objected strenuously. Kramer reacted sharply: "I know you are being investigated for favouring prisoners. I am now ordering you to go to the ramp, and if you fail to obey an order, I shall have you arrested on the spot."[7]
In December 1944,SS-Hauptsturmführer Kramer was transferred fromBirkenau toBergen Belsen, near the village of Bergen. Belsen had originally served as a temporary camp for those leaving Germany, but during the war it had been expanded to serve as a convalescent depot for the ill and displaced people from across north-west Europe. Although it had no gas chambers, Kramer's rule was so harsh that he became known as the "Beast of Belsen".[8]
As Nazi Germany collapsed, administration of the camp broke down, but Kramer remained devoted to bureaucracy. On 1 March 1945, he filed a report asking for help and resources, stating that of the 42,000 inmates in his camp, 250–300 died each day fromtyphus. On 19 March, the number of inmates rose to 60,000 as the Germans continued to evacuate camps that were soon to be liberated by the Allies. As late as the week of 13 April, some 28,000 additional prisoners were brought in.[9]
With the collapse of administration and many guards fleeing to escape retribution, roll calls were stopped, and the inmates were left to their own devices. Corpses rotted everywhere, andrats attacked the living too weak to fight them off. Kramer remained even when the British, led by MajorBrian Urquhart, arrived to liberate the camp, and took them on a tour of the camp to inspect the "scenes". Piles of corpses lay all over the camp, mass graves were filled in, and the huts were filled with prisoners in every stage of emaciation and disease.[10]
| Kramer's SS-ranks in theSchutzstaffel | |
|---|---|
| Date | SS Rank |
| 5 December 1933 | SS-Unterscharführer |
| 19 September 1934 | SS-Scharführer |
| 27 April 1935 | SS-Hauptscharführer |
| Spring 1937 | SS-Untersturmführer |
| 30 January 1939 | SS-Obersturmführer |
| 1 June 1942 | SS-Hauptsturmführer |
Kramer was imprisoned at the prison inHamelin. Along with 44 other camp staff, Kramer was tried in theBelsen Trial by a British military court atLüneburg. The trial lasted several weeks from September to November 1945. During the trialAnita Lasker testified that Kramer had taken part inselections for the gas chamber at Auschwitz.[11]
Kramer was sentenced to death on 17 November 1945, for crimes both at Auschwitz and at Bergen-Belsen, and was hanged atHamelin Prison byAlbert Pierrepoint on 13 December 1945, aged 39.[12]
Alsace and the Moselle (part of Lorraine) - the former eastern frontier provinces of France - had been subjected to Nazi annexation for almost a year.
Anita Lasker, who lived in Breslau before her arrest, was sent to Auschwitz in December, 1943. She was transferred to Belsen in November, 1944. She claimed that she saw Kramer, Hoessler and Dr. Klein take part in selections for the gas chamber.
