What do you think?
Rate this book
The Beautiful Beast: The Life & Crimes Of SS Aufseherin Irma Grese
"The Beautiful Beast" documents in meticulous detail the extraordinary and frightening biography of Irma Grese. Born in a tiny farming community fifty miles north of Berlin, she became the ultimate feminine representative of the Hitlerian vision of the warrior-youth;indeed, with her blonde hair and strikingly blue eyes, Grese embodied all the physical characteristics of the idealized Nazi youth! Once Irma Grese was old enough to secure a training spot in the newly-created corps of female SS auxiliaries, this one-time "no one from nowhere" demonstrated the requisite brutality and unrelenting callousness to punish the so-called "subhumans" of the Nazi terror state. In the end, this young woman, barely 22 years old, would pay with her life for her absolute devotion to her beloved Fuehrer. However, thanks to Daniel Patrick Brown's pioneering work, the complete chronicle of this true believer's short life is now available for all to read.
145 pages, Paperback
Published December 15, 2004
17 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Patrick Brown
11 books2 followersDaniel Patrick Brown is a professor emeritus from Moorpark College (CA). He has authored numerous historical works, including "The Beautiful Beast: The Life & Crimes of SS-Aufseherin Irma Grese" (2004) and "The Camp Women: The Female Auxiliaries Who Assisted the SS in Running the Nazi Concentration Camp System" (2002). His latest work, published in 2019, is "Enduring Entanglements: The Insidious Impact the Third Reich Has Had on America." Professor Brown has also served as an interviewer for the “Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Project” and he is a former member of the Education Committee for the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
Read
August 3, 2011While this work provides very good information about the life of Irma Grese the author spends most of the book trying to excuse Grese's actions. He suggests that she was seduced by the flags, uniforms, and medals of the Nazi regime and so was led blindly into the murder and torture of the prisoners within the camps. I grew frustrated early on with this book, especially since some of his arguments for why Grese is not entirely to blame for her actions do not appear to be plausiable. For example he states that one of the reasons that Grese committed such brutal acts was the loss of her mother at a young age. However, he fails to take into account the fact that her younger sister did not commit acts similar to Grese's despite having similar experiences. Overall I was very disappointed with this biography.
June 11, 2023
Most often, when we read about the horrors of the Holocaust, we think about the men who committed crimes against humanity. Until recently, it was a rarity to come across the name of a woman responsible for the same types of crimes and worse.
The Beautiful Beast is an engaging and ambitious biography about one of the most notoriously brutal women Nazi concentration camp guards during the Holocaust: Irma Grese. She has been the topic of study by historians and psychologists worldwide. Grese was known not only for fully embracing and loyally adhering to the Nazi cause but for her pure delight and enjoyment in using excessive cruelty and forcing her sadistic and disturbing sexual domination onto helpless victims.
What could cause someone to become one of the cruelest and most wicked guards working inside a Nazi concentration camp? When you read this book, you can decide for yourself...
Grese grew up in Wrechen, Mecklenburg, just 50 miles north of Berlin, as the middle child of five in a rural community where her stern task-master father worked as a dairy farmer. Grese’s father was ceaselessly unfaithful to her mother, and when Grese was 12 years old, her mother committed suicide, leaving Grese and her siblings to be raised by her abusive father.
With the Nazi Party's rise to power in Germany in 1933, Nazi education was implemented into the grammar school curriculum, indoctrinating children with Nazi ideology. For a farm girl like Grese, Nazi education made a “nobody” feel like a “somebody,” which could have easily elicited her genuine zeal for the New Order. After exploring the environment in which Nazism and Grese developed together, the author concludes, “After a serious conflict with her father and following the futility of attempting to find her niche in business, medicine, and farming, she sensed a genuine feeling of accomplishment as an SS Aufseherin” (p. 38).
Apart from the fact that the author, Daniel Patrick Brown The Camp Women: 2002, etc., scours documentary evidence and interviews surviving witnesses, he moreover travels to Grese’s hometown to get an authentic understanding of her upbringing. He tracks down and interviews many residents of Wrechen, including her step-sister, to help understand how Irma Grese, only 22 years old when she was found guilty and hanged at her trial, became part of the massive SS killing machinery.
