The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was liberated by British forces on April 15, 1945. What soldiers found there shocked the world and led to a series of war crimes trials later that year. Among those arrested and tried were some of the most notorious SS staff in the Nazi camp system.
Josef Kramer, often known as the Beast of Belsen, was one of the most renowned commanders of the Nazi concentration camps. His actions at Bergen-Belsen were so monstrous that they even shocked the British soldiers who liberated the camp in 1945. His path to becoming a symbol of Nazi brutality was a slow and steady transformation into evil.
Kramer was born in Munich, Germany, into a relatively normal middle-class Roman Catholic family. He worked as an apprentice electrician and later held jobs as a clerk in a department store and in accounting work. Unemployment left him restless and in search of purpose, and he joined the Nazi party in December 1931. In 1932 he enlisted in the SS.
Kramer was stationed at Dachau in 1934, a camp that became the prototype for all future concentration camps. He quickly adapted to his role as a guard, earning a reputation for toughness and willingness to follow orders without question. By the time World War II began in 1939, he was already seen as a valuable asset to the Nazi regime.
It was at Auschwitz that Kramer's transformation into a war criminal was fully completed. In 1940 he was assigned as an assistant to Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz. His role included overseeing the camp's daily operations, including gassing thousands of men, women, and children and disposing of their bodies in crematoria.
Kramer was deeply involved in the selections, the process in which SS officers decided who among the newcomers was fit for forced labor and who would be sent directly to the gas chambers. He was directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people. Perhaps the most gruesome episode of his stay at Auschwitz was his involvement in the Jewish skeleton collection, a Nazi project started by SS doctors to collect skeletons for racial studies. In 1943 Kramer personally selected 80 Jewish prisoners to be killed in the gas chambers.
In May 1944 he was transferred to the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp in France. His move to Bergen-Belsen in December 1944 would ultimately define him as one of the most feared and hated men of the Nazi regime. Bergen-Belsen had originally been established as a transit camp and did not have gas chambers like Auschwitz, but that did not make it any less deadly.
As the Allies advanced and prisoners were evacuated from other camps, Bergen-Belsen became severely overcrowded. By April 1945 the camp, designed to hold around 10,000 prisoners, held more than 60,000 people. Food was scarce, water was contaminated, and diseases, particularly typhus, spread rapidly. People were starving to death and corpses piled up faster than they could be buried.
Instead of trying to alleviate the suffering, Kramer made things worse. He imposed stricter rules, ordered beatings, and participated in executions. Witnesses reported that Kramer walked among the prisoners indifferent to their suffering, administering punishments without remorse. He was known to randomly shoot prisoners who were too weak to work.
In one particularly gruesome incident just days before the camp was liberated, Kramer shot two prisoners who had been caught looking for food. They had found some rotten potatoes and were trying to survive. When the British arrived on April 15, 1945, they were met with a scene of unimaginable horror. Thousands of bodies lay in the fields, and those still alive were barely clinging to life.
Kramer did not seem affected by the destruction around him. He even led the British on a tour of the camp as if he had done nothing wrong. He was immediately arrested, and his trial, part of the Belsen trials, began that same year.
During the trial Kramer tried to downplay his role, insisting that he was only following orders and that the conditions of the camp were out of his control. But witness after witness testified about his brutality. Survivors recounted how he kicked prisoners to death, shot random people, and even unleashed his dogs on those who enraged him. He showed no remorse.
Kramer was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. On December 13, 1945, Josef Kramer was hanged in Hamelin prison by Albert Pierrepoint, Britain's chief executioner. He faced his end with the same cold indifference he had shown throughout his career.
Fritz Klein was a doctor who, instead of saving lives, used his medical knowledge to decide who would live and who would die in concentration camps. His cold and calculated decisions on the selection ramps of Auschwitz-Birkenau sealed the fate of thousands of people.
Klein was born on November 24, 1888, in what is now Romania, to a family of ethnic Germans. He pursued a career in medicine at the University of Budapest, but his studies were interrupted when World War I broke out and he was drafted into the Romanian Army as a doctor. After the war he completed his medical training and worked as a doctor in his hometown of Zeeburg, Romania.
Klein's life changed in 1943 when the Romanian government, under pressure from Nazi Germany, ordered all ethnic Germans to serve in the German Army. Despite his Romanian citizenship, Klein found himself transferred to the Waffen-SS. He was assigned to Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the Nazi regime's most renowned death camps.
