HAMBURG, Germany, Dec.14, 1945 (UP) - Joseph Kramer, the Beast of Belsen, his blond queen, Irma Grese, and nine of their Nazi concentration camp aides were hanged yesterday in the courtyard of the prison at Hamelin, it was announced today.
Three women and eight men, found guilty by a British military court of committing mass murders and atrocities at the Belsen and Oswiecim concentration camps, where thousands of Jews, Poles and other war refugees died, were put to death in executions that lasted from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
They were found guilty at Lueneburg after a nine-week trial. Of 44 defendants, 14 were acquitted, 11 were sentenced to death and the remainder were given prison terms ranging from life down to one year.
The hangings were conducted with the greatest secrecy, presumably to foil any last-minute attempts at escape, or rescue from the outside. British and German police had mounted guard around the gallows of the Hamelin Prison on Tuesday, several days after Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery had turned down pleas for clemency.
The first to die on the gallows was Elizabeth Volkenrath, 26, former hairdresser and chief of the S.S. women at the Belsen camp. She was followed a half-hour later by Irma Grese, 22, the blond, pistol-packing "Beastess" of Belsen.
The third woman to die-at 10:38 a.m.-was Juana Bormann, the cringing little "dog woman" who frequently set a huge dog at the throats of prisoners in the Oswiecim camp.
Kramer, beetle-browed and 39, died at 12:11 p.m. along with Dr. Fritz Klein, 58, gray-haired graduate of the Budapest Medical School whose specialty was picking victims for the Oswiecim gas chambers.
Others executed were:
Peter Weingarfner, 30, Yugoslav peasant who joined the S.S.
Franz Hoeszler, 30, guard and Kramer's principal lieutenant.
Franz Starfle, 33, S.S. guard.
Wilhelm Dorr, 33, guard.
Ansgar Pichen, S.S. guard and former butcher shop employee.