During Grese’s trial, her sister provided character-defense testimony, attempting to mitigate culpability by explaining Grese as the child who ran away when conflict arose during the school day. Brown formulates that “Maybe Grese’s flight [response] would provide an overly-inhibited child with plenty of suppressed rage that would eventually find an outlet during that time when the SS empowered her. Certainly, a whip and a pistol armed her with artificial strength and courage” (p. 15).
While Brown gives insurmountable postulations behind Irma Grese’s behaviors: frustrated with her early life experiences, highly impressionable and young when her Nazi indoctrination began, her mother’s suicide, and of course, the understanding that in an inverted moral universe, SS guards like Grese were rewarded for their brutalization efforts as it was for the betterment of Germany, he also makes it known that there are no grounds for condoning or justifying her crimes against humanity.
Brown is a true historian who not only studies and writes about the past with unparalleled passion but is genuinely concerned with the historical narrative relating it to ethics and humanity. While the subject matter is disheartening, Brown does an impeccable job of describing the particulars of WWII, the rise of Nazism, and the complexities of Grese’s life, all from the very singular perspective of Grese herself, giving the reader a focused invitation into her life, allowing us to observe and grasp a better understanding as to why people do evil things.
The Beautiful Beast and all of the information within is completely palatable to any audience: from the general public to professionals in the field. There is a six-page glossary, historical photos, an appendix of supporting documents, an extensive source list, and an index supplementing the text. Unfortunately for Brown and the reader, the adhesive in the book spine is sensitive, and the pages come loose while flipping through.
First published in 1996, Brown updated this second edition in 2004, six years before retiring as a dean at Moorpark College. Given the growth of Women & Gender Studies programs, one might imagine new sources or language changes informing another update. Nonetheless, this work holds up well and remains relevant.
**A must-read if you are interested in women perpetrators, Nazi violence, and the creation of identity and purpose for women in Nazi Germany.
Ellie Pearlman
The Beautiful Beast is an engaging and ambitious biography about one of the most notoriously brutal women Nazi concentration camp guards during the Holocaust: Irma Grese. She has been the topic of study by historians and psychologists worldwide. Grese was known not only for fully embracing and loyally adhering to the Nazi cause but for her pure delight and enjoyment in using excessive cruelty and forcing her sadistic and disturbing sexual domination onto helpless victims.
What could cause someone to become one of the cruelest and most wicked guards working inside a Nazi concentration camp? When you read this book, you can decide for yourself...
Grese grew up in Wrechen, Mecklenburg, just 50 miles north of Berlin, as the middle child of five in a rural community where her stern task-master father worked as a dairy farmer. Grese’s father was ceaselessly unfaithful to her mother, and when Grese was 12 years old, her mother committed suicide, leaving Grese and her siblings to be raised by her abusive father.
With the Nazi Party's rise to power in Germany in 1933, Nazi education was implemented into the grammar school curriculum, indoctrinating children with Nazi ideology. For a farm girl like Grese, Nazi education made a “nobody” feel like a “somebody,” which could have easily elicited her genuine zeal for the New Order. After exploring the environment in which Nazism and Grese developed together, the author concludes, “After a serious conflict with her father and following the futility of attempting to find her niche in business, medicine, and farming, she sensed a genuine feeling of accomplishment as an SS Aufseherin” (p. 38).
Apart from the fact that the author, Daniel Patrick Brown The Camp Women: 2002, etc., scours documentary evidence and interviews surviving witnesses, he moreover travels to Grese’s hometown to get an authentic understanding of her upbringing. He tracks down and interviews many residents of Wrechen, including her step-sister, to help understand how Irma Grese, only 22 years old when she was found guilty and hanged at her trial, became part of the massive SS killing machinery.
During Grese’s trial, her sister provided character-defense testimony, attempting to mitigate culpability by explaining Grese as the child who ran away when conflict arose during the school day. Brown formulates that “Maybe Grese’s flight [response] would provide an overly-inhibited child with plenty of suppressed rage that would eventually find an outlet during that time when the SS empowered her. Certainly, a whip and a pistol armed her with artificial strength and courage” (p. 15).