There he played an important role in the selections that determined who would be sent to forced labor and who would go directly to the gas chambers. As new trains with prisoners arrived, Klein would stand on the selection ramp deciding who would live and who would die, often with nothing more than a quick glance. Young, healthy men were often spared for forced labor, while the elderly, women, children, and the sick were marked for extermination.
Klein was also involved in the Nazi regime's horrific medical experiments, although he denied direct involvement. Survivors and other SS officers placed him at the scene of several disturbing procedures in which prisoners were used as human guinea pigs. When he was later brought to trial, Klein attempted to justify his actions by claiming that his role in the selections was purely administrative and that he had no choice in the matter.
But his testimony revealed something much darker. Klein described the prisoners as a gangrenous appendage that needed to be removed from the body of society. This disturbing metaphor showed how deeply he had embraced Nazi ideology, seeing entire groups of people as sick and unworthy of life.
In early 1945, as the Soviet Army was advancing, Klein was transferred to Bergen-Belsen. The camp was overcrowded with tens of thousands of prisoners crammed into unsanitary conditions, battling starvation and disease. As a camp doctor, Klein was responsible for overseeing what little medical care was available, but instead of helping, he did nothing to improve the situation.
During his trial Klein tried to portray himself as a compassionate figure, stating that he had gone to great lengths to help sick and hungry prisoners. He insisted that he had distributed food and milk to the children and women, but witnesses quickly denied these claims. Klein's indifference to the suffering around him made him complicit in the deaths of thousands.
After the liberation of Bergen-Belsen by British forces in April 1945, Klein was arrested and put on trial as part of the Belsen trials. The evidence against him was overwhelming. On December 13, 1945, Fritz Klein was hanged in Hamelin prison by Albert Pierrepoint.
Franz Hössler was a man who started out as a simple cook and became one of the most brutal enforcers in the Nazi concentration camp system. His transition from working in the kitchens to overseeing selections and executions at Auschwitz and later Bergen-Belsen shows how deeply ordinary people became involved in the horrors of the Holocaust.
Hössler was born into a family of relatively ordinary origin. As a young man he struggled to find steady work, becoming a warehouse worker. Like many others facing financial hardship during the Great Depression, he lost his job. Unemployment and lack of leadership led Hössler to join the Nazi party in 1932.
His entry into the SS seemed to give him the sense of purpose he lacked. He quickly rose through the ranks and was assigned to the Dachau concentration camp. Initially Hössler worked as a cook in the camp kitchens, but he soon became more involved in the dark aspects of camp operations. By 1940 he was stationed at the newly built Auschwitz concentration camp.
There Hössler's role evolved from simply overseeing food preparation to managing the selections and executions that took place at Auschwitz-Birkenau. His time there was marked by extreme brutality. Testimony from October 1942 described how Hössler liquidated an entire group of Dutch prisoners, shooting a man himself when he could not fit in the bunker. He was also known for his participation in the death marches at Auschwitz, where prisoners were forced to walk long distances without adequate food, water, or rest.
In 1944 Hössler was transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where conditions were even harsher. He became the deputy camp commander under Josef Kramer. In Bergen-Belsen the camp's population exploded when the Nazis attempted to transfer prisoners from the Eastern Front, leading to overcrowding and worsening the already horrific conditions. Famine and typhus spread rapidly, killing thousands.
Witnesses later testified about Hössler's behavior at Bergen-Belsen, recalling how he shot prisoners at random and beat others to death. One particularly gruesome incident involved Hössler deceiving new prisoners into believing they would be taken care of, only to send them to the gas chambers. He gave them speeches in which he told them to hang up their clothes carefully, remember their numbers, and wait for soup and coffee after their bath. Instead they were taken directly to the gas chambers.
As the Allies advanced, the liberation of Bergen-Belsen became imminent. In a desperate attempt to avoid capture, Hössler tried to blend in with the prisoners, wearing their uniforms and hiding among them. However, it was not long before he was recognized and arrested by British forces.
During the Belsen trials, witnesses came forward to describe his cruelty. He tried to defend himself by claiming that he had no real power and was only following orders, but the court was not convinced. On December 13, 1945, Franz Hössler was hanged in Hamelin prison along with other convicted SS guards, including his former superior Josef Kramer.
