When the world thinks of Nazi war criminals facing justice, the image is often of men at the Nuremberg Trials. But what most people don’t realize is that some of the most brutal executions were reserved for female concentration camp guards—women who had committed atrocities so vile that even hardened executioners were shaken by their fate.
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Irma Grese, known as the “Hyena of Auschwitz,” and others like Elisabeth Volkenrath and Juana Bormann weren’t just passive participants in Nazi cruelty—they were active monsters. Grese, in particular, was infamous for torturing prisoners with a whip and unleashing trained dogs to maul them. She was just 22 years old when she was sentenced to death.
But what they never tell you is just how rough their executions really were. The British executioner Albert Pierrepoint was tasked with hanging them at Hamelin Prison in December 1945. The process was meant to be swift, but the psychological tension was suffocating. Witnesses reported that some of the condemned women collapsed in terror, while others tried to maintain a cold composure. Grese, disturbingly calm, allegedly barked “Schnell!” (meaning “Quick!”) at her executioner before the trapdoor opened.
The hangings were designed for instant death, but rumors persist that some struggled in their final moments. Unlike the clean, controlled image often portrayed in history books, these executions were chillingly raw. Some guards screamed. Some went limp in fear. And for those who had once delighted in the suffering of others, there was no mercy in their own final minutes.
Justice was served—but the dark history of these executions remains far more unsettling than what we’ve been told.