While Brown gives insurmountable postulations behind Irma Grese’s behaviors: frustrated with her early life experiences, highly impressionable and young when her Nazi indoctrination began, her mother’s suicide, and of course, the understanding that in an inverted moral universe, SS guards like Grese were rewarded for their brutalization efforts as it was for the betterment of Germany, he also makes it known that there are no grounds for condoning or justifying her crimes against humanity.
Brown is a true historian who not only studies and writes about the past with unparalleled passion but is genuinely concerned with the historical narrative relating it to ethics and humanity. While the subject matter is disheartening, Brown does an impeccable job of describing the particulars of WWII, the rise of Nazism, and the complexities of Grese’s life, all from the very singular perspective of Grese herself, giving the reader a focused invitation into her life, allowing us to observe and grasp a better understanding as to why people do evil things.
The Beautiful Beast and all of the information within is completely palatable to any audience: from the general public to professionals in the field. There is a six-page glossary, historical photos, an appendix of supporting documents, an extensive source list, and an index supplementing the text. Unfortunately for Brown and the reader, the adhesive in the book spine is sensitive, and the pages come loose while flipping through.
First published in 1996, Brown updated this second edition in 2004, six years before retiring as a dean at Moorpark College. Given the growth of Women & Gender Studies programs, one might imagine new sources or language changes informing another update. Nonetheless, this work holds up well and remains relevant.
**A must-read if you are interested in women perpetrators, Nazi violence, and the creation of identity and purpose for women in Nazi Germany.
Ellie Pearlman
September 10, 2023
This was a really sad book, about a very sad life- a horrific short life. It has been beyond my comprehension how such evil can reside within a ‘normal’ person- and this book did not really enlighten me further.
Well written- Daniel Patrick Brown is a professor emeritus from Moorpark College- and I’m grateful for his work. I recently finished his work “The Camp Women.” This is stuff that will become harder and harder for historians to track.
“Massive amounts of research and analysis have been devoted to the major Nazi war criminals, but relatively little has actually been written about those Nazis who were, so to speak, ‘in the trenches’. It is easier to sign a paper ordering the mass liquidation of individuals than to participate in the actual slaughter.”
SS women in particular have largely been ignored by scholars.
“This Prussian peasant girl attained a position in which she could literally determine the fate of thousands of unfortunate men, women, and children."
“Grese herself has been cited as being responsible for the most savage killing spree by any woman in the twentieth century.”
“Very little exists on Grese’s early life (she lived to be barely twenty-two)… Her home and most of the areas she lived and worked were located in what became the Soviet bloc of Europe.’
Her father was either a farm laborer or a farmer. Her mother died when Irma was 12. She was one of 5 children- with a younger sister Helene. There was a half-sister, who refused to speak of her. Helene testified in her defense at her trial, and characterized her as “in our schooldays, when, as it sometimes happens, girls were quarreling and fighting, my sister had never the courage to fight, but on the contrary, she ran away.”
“Certainly a whip and a pistol would provide her with artificial strength and courage."
“Irma’s membership in the BdM caused the major break within the Grese family that would eventually see a daughter make her permanent departure from home and ultimately see a father disavow the existence of one of his children.”
“Nazism still haunts us, Davidowicz speculates, because it is a human creation that is so diabolical and opposite to all that is decent and good and thus approximates a consummate, all-encompassing evil.”
“Sadistic excesses, defined in terms of sexual aberration and brutal beatings, were rare. Ella Lingens-Reiner, a survivor of Auschwitz, believes that ‘no more than five or ten percent [of the SS guards] were criminal by nature’, indeed the remaining 90-95% were ‘perfectly normal men fully alive to good and evil.’ Hannah Arendt agrees with this assessment and feels that it applied in all camps. Arendt claims that the camps were staffed by ‘neither fanatics nor by natural murderers, nor by sadists….. [They were run] solely and exclusively by normal human beings of the type of Heinrich Himmler.’ Consequently, despite the fact that violence and cruelty were integral parts of SS training, one cannot claim that Grese’s behavior resulted from indoctrination per se. In fact it is significant that she is cited in various sources as the example for the atypical female behavior in the Third Reich.”