Johanna Bormann was one of the most feared female guards at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. Her reputation for brutality and the infamous use of German Shepherd dogs to terrorize prisoners earned her a place among the most well-known figures in the concentration camps.
Bormann was born in 1893 in East Prussia. Her early life was relatively ordinary. She worked as a missionary for a time and seemed to lead a quiet religious life. However, in 1938, as the Nazi regime gained strength, Bormann joined the SS as a civilian employee.
Initially Bormann worked in the kitchens of the Lichtenburg concentration camp, Germany's first women's camp. She was soon transferred to Ravensbrück, a camp specifically for female prisoners. Ravensbrück became a training ground for many of the most feared female SS guards, and Bormann quickly gained a reputation for violence.
Her reputation would not be fully established until she was sent to Auschwitz. There Bormann's cruel behavior became impossible to ignore. She participated in the selection process, where along with other SS officers she decided which prisoners would be sent to the gas chambers. During these selections Bormann was often seen alongside her German Shepherd dog, an animal that would soon become famous for its role in torturing and killing prisoners.
What made Bormann stand out even among the other brutal guards was her use of dogs to impose terror. Witnesses later recounted how Bormann would release her German Shepherd on prisoners, sometimes for the slightest disobedience. The dog attacked the victims, biting them so severely that they often died from their wounds.
In one particularly gruesome incident, Bormann let her dog loose on a female prisoner who had been left behind during a march because of a swollen leg. The dog tore the woman apart, and she was then carried away on a stretcher. Another testimony tells how Bormann threw a prisoner to the ground, grabbing her by the hair, and let the dog attack her until she bled profusely. Bormann then sent the prisoner to Block 25, the barracks from which no one returned, as they led directly to the gas chambers.
Her brutality was not limited to her dogs. Bormann was known for personally beating prisoners, often using her fists, boots, or a rubber baton. Prisoners testified that she whipped and beat them for hours, sometimes until they were knocked unconscious or dead. She seemed to enjoy this violence, smiling or laughing as she committed these cruel acts.
In 1945, as the war drew to a close, Bormann was transferred to Bergen-Belsen. The camp was overcrowded, plagued by disease, and on the verge of collapse. While prisoners died of starvation and disease by the thousands, Bormann continued her reign of terror, overseeing work details and participating in the ongoing abuse of inmates. She remained in the camp until its liberation by British forces in April 1945.
Bormann was quickly arrested along with Josef Kramer and other guards and forced to help clean up the camp before being brought to trial. During the Belsen trials she faced the full weight of the accusations against her. Witnesses described her savage beatings, her role in the selections, and the terror she unleashed with her dogs.
In court Bormann attempted to downplay her actions, claiming she was just trying to maintain order in the camp and denying that she had ever intentionally released her dog on anyone. She insisted that she herself had been a victim of circumstance. But the judges were not convinced. Bormann's defiant attitude in court was shocking, and she showed little remorse.
The court found her guilty of war crimes and sentenced her to death. On December 13, 1945, Johanna Bormann was hanged in Hamelin prison by Albert Pierrepoint, along with two other women, including Irma Grese. In her final moments she was frail and trembling, a far cry from the terrifying figure she had been in the camp. As the noose was placed around her neck, she muttered, "I have my feelings."
Irma Grese, often referred to as the Beautiful Beast, was a shocking figure in the Nazi concentration camp system. Her youthful appearance and charm betrayed a level of cruelty that made her one of the most feared guards at Auschwitz and later Bergen-Belsen.
Grese was born in 1923 and grew up in a rural family in Germany. Her early life was marked by tragedy when her mother committed suicide after discovering her husband's infidelity. At the age of 15 she dropped out of school and began working as a nursing assistant in a sanatorium for SS soldiers. Despite her ambitions to become a nurse, she was drawn to the Nazi party and its ideals, eventually joining the SS Helferinnen, a unit that trained women to work in concentration camps.
In 1942 Grese began her training at Ravensbrück. It was here that her sadistic tendencies began to emerge. By the time she was transferred to Auschwitz in 1943, Grese had fully embraced the role of SS guard. Her duties at Auschwitz-Birkenau placed her in direct contact with the prisoners, many of whom would later testify about the horrific abuses they suffered at her hands. Her rapid rise through the ranks made her a senior supervisor of the camp's women's section.
At Auschwitz, Grese became notorious for her cruelty, especially during the selection process. Witnesses recalled how she took an active role in deciding who would live and who would die. Survivors described how Grese chose young, pretty women for execution, possibly out of jealousy or sheer hatred.
