EXECUTING NAZIS: THE STORY OF A VERY BRITISH HANGMAN

It was Friday the thirteenth and there were thirteen prisoners, all of them awaiting execution.

Albert Pierrepoint: a very British hangman

They had been dubbed the ‘Beasts of Belsen’: 10 men and three women who had sent tens of thousands of concentration camp victims to their deaths. Now, it was their turn to die.

There was never any doubt as to who would undertake the executions: Albert Pierrepoint was Britain’s most experienced hangman. He had got the job of executioner in 1932, following in the footsteps of his father and uncle. He'd proved so reliable and efficient that within nine years he was promoted to Chief Executioner. He even perfected the art of double executions, hanging two men at the same time.

Guilty: the beasts of Belsen

Pierrepoint's most celebrated executions came in the wake of the Nazi war crime trial of the 'beasts of Belsen. The convicted prisoners included Irma Grese, a vivacious young blond girl who'd joined the SS at an early age and worked enthusiastically at Belsen, lashing her Jewish prisoners to death with her riding whip before they reached the gas chambers.

Also convicted was Juana Bormann, who had treated her prisoners with horrific violence, setting her vicious Alsatian on the weak and sickly. Many of them were gnawed to death.

‘First she egged the dog on and it pulled at the woman [victim’s] clothes,’ said one of the witnesses at her trial. ‘Then she was not satisfied with that and made the dog go for her throat.’

Irma Grese: mass murderer who smiled

She, like Irma Grese was found guilty and convicted to hang.

Albert Pierrepoint had executed scores of people over the previous decade but he had never hanged 13 in one day and nor had he despatched anyone quite so evil as this bunch. He was particularly keen to meet Irma Grese, whom he regarded as the worst of the lot.

‘She walked out of her cell and came towards us laughing,’ he wrote. ‘She seemed as bonny a girl as one could ever wish to meet.’

When asked her age, she paused and smiled. Pierrepoint also found himself smiling, ‘as if we realised the conventional embarrassment of a woman revealing her age.’

These ‘Belsen’ executions were to be rather different from Pierrepoint’s previous ones. He was put in total charge from beginning to end - a job that required meticulous planning. ‘I had to supervise the weighings and measuring of the condemned thirteen in order to work out my drops.’

He had never done this before: in Britain it was done by prison officers.

When Pierrepoint had first arrived at Buckeburg prison, where the criminals were held, he was appalled to see 13 graves being dug for the condemned prisoners.

He felt that this was unseemly. ‘I complained about it to a prison official but was told that nothing could be done to stop it.’

Timothy Spall is Pierrepoint the in movie

He then went inside the prison to meet the condemned men and women. ‘I walked down the corridor and the thirteen Belsen faces were pressed close to the bars.’

Pierrepoint was taken aback. ‘Never in my experience have I seen a more pitiable crowd of condemned prisoners.’

The first to be weighed and measured was Josef Kramer, who had killed thousands of victims. He was sullen and gave monosyllabic answers to Pierrepoint’s questions.

Kramer: no regrets

The next prisoner, Dr Fritz Klein, had been convicted of killing up to 300 victims at a time in the gas chambers. Pierrepoint found him full of energy and not a bit contrite. ‘[He] came walking briskly down the corridor and efficiently complied with the formalities.’

Once all the prisoners had been weighed, Pierrepoint had to work out the length of rope. If the drop was too long, it would tear their heads off. Too short and it might not kill them.

Pierrepoint was woken at 6am on Friday 13 December, 1945. He decided to execute the women first, beginning with Irma Grese. She proved a model of calmness, walking slowly to the trap and standing on the white chalk mark. 
‘As I placed the white cap over her head, she said in her languid voice: ‘Schnell.’’ The trapdoor crashed from under her feet and her body twisted as the rope broke her neck. Pierrepoint’s first prisoner was dead.

He hanged the two other women before pausing for a refreshing cup of tea. Then, he set to work on the men, adjusting the scaffold for the double executions.

Always keep a note of your executions

First to go were Josef Kramer and Fritz Klein. They were roped together and also roped by their necks. ‘I adjusted the ropes and flew to the lever,’ recalled Pierrepoint. Twenty five seconds later, both were dead.
The executions took many hours and it was dark by the time all the prisoners had been despatched. Pierrepoint was exhausted but he nevertheless went to a mess party that night. He was proud to have hanged the ‘Beasts of Belsen’.

He would subsequently be appointed to execute a further 190 Nazi war criminals, including Bruno Tesch, inventor of the gas Zyklon B. Pierrepoint was by now so efficient at his job that he could despatch his clients - cell to gallows - in under 60 seconds.

Pierrepoint was eventually retired at the age of 72, due to failing eyesight. Home Office officials cancelled his contract when they learned that he almost noosed his assistant and sent him through the trapdoor by mistake. 

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'Idiosyncratic and utterly fascinating... an extraordinary tale of hardship, horror and amazing good fortune' James Delingpole, The Daily Mail