“One argument succinctly states that ‘Nazism was cruel because Nazis were cruel; and the Nazis were cruel because cruel people tended to become Nazis.’
(This seems to be true to me today- the neo-nazis and white supremacists… do seem to be cruel people to me.)
“When confronted with testimony that she had beaten prisoners to such an extent that even her superiors told her to stop carrying a whip and that she disobeyed these explicit orders, while continuing to punish the inmates, Grese responded that “I have beaten prisoners, but I have not ill-treated them, and it was not prohibited for me to personally to carry a whip. It was a general order from the Kommandant that whips would not be carried any more [sic].’ When faced with the maliciousness in Birkenau, Grese seemed to take the position that if punishment was merited (and obviously the Untermenschen, simply by virtue of their birth, were entitled to such abuse) it should be meted out.”
“Irma Grese’s heroic and unrepentant attitude had been more act than reality from the very beginning…. Grese continually scribbled in a notepad during the trial…. Consequently, it appeared that she was taking meticulous and copious notes on the case against her. However, as if to buttress herself against the accusations… the former SS-supervisor only penned ongoing reminders to hers-,,Kopf hosck!’” (Head high!)
“Finally, the defendant herself said in one of her pretrial depositions that “Himmler is responsible for all that has happened, but I suppose I have as much guilt as all the others above me.”
17 November 1945- “The sentence of his court is that you suffer death by being hanged.”
“When Major Cranfield went to the cells to see his convicted client after sentencing, he found her crying like a child. When a different British office visited Grese in her Luneberg cell later, the formerly stoic woman was again weeping. In addition, the neat, well-kept appearance was gone and her hair was in disarray.”
“Finally, there is an inherent danger in trying to explain Grese’s motivations. As noted in the Preface, to explain could ultimately lead some to empathize and to empathize could lead these individuals to sympathize. The world certainly cannot afford any sympathy for Irma Grese; regardless what factors might have placed her on the road to the camps, Irma Grese was responsible and accountable for her actions.”
Israeli philosopher Emil Fackenheim has rejected the conventional explanations for Hitler’s antisemitism. Fackenheim argues that in truth, Hitler stood for nothing aside from his own benefit and his antisemitism was simply used as a means to an end; in fact, “Hitler, who posed all his life, who could never believe anything until he had the crowd before him to cheer him, went to his death like an actor.’ In Greses’ case, Nazism provided her a way out- a similar means to power. Unlike most Germans, Grese had probably never met a Jew in her life, until she oppressed them in the name of the Nazi cause. Also, like her beloved Fuhrer, Grese’s posing and theatrics were even more pathetic when one considers the pain and anguish that resulted from such ‘acting.’”
The comment on Hitler by Fackenheim, makes me think of Donald Trump.
The comment on Grese- made me think of the proud boys
Well written- Daniel Patrick Brown is a professor emeritus from Moorpark College- and I’m grateful for his work. I recently finished his work “The Camp Women.” This is stuff that will become harder and harder for historians to track.
“Massive amounts of research and analysis have been devoted to the major Nazi war criminals, but relatively little has actually been written about those Nazis who were, so to speak, ‘in the trenches’. It is easier to sign a paper ordering the mass liquidation of individuals than to participate in the actual slaughter.”
SS women in particular have largely been ignored by scholars.
“This Prussian peasant girl attained a position in which she could literally determine the fate of thousands of unfortunate men, women, and children."
“Grese herself has been cited as being responsible for the most savage killing spree by any woman in the twentieth century.”
“Very little exists on Grese’s early life (she lived to be barely twenty-two)… Her home and most of the areas she lived and worked were located in what became the Soviet bloc of Europe.’
Her father was either a farm laborer or a farmer. Her mother died when Irma was 12. She was one of 5 children- with a younger sister Helene. There was a half-sister, who refused to speak of her. Helene testified in her defense at her trial, and characterized her as “in our schooldays, when, as it sometimes happens, girls were quarreling and fighting, my sister had never the courage to fight, but on the contrary, she ran away.”
“Certainly a whip and a pistol would provide her with artificial strength and courage."
