Irma Grese on trial at Lüneburg
Three Acts of Kindness
Irma Grese helps Lilika Salzer
In his book, The Beautiful Beast, Daniel Patrick Brown relates an interview he had with an Auschwitz survivor called Lilika Salzer. [1] She was an inmate seamstress who was befriended by Irma at Auschwitz. Irma would bring Lilika fabric and Lilika would design and make tunics for her. In return, Irma would escort Lilika to other parts of the camp so that she could see her sisters and be assured that they were alive. Salzer's sisters were twins and potentially vulnerable to Doctor Mengele.
Lilika and her twin sisters all survived the Holocaust and, from Lilika's perspective, Irma was unquestionably instrumental in the salvation of the three Salzer girls. Nevertheless, Lilika was quick to remind Daniel Patrick Brown, when he interviewed her, that in spite of this, "she (Irma) was still a bitch."
Irma Grese helps Yvette Lennon
When Irma Grese served as an Oberaufseherin in Auschwitz she took an active interest in the women's camp orchestra. Irma knew many of the orchestra girls’ names and whenever they walked past her she would wave at them as if they were acquaintances.
In late 1944 the Auschwitz evacuations began. Some time later, Yvette Lennon (birth name, Bonita Assael) and her sister Lily, both members of the orchestra, were evacuated to Bergen-Belsen (Irma Grese was transferred to Belsen in March, 1945).
While they were at Belsen, Yvette's sister became extremely ill. Despite tremendous fear, Yvette went to the officers’ building to ask Fräulein Grese if she might be able to get some sort of job in order to earn more food for her sister, so desperately in need of nutrients. Despite knowing Yvette by name at Auschwitz, Irma failed to recognise her.
Later on Yvette saw Fräulein Grese walking through the camp. Now feeling desperate, Yvette summoned up the courage to approach her again. This time Irma recognised her and asked to be taken to her sister.
Upon Fräulein Grese’s entrance to the block, everyone stood frightened and at attention. After seeing Yvette’s sister, Irma ordered the block leader to give the girl two rations of soup a day. She then took Yvette to the office and gave her a whole loaf of bread, and then secured her a job in the kitchen.
After three days, Yvette saw Fräulein Grese again and explained to her that the work in the kitchen was too difficult for her; her emaciated and weakened body could not lift any of the pots in the kitchen. Irma laughed, and gave her a cleaning job instead, for which Yvette received extra soup, which she often traded for more nutrient dense foods. Had it not been for these benevolent actions, Yvette’s sister (and maybe even Yvette herself) would have died. [2]
Irma Grese helps a woman named Franziska
The following report cannot be confirmed as the woman's surname is not known. It concerns a former Auschwitz inmate, a Jewish lady named Franziska, formerly from Czechoslovakia. She was multilingual and became an interpreter at Auschwitz.
Franziska caught typhus and collapsed at morning parade - it was Irma who arranged for her to go to hospital, and she visited Franziska with gifts of oranges, and later gave her a good winter coat.
Franziska was adamant that Irma's most striking personality characteristic was her naivety and innocence. In a telephone interview, she said that in her 3 years at Auschwitz, she never saw Irma ill-treat anyone, and it was only after the war that she heard the amazing accusations against her. Franziska was also adamant that survival in Auschwitz wasn't too difficult, providing that you didn't catch typhus, which was the big killer.
She described Irma's appearance as "angelic".
At Irma's trial, her defending officer Major Cranfield, put it to the Lüneburg Court that the Belsen women prisoners hated Irma Grese and fastened onto her at her trial because she was better looking than the other wardresses. [3]
Irma Grese was convicted solely on survivor testimony which was uncorroborated. A few years ago the director of Yad Vashem's archive told a reporter that most of the twenty thousand testimonies it had collected were unreliable: "Many were never in the places where they claim to have witnessed atrocities, while others relied on secondhand information given them by friends or passing strangers." [4]
Auschwitz Birkenau detail (click to enlarge). Irma Grese was a Rapportführerin, who worked in Lager C (Women's camp), Section BII C
References:
1. The Beautiful Beast, Daniel Patrick Brown, Golden West Historical Publications, Inc.,1996
2. Yvette Lennon interview with the USC Shoah Foundation. Visual History Archive, 1995, Interview 979. The interview is not available online but is available on a DVD from the Shoah Foundation.
3. Daily Mirror, 17th October 1945.
4. The Holocaust in American Life, Peter Novick, Houghton Mifflin, 1999
See also Axis History Forum
