First Belsen Trial Hauptsturmführer Josef Kramer

Also Known As : The Beast of Belsen
Date Of Birth : 10/11/1906
Place Of Birth : Munich
Position Within Bergen-Belsen : Kommandant
Died : 13/12/1945
Comments : Also known as 'The Beast of Belsen'
Trial : First Belsen Trial
Trial Location : 30 Lindenstraße, Lüneburg 17 September - 17 November 1945
Trial Defendent Number : 1
CROWCASS File Number:
148159 / 126567 / 173658
   
View Photographs (173)
Brief History

01 December 1931 Joined the NSDAP (Membership No 733597).

June 1932 Joined the SS (Membership No 32217).

End of 1933 Promoted to Unterscharführer.

February 1934 Transferred to Dachau.

September 1934 Promoted to Scharführer.

15 November 1934 Transferred to Esterwegen.

06 April 1935 Promoted to Hauptscharführer.

June 1936 Transferred to Dachau as a clerk for the Kommandant.

Early 1937 Promoted to Untersturmführer.

16 October 1937, got married

30 June 1937 Transferred to Sachsenhausen as the Kommandant's Adjutant.

January 1939 Promoted to Obersturmführer.

August 1939 Transferred to Mauthausen as the Kommandant's Adjutant.

May 1940 Transferred to Auschwitz as assistant to Rudolf Höß.

November 1940 Transferred to Dachau for Lagerführer course.

April 1941 Transferred to Natzweiler as Schutzhaftlagerfuhrer.

June 1942 Promoted to Hauptsturmführer.

October 1942 Appointed Kommandant Natzweiler.

Early 1943 Awarded Kriegsverdienstkreuz Class II.

May 1944 Transferred to Auschwitz as Kommandant Birkenau.

02 December 1944 Transferred to Bergen-Belsen as Kommandant.

January 1945 Awarded Kriegsverdienstkreuz Class I.

17 April 1945 Arrested by British Troops.

29 April 1945 Prisoner in Celle prison.

Prisoner in the Citadel at Diest, Belguim.

17 September 1945. Stands trial at the 'Trial of Josef Kramer and Forty Four others' at 30 Lindenstraße, Lüneburg. Charged with Count 1 and Count 2

17 November 1945. Sentenced to death by hanging.

27 November 1945 Plea of leniency to Field Marshall Montgomery

13 December 1945. Death sentence carried out at Hameln prison. [2]

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