“Irma’s membership in the BdM caused the major break within the Grese family that would eventually see a daughter make her permanent departure from home and ultimately see a father disavow the existence of one of his children.”
“Nazism still haunts us, Davidowicz speculates, because it is a human creation that is so diabolical and opposite to all that is decent and good and thus approximates a consummate, all-encompassing evil.”
“Sadistic excesses, defined in terms of sexual aberration and brutal beatings, were rare. Ella Lingens-Reiner, a survivor of Auschwitz, believes that ‘no more than five or ten percent [of the SS guards] were criminal by nature’, indeed the remaining 90-95% were ‘perfectly normal men fully alive to good and evil.’ Hannah Arendt agrees with this assessment and feels that it applied in all camps. Arendt claims that the camps were staffed by ‘neither fanatics nor by natural murderers, nor by sadists….. [They were run] solely and exclusively by normal human beings of the type of Heinrich Himmler.’ Consequently, despite the fact that violence and cruelty were integral parts of SS training, one cannot claim that Grese’s behavior resulted from indoctrination per se. In fact it is significant that she is cited in various sources as the example for the atypical female behavior in the Third Reich.”
“One argument succinctly states that ‘Nazism was cruel because Nazis were cruel; and the Nazis were cruel because cruel people tended to become Nazis.’
(This seems to be true to me today- the neo-nazis and white supremacists… do seem to be cruel people to me.)
“When confronted with testimony that she had beaten prisoners to such an extent that even her superiors told her to stop carrying a whip and that she disobeyed these explicit orders, while continuing to punish the inmates, Grese responded that “I have beaten prisoners, but I have not ill-treated them, and it was not prohibited for me to personally to carry a whip. It was a general order from the Kommandant that whips would not be carried any more [sic].’ When faced with the maliciousness in Birkenau, Grese seemed to take the position that if punishment was merited (and obviously the Untermenschen, simply by virtue of their birth, were entitled to such abuse) it should be meted out.”
“Irma Grese’s heroic and unrepentant attitude had been more act than reality from the very beginning…. Grese continually scribbled in a notepad during the trial…. Consequently, it appeared that she was taking meticulous and copious notes on the case against her. However, as if to buttress herself against the accusations… the former SS-supervisor only penned ongoing reminders to hers-,,Kopf hosck!’” (Head high!)
“Finally, the defendant herself said in one of her pretrial depositions that “Himmler is responsible for all that has happened, but I suppose I have as much guilt as all the others above me.”
17 November 1945- “The sentence of his court is that you suffer death by being hanged.”
“When Major Cranfield went to the cells to see his convicted client after sentencing, he found her crying like a child. When a different British office visited Grese in her Luneberg cell later, the formerly stoic woman was again weeping. In addition, the neat, well-kept appearance was gone and her hair was in disarray.”
“Finally, there is an inherent danger in trying to explain Grese’s motivations. As noted in the Preface, to explain could ultimately lead some to empathize and to empathize could lead these individuals to sympathize. The world certainly cannot afford any sympathy for Irma Grese; regardless what factors might have placed her on the road to the camps, Irma Grese was responsible and accountable for her actions.”
Israeli philosopher Emil Fackenheim has rejected the conventional explanations for Hitler’s antisemitism. Fackenheim argues that in truth, Hitler stood for nothing aside from his own benefit and his antisemitism was simply used as a means to an end; in fact, “Hitler, who posed all his life, who could never believe anything until he had the crowd before him to cheer him, went to his death like an actor.’ In Greses’ case, Nazism provided her a way out- a similar means to power. Unlike most Germans, Grese had probably never met a Jew in her life, until she oppressed them in the name of the Nazi cause. Also, like her beloved Fuhrer, Grese’s posing and theatrics were even more pathetic when one considers the pain and anguish that resulted from such ‘acting.’”
The comment on Hitler by Fackenheim, makes me think of Donald Trump.
The comment on Grese- made me think of the proud boys
May 31, 2014
reading about these terrible crimes is a real downer, but important to understand more of history.
January 25, 2024
This has been touted as the "best book on Irma Grese" by "the expert" on Grese so I bit the bullet and spent the $50 for it, despite it being more of a pamphlet than a book. I sent it back because of my disappointment.
