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Defendant no. 9 was the youngest war criminal to be sentenced to death by hanging in the Bergen-Belsen trial in 1945. She caused a worldwide sensation because the crimes she was accused of, her brutality and cruelty and her sadism towards the prisoners stood in stark contrast to her appearance. She had many names:"Hyena of Auschwitz," "Hell's Angel" or "Queen of Belsen." And her accuser said of her at the trial: "And there is not a single atrocity that took place in this camp for which she was not known to be responsible. She regularly took part in the selection for the gas chamber, punished arbitrarily, and when she came to Belsen, she continued in exactly the same way." In this documentary, we embark on a search for clues in old files and archives and shed light on the 243 days of 1945, from the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to the execution of the perpetrators in Hameln. We accompany Grese through the entire trial to the gallows, look at the witness statements, read what the press wrote, discover little to hardly known facts, correct mistakes and immerse ourselves directly in the events when we follow the questioning and cross-examination of defendant no. 9.
About the author
The Lübeck-born artist and author J.M. Müller worked as an editor and art director for well-known companies for many years until he opened an artistic studio in northern Germany in 2010. Since then he has been designing stage sets or painting theater sets, creating paintings, satire and illustrations, as well as object art. His diverse spectrum also includes numerous publications on the topics of art and history.
