On this day in history: 1945 - 22 year old Nazi concentration camp guard,

On this day in history: 1945 - 22 year old Nazi concentration camp guard, Irma Grese (The Blonde Beast of Birkenau), is executed for war crimes by hanging.

The Facts:

1. During World War II Irma Grese was the most notorious of the female Nazi war criminals. Of all the savage figures to emerge from Nazi Germany, she was one of the worst.

2. Irma Grese was the Most Sadistic Woman in Nazi Germany. She committed crimes that were especially brutal even among her Nazi compatriots.

3. in 1943, Grese who was a loyal, dedicated, and obedient Nazi member, was transferred to Auschwitz, the biggest and most infamous of the Nazi death camps. 

4. Grese rapidly ascended to the rank of senior SS supervisor — the second highest rank that could be bestowed upon females in the SS. With so much authority, Irma Grese could unleash a torrent of lethal sadism upon her prisoners. It has been said that she got an erotic thrill from watching her victims suffer.

5.  When Irma grew weary of a sexual partner, she beat them and ordered them to their deaths.  She would also torture and beat any female or male prisoner who refused her advances.

6. Grese had many affairs with other Nazis at Auschwitz, including Josef Mengele (aka the Angel of Death). When it came time to select women for the gas chamber, it was noted that Irma Grese would purposely pick out the beautiful female prisoners due to jealousy and spite.

7. Grese had a sick fondness for striking women and for forcing Jewish girls to be her lookout as she raped inmates. She would sick her dog on prisoners, whip them constantly, kick them with her hobnailed jackboots, and she had lampshades made from the skin of three dead prisoners.

8. As the Allies loosened the Nazis stranglehold on Europe, Grese went from destroying people’s lives to trying to save her own. In the spring of 1945, the British arrested Grese, and, along with 45 other Nazis.

9. Grese found herself accused of war crimes. She pleaded not guilty, but the testimony of witnesses and survivors of Grese’s mania got her convicted and sentenced to death.

10. On this day in 1945, Irma Grese was hanged at the age of 22. Grese has the distinction of being the youngest woman hanged under British law during the 20th century and the youngest Nazi criminal to be executed. She went to the gallows with a smile on her face.