The cardboard cover is cheap and cheaply done. Two photos slapped onto a simple background with generic fonts. The back is the same. Disappointing.
It can be read in a few hours if you are a voracious reader like the majority of us on this site. And it reads more like a book report. I just could not get lost in the story or the information given. Disappointing.
There IS a great deal of discussion on the Nazi regime, WWII, etc. which is important to the how and why the camps were created. It would be easy to become confused if too much information were given - or not enough - and the author did a nice balance.
I was excited to read the author did a great bit of traveling to Grese's birthplace and interviewed folks who knew her - BUT there is hardly any information in the book about it! No photos of the house/area where she lived ... a few single sentences from people who knew her or the family. Some idle gossip. I felt like the author was either a lousy interviewer or he didn't write down 90% of what he was told. Disappointing.
I also read before purchasing the author traveled to all these locations for documents and deep-diving for research. I didn't see that. Disappointing.
And the paper is not the best quality, which means the photos are not the best quality. There are a few pictures I have never seen before, which I liked. I enjoy photos in a book; I am a visual person and to see what the places looked like and how the people dressed and looked - their eyes and how they carried themselves - it all helps visualize their personalities. This poor quality is frustrating. So - disappointing!
Brown did dispel a few myths and set straight rumors. Much information on Grese is repetitive, guesswork or rumor - turned - truth without any real research. For example, her father was an abusive alcoholic who beat his kids. Brown discusses this "truth" (no spoilers here!) without bias or guessing games. I appreciated this.
Otherwise, it was the same rehash of the same on Grese: the timeline of her life, the abusive behaviors, the subsequent penalty. Disappointing.
One detail I did appreciate was the listing of references. The other Grese books don't list references OR they just threw up a list of websites.
The author did add his opinion that Grese was turned into an evil person because of the Nazi indoctrination, which is too simple of an explanation; I felt it was not amply investigated. It's as easy an explanation as saying, "She had a bad childhood" or "He took drugs" - that's no answer as to why someone turns to crime. Irma Grese and her ilk are far more complicated than that. Many people did not work in the camps, and many camp workers did not resort to violence. Even more did not resort to the height of violence that Grese, Mandl, and a few others rose to in their short careers. A few went on to become "normal" people with "normal" lives after the war.
So, mostly, this book was disappointing. The quality of the book (for such a high price!), lack of promised, pertinent information, writing style, and more made me give it a 2 star rating. I hate bashing other people's work - but I have to be honest.
The cardboard cover is cheap and cheaply done. Two photos slapped onto a simple background with generic fonts. The back is the same. Disappointing.
It can be read in a few hours if you are a voracious reader like the majority of us on this site. And it reads more like a book report. I just could not get lost in the story or the information given. Disappointing.
There IS a great deal of discussion on the Nazi regime, WWII, etc. which is important to the how and why the camps were created. It would be easy to become confused if too much information were given - or not enough - and the author did a nice balance.
I was excited to read the author did a great bit of traveling to Grese's birthplace and interviewed folks who knew her - BUT there is hardly any information in the book about it! No photos of the house/area where she lived ... a few single sentences from people who knew her or the family. Some idle gossip. I felt like the author was either a lousy interviewer or he didn't write down 90% of what he was told. Disappointing.
I also read before purchasing the author traveled to all these locations for documents and deep-diving for research. I didn't see that. Disappointing.
And the paper is not the best quality, which means the photos are not the best quality. There are a few pictures I have never seen before, which I liked. I enjoy photos in a book; I am a visual person and to see what the places looked like and how the people dressed and looked - their eyes and how they carried themselves - it all helps visualize their personalities. This poor quality is frustrating. So - disappointing!
Brown did dispel a few myths and set straight rumors. Much information on Grese is repetitive, guesswork or rumor - turned - truth without any real research. For example, her father was an abusive alcoholic who beat his kids. Brown discusses this "truth" (no spoilers here!) without bias or guessing games. I appreciated this.
Otherwise, it was the same rehash of the same on Grese: the timeline of her life, the abusive behaviors, the subsequent penalty. Disappointing.
