The Belsen Trial and the Execution of Three Female SS Guards
When British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen on 15 April 1945 they found more than 13,000 unburied corpses and 60,000 survivors on the verge of death from starvation and typhus. Dozens of SS personnel – including many women – had remained inside the camp.
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From 17 September to 17 November 1945 the British Military Court in Lüneburg conducted the Belsen Trial, one of the first and most significant war-crimes trials of the post-war period. Forty-five former staff members from Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz stood in the dock; sixteen of them were women.
Three women were sentenced to death:
Irma Grese (1923–1945) – the notorious “Hyena of Auschwitz”, later transferred to Belsen
Elisabeth Volkenrath (1919–1945) – chief female overseer at Bergen-Belsen
Johanna Bormann (1893–1945) – long-serving guard known for using her Alsatian dog against prisoners
All three were convicted of murder and systematic ill-treatment of prisoners. The testimony of dozens of survivors painted a clear picture of deliberate cruelty.
On the morning of 13 December 1945, Britain’s most famous hangman, Albert Pierrepoint, carried out eleven executions at Hamelin Prison – among them Irma Grese (aged 22), Elisabeth Volkenrath, Johanna Bormann and camp commandant Josef Kramer.
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We recall this trial today not out of hatred, but to:
Honour the memory of the more than 50,000 people who died at Bergen-Belsen in the final months of the war
Recognise the courage of survivors who testified while still recovering from their ordeal
Reaffirm that crimes against humanity must always face justice
Official sources:
Belsen Trial records – The National Archives UK (WO 235)
Imperial War Museum – liberation footage & transcripts
Raymond Phillips (ed.), “Trial of Josef Kramer and Forty-Four Others” (1949)