Grese's sadism extended beyond the selections. She was known for using brutal physical punishment to control prisoners. Armed with a whip, a baton, and sometimes a pistol, she would punch, kick, and whip prisoners for the slightest fault. Many survivors recounted how she enjoyed inflicting pain, often smiling or laughing as she whipped prisoners until they collapsed.
One particularly terrifying account described how Grese whipped a female prisoner to death in front of a group of terrified prisoners, using the act as a demonstration of her absolute power over them. She also used psychological torture, tormenting prisoners by denying them food, forcing them to endure long hours of work without rest, and humiliating them in front of others. Her role in the infamous Block 10 of Auschwitz, where medical experiments were conducted, further cemented her reputation.
By 1944, as the war began to turn against the Nazis, Grese was transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she continued her brutal methods. She continued to abuse prisoners, using her whip and dogs to maintain control. Witnesses at her trial recounted how Grese would release her trained dogs on prisoners who were collapsing from exhaustion or too weak to work, watching as the animals tore them apart.
When British forces liberated Bergen-Belsen in April 1945, Grese was arrested along with other SS guards. Her defiance and lack of remorse were immediately highlighted. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence of her crimes, Grese remained cold and indifferent during the Belsen trials.
Survivors of both Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen testified against Grese. She was described as a sadistic guard who enjoyed the suffering of others. In her defense, Grese attempted to downplay her role, stating that she was only following orders and had no real power. But the testimonies of the witnesses painted a very different picture.
One survivor testified that Grese once beat a woman so severely that she was knocked unconscious and bled for hours. Another described how Grese forced prisoners to undress in icy conditions and whipped them if they moved too slowly. The court found her guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
What made Grese particularly well known was her age. At just 22 years old, she was one of the youngest people ever to be tried for war crimes. Her youth and shocking appearance contrasted sharply with the brutality she displayed in the camps. On December 13, 1945, Grese was executed in Hamelin prison. Albert Pierrepoint described her as defiant to the end, walking to the gallows without fear or hesitation. In her final moments she is said to have smiled, showing no signs of regret.
Elisabeth Volkenrath was one of the most important female SS guards who played a significant role in the daily horrors inflicted on prisoners at Ravensbrück, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen. She was responsible for countless deaths, and her story is that of a woman who used her power cruelly and without hesitation.
Volkenrath was born in 1919. Her early life seemed quite typical. She worked as a hairdresser for several years before joining the SS in 1941. She began her career at Ravensbrück, a training ground for female SS guards and a place where thousands of women were tortured, subjected to experiments, and murdered. Volkenrath worked there as a supervisor responsible for maintaining order among the inmates.
By 1942 Volkenrath's career took a significant turn when she was transferred to Auschwitz. It was at Auschwitz-Birkenau that she truly embraced the violent role for which she would become infamous. As a high-ranking female supervisor, she was directly involved in the selections that determined which prisoners were fit to work and which would be sent to the gas chambers. Witnesses recounted how Volkenrath, with a cold and emotionless attitude, participated in these selections, sending thousands of people to their deaths without hesitation.
Volkenrath was also known for her violent outbursts, frequently beating prisoners for the slightest offenses. Survivors later testified about her brutal methods of control. Armed with a rubber baton, she beat women until they collapsed, often targeting the weakest and most vulnerable. One survivor described how Volkenrath beat an elderly woman so severely that she couldn't walk for weeks. Others recalled her method of forcing prisoners to perform grueling physical exercises as punishment, pushing them beyond the limits of their already fragile bodies.
In addition to her role in the selections and the violence she inflicted, Volkenrath oversaw the distribution of supplies within the camp. This gave her another avenue to exert control, as she often withheld food and medical supplies from prisoners, leaving them to suffer and die of starvation or disease.
In 1945, as the Red Army approached Auschwitz, Volkenrath was transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where she continued her role as supervisor. Bergen-Belsen, already a place of unimaginable suffering, became even more horrific as prisoners from other camps were evacuated there, leading to extreme overcrowding, starvation, and disease. Volkenrath maintained her harsh treatment of the prisoners, contributing to the already unbearable conditions.
When the British liberated Bergen-Belsen in April 1945, Volkenrath was arrested. During the Belsen trials she attempted to downplay her role in the atrocities. Like many of her fellow guards, she claimed that she was simply following orders and that she had no real power inside the camps. She denied taking part in the selections or the beatings, despite the overwhelming testimony of survivors.