One detail I did appreciate was the listing of references. The other Grese books don't list references OR they just threw up a list of websites.
The author did add his opinion that Grese was turned into an evil person because of the Nazi indoctrination, which is too simple of an explanation; I felt it was not amply investigated. It's as easy an explanation as saying, "She had a bad childhood" or "He took drugs" - that's no answer as to why someone turns to crime. Irma Grese and her ilk are far more complicated than that. Many people did not work in the camps, and many camp workers did not resort to violence. Even more did not resort to the height of violence that Grese, Mandl, and a few others rose to in their short careers. A few went on to become "normal" people with "normal" lives after the war.
So, mostly, this book was disappointing. The quality of the book (for such a high price!), lack of promised, pertinent information, writing style, and more made me give it a 2 star rating. I hate bashing other people's work - but I have to be honest.
May 10, 2023
Knihu The Beautiful Beast jsem si zakoupil a přečetl přibližně před šesti lety, kdy jsem se začal jako student zajímat o historii Osvětimi a dozorců kteří v táboře působili. Do té doby jsem četl pouze o mužských dozorcích, kteří se smutně proslavili, ale nikdy jsem nečetl o ženských stráží. Ženské stráže však hrály v koncentračních táborech také důležitou roli a napáchaly v koncentračních táborech zločiny stejně jako esesáčtí muži. Irma Grese byla jednou z těchto žen, které se zapsaly strašlivě do historie Holocaustu a ženských táborů. Grese byla jednou z přibližně 200 dozorkyň, které v Osvětimi působily.
Tato kniha mapuje její život od začátku jejího narození po mládí, přihlášení se do ženských sborů SS, najdeme zde stručné informace o její kariéře v koncentračních táborech a také o její smrti. Unikátní jsou archivní a fotografické materiály, najdeme zde i přímé svědecké výpovědi žen, které Irmu Grese na vlastní kůži v táborech zažily a které pro ni pracovaly. Pravdou je, že dnes bylo zpřístupněno a objeveno už o něco více materiálů a svědeckých výpovědí o Irmě Grese.
Kniha je důležitý dokument který nám ukazuje, co dokáže udělat moc, z německé vesnické dívky která dostane téměř absolutní volnost vlády nad tisíce žen pod svým velením v ženském koncentračním táboře.
Knihu doporučuji všem, kteří se chtějí dozvědět o životě a činech této proslulé dozorkyně z Osvětimi.
Tato kniha mapuje její život od začátku jejího narození po mládí, přihlášení se do ženských sborů SS, najdeme zde stručné informace o její kariéře v koncentračních táborech a také o její smrti. Unikátní jsou archivní a fotografické materiály, najdeme zde i přímé svědecké výpovědi žen, které Irmu Grese na vlastní kůži v táborech zažily a které pro ni pracovaly. Pravdou je, že dnes bylo zpřístupněno a objeveno už o něco více materiálů a svědeckých výpovědí o Irmě Grese.
Kniha je důležitý dokument který nám ukazuje, co dokáže udělat moc, z německé vesnické dívky která dostane téměř absolutní volnost vlády nad tisíce žen pod svým velením v ženském koncentračním táboře.
Knihu doporučuji všem, kteří se chtějí dozvědět o životě a činech této proslulé dozorkyně z Osvětimi.
November 15, 2019
Zazwyczaj myśląc o nazistowskich zbrodniarzach mamy przed oczami obraz groźnego SS-mana. Jednak nie tylko mężczyźni byli zdolni do okrucieństwa. Ta książka miała przybliżyć postać jednej z najokrutniejszych strażniczek - Irmy Grese.
Ten raczej mało popularny temat jest największym plusem tej książki.
Jako biografia tak kontrowersyjnej postaci jaką miała być SS-Aufseherin "Piękna bestia" wypada bardzo blado, a po jej przeczytaniu postać Irmy Grese nie wydaje się być tą, o której miała być opowieść.
Tytuł sugeruje, że autor przedstawi zbrodnie jakich dopuściła się Grese, ale temat został potraktowany bardzo powierzchownie. Podobnie jak i reszta opowieści jej życiu.
