then the men in pairs. British Army Regimental Sergeant-Major Richard Anthony O'Neill assisted the executioner, Albert Pierrepoint:We climbed the stairs to the cells where the condemned were waiting. A German officer at the door leading to the corridor flung open the door and we filed past the row of faces and into the execution chamber. The officers stood at attention. Brigadier Paton-Walsh stood with his wristwatch raised. He gave me the signal, and a sigh of released breath was audible in the chamber, I walked into the corridor. 'Irma Grese', I called. The German guards quickly closed all grilles on twelve of the inspection holes and opened one door. Irma Grese stepped out. The cell was far too small for me to go inside, and I had to pinion her in the corridor. 'Follow me,' I said in English, and O'Neil [sic] repeated the order in German. At 9.34 a.m. she walked into the execution chamber, gazed for a moment at the officials standing round it, then walked on to the centre of the trap, where I had made a chalk mark. She stood on this mark very firmly, and as I placed the white cap over her head she said in her languid voice, 'Schnell'. [English translation: 'Quickly']. The drop crashed down, and the doctor followed me into the pit and pronounced her dead. After twenty minutes the body was taken down and placed in a coffin ready for burial. Dramatizations Grese has been portrayed as a minor character in two films: Pierrepoint (2005), which portrays her execution following the Belsen war crimes trial; and Out of the Ashes (2003). Both films feature additional female guards in much smaller roles. Grese was briefly portrayed in a nonspeaking reenactment in Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution' (2005). See also Female guards in Nazi concentration camps Therese Brandl Ilse Koch Maria Mandl References External links The Justified Execution of Irma Grese or The Beast of Belsen, video at YouTube The Belsen Trial, Law-Reports of Trials of War Criminals, The United Nations War Crimes Commission, Volume II, London, HMSO, 1947; retrieved 22 December 2006. SS-Frauen am Galgen, max.mmvi.de; retrieved 22 December 2006. Irma Grese, Capital Punishment U.K., retrieved on 6 December 2009. Irma Grese, Auschwitz.dk, retrieved on 22 December 2006. Auschwitz: Inside The Nazi State; Corruption: Episode 4, PBS.org; retrieved 22 December 2006. Excerpts from The Belsen Trial - Part 5