One survivor testified that Volkenrath beat her so severely that she lost consciousness and had to be carried away by other prisoners. Despite her attempts to downplay her involvement, Volkenrath's guilt was evident. The court found her responsible for the deaths of thousands and the extreme cruelty she showed toward the prisoners in her care.
On November 17, 1945, Elisabeth Volkenrath was sentenced to death for her crimes. On December 13, 1945, she was taken to the gallows in Hamelin prison. She showed little emotion as she faced her final moment, maintaining the cold indifference that had defined her throughout the trial. Within seconds the trap door opened, and Volkenrath was dead.
Anton Pichon was born in Denmark in 1913, but his family soon moved to Poland, where he obtained Polish citizenship. Little is known about his background before the outbreak of World War II. When the German Army invaded Poland in 1939, Pichon was drafted into the German Army and sent to fight on the Eastern Front.
His time on the Eastern Front was interrupted in November 1942 when he was shot in the hand during combat. After a brief period in hospital, he was transferred to a punishment camp in Upper Silesia, where he remained until March 1943. Wounded and seemingly unfit for the front, he was assigned to Bergen-Belsen, where his duties shifted from being a soldier to something much darker.
In Bergen-Belsen, Pichon initially worked as an apprentice in one of the camp's kitchens. In this role he oversaw the preparation of food for prisoners, many of whom were starving. Although it might seem like a relatively benign position, Pichon's true nature soon came to light. Despite his claims to get along with the prisoners who worked in his kitchen, he quickly became known for his violent temper and willingness to kill.
The most gruesome testimony against Pichon came from the prisoners themselves, who described his brutal treatment of those caught stealing food. In a camp where hunger was rampant, stealing a few leftovers could mean the difference between life and death, but for Pichon it was an unforgivable crime. One prisoner testified that Pichon had personally shot two men who were caught stealing turnips. As soon as he saw them, he pulled out his revolver and without hesitation killed them both.
Pichon denied these accusations, stating that he never carried a weapon and that the stories were fabricated. However, the amount of evidence against him was overwhelming. As more testimonies emerged, it became clear that he was involved in a broader pattern of abuse and violence. One survivor described how Pichon shot a Russian girl upon arriving at the camp simply because she was too weak to continue.
When the British liberated Bergen-Belsen in April 1945, Pichon tried to escape justice by camouflaging himself among the prisoners. But the British quickly identified him along with the rest of the camp staff, and they were arrested and forced to assist in cleaning up the human chaos they had helped create.
During the Belsen trials, witness after witness testified against Pichon. His defense, like that of many others, was that he was simply following orders and had no direct involvement in the atrocities. But stories about his cold-blooded murders and violent treatment of prisoners contradicted these claims. The court found him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to death.
On December 13, 1945, Anton Pichon faced justice for the horrors he had inflicted on so many. His execution was carried out by Albert Pierrepoint. He was led to the gallows, the noose was placed around his neck, and in a matter of seconds the trap door opened, ending his life.
Franz Stofel was another key figure in the Nazi concentration camps. Unlike some of the other guards who thrived on personal cruelty, Stofel's crime was to lead one of the most terrifying and deadly forced marches in the final days of World War II.
Stofel was born in 1915 in Bavaria and initially worked as an office worker before joining the German Army in 1934. As part of the Totenkopfverbände, the SS unit responsible for managing the concentration camps, Stofel quickly became involved in the system of forced labor, abuse, and death. He was stationed in various camps, including Dachau, and by 1944 he had risen to a leadership position.
As the war dragged on and the Nazi regime began to crumble, Stofel was placed in command of a subcamp at Klein Bodungen, part of the Dora-Mittelbau complex, which was involved in the production of V2 rockets. Prisoners under Stofel's command were forced to work in horrific conditions, subjected to starvation and regular beatings.
In April 1945, with the Allies closing in on Nazi territory, Stofel was ordered to evacuate his camp and lead more than 600 prisoners on a forced march to Bergen-Belsen. This would become one of the most well-known death marches of the Holocaust. The prisoners, already weak and malnourished, were forced to walk up to 30 kilometers a day with very little food or rest. Many of them were sick, barefoot, or wearing wooden clogs.