Autor tłumaczy się trudnościami w zdobyciu materiałów, niechęcią ludzi do udzielania odpowiedzi. To po co w taki razie tworzył tak mało dopracowaną książkę? Może liczył na chwytliwy tytuł i na to, że ktoś się skusi. Ja książkę kupiłam, ale nie poleciłabym jej nikomu. Można się zapoznać na własną odpowiedzialność, chociaż więcej informacji można pewnie znaleźć w internecie.
4/10
Ten raczej mało popularny temat jest największym plusem tej książki.
Jako biografia tak kontrowersyjnej postaci jaką miała być SS-Aufseherin "Piękna bestia" wypada bardzo blado, a po jej przeczytaniu postać Irmy Grese nie wydaje się być tą, o której miała być opowieść.
Tytuł sugeruje, że autor przedstawi zbrodnie jakich dopuściła się Grese, ale temat został potraktowany bardzo powierzchownie. Podobnie jak i reszta opowieści jej życiu.
Autor tłumaczy się trudnościami w zdobyciu materiałów, niechęcią ludzi do udzielania odpowiedzi. To po co w taki razie tworzył tak mało dopracowaną książkę? Może liczył na chwytliwy tytuł i na to, że ktoś się skusi. Ja książkę kupiłam, ale nie poleciłabym jej nikomu. Można się zapoznać na własną odpowiedzialność, chociaż więcej informacji można pewnie znaleźć w internecie.
4/10
Read
January 30, 2020Tytuł faktograficzny rzucający nieco światła na rolę kobiet w machinie zagłady, niestety traktujący o haniebnych czynach głównej postaci - Irmy Grese - bardzo pobieżnie. Przez większą część książki miałam wrażenie, że przedzieram się wyłącznie przez przypisy. Najbardziej poruszył mnie list ocalałej więźniarki do Grese, zawarty na końcu publikacji.
April 21, 2024
Praktycznie nie czytam książek dotykających tematyki Drugiej Wojny Światowej i Zagłady. Czasem jednak warto wyjść ze swojej czytelniczej strefy komfortu i tak oto sięgnąłem po Piękną Bestię, faktograficzną opowieść o strażniczce z Auschwitz. Jest to biografia jednej z największych zbrodniarek tamtego okresu, tyle ciekawa, że zazwyczaj słyszymy, czytamy o mężczyznach dopuszczających się najgorszych przestępstw, a nie o kobietach. Amerykański historyk stara się zrozumieć jak młoda kobieta mogła stać się wyznawczynią nazizmu i dokonywać tylu okropności. Autor szuka motywacji, ale jej nie usprawiedliwia. Historia jej życia dobitnie pokazuje, że była świadoma swoich czynów i nie można ich tłumaczyć indoktrynacją, uwiedzeniem propagandą czy czynnikami psychologicznymi czy socjologicznymi, jakie mogły mieć na nią wpływ. Jest to portret prawdziwej bestii i już po lekturze, niedobrze mi się robi, kiedy do niej wracam myślami. Wszystko co robiła Irma Grese, bo tak miała na imię, jest trudne do wyobrażenia i ogarnięcia umysłem, zwłaszcza jeśli czytamy, że mocno wierzyła w to co robi i sprawiało jej to przyjemność. Znajdą się głosy, że książka jest za krótka, że ma za dużo przypisów. Jednak dla mnie wyczerpuje temat i daje mi tyle wiedzy na ten temat ile potrzebuję i nie mam ochoty zgłębiać dalej życiorysu Niemki. Piękną Bestię czyta się szybko, ale nie jest to przyjemna i łatwa lektura. Stanowczo dużo czasu minie zanim ponownie sięgnę po tego typu książkę. Polecam fanom historii, bo to nie jest zła rzecz, po prostu ja nie jestem dobrym odbiorcą tego typu tekstów.
Za książkę dziękuję @wydawnictworeplika
Za książkę dziękuję @wydawnictworeplika
March 11, 2022
Good Book
Very informative, good information, well written,”. Doesn’t get boring during the narrative. I actually enjoyed reading book. I look forward to learn more.
Very informative, good information, well written,”. Doesn’t get boring during the narrative. I actually enjoyed reading book. I look forward to learn more.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews