Main content

It is December 1945 and the notorious German officer Josef Kramer is about to be hanged for his role in running Nazi concentartion camps.

Brian Urquhart was a young British army officer when he stumbled upon what was one of the worst horrors of the Second World War - the Nazi concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen.

It was closed-up and deserted by its Nazi administrators but was still home to around 60,000 prisoners.

The German officer in charge of the Belsen camp at that time was Josef Kramer. A man known to prisoners as the 'Beast of Belsen'.

He was taken out and within months was tried before a British military tribunal.

Numerous prisoners came forward to testify against him.

The man who allegedly made lampshades out of people's skin was found guilty, and executed on 11 December 1945.

Available now

10 minutes

Last on

Fri 11 Dec 2009 08:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Fri 11 Dec 2009 00:50GMT
  • Fri 11 Dec 2009 08:50GMT

Podcast