Stofel's orders were clear: anyone who couldn't keep up or tried to escape would be shot. The conditions on the march were brutal. Prisoners were barely given enough food to survive, and many succumbed to exhaustion, disease, or starvation along the way. Stofel, along with his deputy Wilhelm Dörr and a detachment of SS guards, showed no mercy toward those who could not continue.
Survivors of the march later testified to the extreme cruelty of Stofel and his men, who killed prisoners without hesitation for something as simple as being too weak to continue. It is estimated that more than 30 prisoners were shot during the march, while others died from exhaustion or illness.
Those who survived arrived in Bergen-Belsen only to find themselves in a place that was already overwhelmed by death and disease. The camp was nothing more than a mass grave, with bodies piled up and the remaining prisoners dying of starvation and disease.
When the British liberated Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945, Stofel was captured. During the Belsen trials, survivors of the march testified about the conditions they endured and the cold-blooded executions they witnessed. Stofel tried to claim that he did what was necessary and that he had no choice but to follow orders. But the evidence against him was overwhelming.
The court recognized that Stofel had the option to show mercy but instead chose cruelty. For his crimes, Franz Stofel was sentenced to death. On December 13, 1945, he was executed in Hamelin prison.
Wilhelm Dörr was born in 1921 and grew up on a farm in Hesse, Germany. Like many children in Nazi Germany, he was inducted into the Hitler Youth, where he was involved from an early age in the regime's twisted ideals. By the time he was 19, World War II was already ravaging Europe, and Dörr volunteered for military service.
Instead of serving in the Wehrmacht, he was drafted into the Waffen-SS. His initial training was as a combat engineer, but he soon fell ill with rheumatism, which took him away from the front. Once recovered, he was sent to the heart of the Nazi concentration camp system. By 1943 Dörr was stationed at Sachsenhausen, a major concentration camp near Berlin.
In January 1944 Dörr was transferred to the Mittelbau-Dora camp, part of the Mittelbau-Dora complex involved in the production of V2 rockets. This complex used the forced labor of prisoners, many of whom died of exhaustion in horrific conditions. It was here that Dörr began to truly embrace his role as executioner, overseeing the brutal treatment of prisoners and carrying out the orders of his superiors without question.
In September 1944 Dörr was appointed deputy to Franz Stofel, the leader of a smaller subcamp called Klein Bodungen. Dörr's first major crime occurred in late 1944 when he was implicated in the beating and death of prisoners who tried to steal food. Two prisoners had hidden in a potato cellar, and when Dörr discovered them, he ordered them to be beaten to death by other prisoners.
In April 1945, as the Nazi regime crumbled under the Allied advance, Dörr was ordered to help evacuate the Klein Bodungen camp and lead a forced march of more than 600 prisoners to Bergen-Belsen. Conditions during the march were brutal. The prisoners, already weak after months or even years of starvation and abuse, were forced to walk up to 30 kilometers a day with little food, water, or rest.
Those who lagged behind or tried to escape were shot on the spot. Dörr, along with Stofel, played an active role in these executions. Witnesses described how Dörr shot prisoners without hesitation, often walking toward those who were collapsing from exhaustion and executing them with a bullet to the back of the head. It is estimated that around 30 prisoners were killed during the march.
One particularly brutal incident occurred during a stop in the village of Gross Hehlen. After marching the prisoners for hours without rest, Dörr and Stofel were ordered by Wehrmacht soldiers that they could not stay in the village. SS guards responded by shooting several prisoners who had collapsed, leaving their bodies on the side of the road.
When the march finally reached Bergen-Belsen on April 11, 1945, the survivors were met with a scene of unimaginable horror. The camp was already overflowing with prisoners, disease, and death. Just four days later, on April 15, 1945, the British Army liberated Bergen-Belsen. Dörr, along with other SS guards, was captured by the British and forced to bury the dead.
During the Belsen trials, Dörr was brought to justice for his role in the death march and atrocities committed in Bergen-Belsen. Survivors of the march testified against him, recounting the cold-blooded executions he carried out and the brutal conditions he imposed on prisoners. For his crimes, Wilhelm Dörr was sentenced to death. He was only 24 years old at the time of his execution.
On December 13, 1945, Dörr was executed in Hamelin prison by Albert Pierrepoint, the same executioner who had carried out the sentences of many other Nazi war criminals. His life ended on the gallows, just as the lives of so many of his victims had ended at the hands of the SS.