Immediately after Adolf Hitler rose to the position of Chancellor of Germany, concentration
camps first opened within the country. They were used for some of the worst crimes the
world has ever seen and its estimated than more than 1000 camps including sub camps were
set up within the Third Reich, and that millions died within their barbed wire fences. We associate
them today with the Holocaust, with the horrific persecutions of millions and after the war
many trials took place to bring to justice the staff who worked inside of the camps.
One camp established east of the city of Danzig was Stutthof, and after the Second World War
trials were held that brought the guards who were responsible for the mass murder, slaughter
and cruelties that occured inside of the camp. However what shocked a number of people around
the world during the trial, is the fact that many of the guards who stood trial were in
fact women, women who were in some cases rather young. Many of these after the trial were
sentenced to death, and were all hanged together. So join us today as we look at ‘the justified
execution of Stuthof’s female guards.’ Remember to support our channel, please make
sure to subscribe.
Stutthof Concentration Camp was the first camp set up outside of the borders of Germany
during World War 2, and it began its operations on the 2nd September 1939. It was a camp linked
to the ethnic cleansing of Poland that included executing the elite of polish society, including
politicians, religious leaders and intellectuals in the area of West Prussia and around Danzig.
Lists had been drawn up even prior to the invasion of Poland for people to be arrested,
and the Nazis had plans to open up camps following the invasion for these prisoners. It was originally
a camp in which civilians would be kept, however after a huge expansion effort took place it
became similar to Dachau and a labour education camp, in which prisoners would be forced to
conduct gruelling work.
The first prisoners, around 150 of them arrived when the camp opened, and these were poles
and Jews who were arrested straight after the war broke out. Within a few weeks the
prisoner numbers grew greatly to around 6000, and initially almost all of the prisoners
were polish. The number of inmates grew as the war went on with large amounts of Jews
being deported to the camp, and many arrived from Auschwitz and other camps across Nazi
occupied lands.
Throughout its years in operation it saw 110,000 people pass through the gates, from all different
countries. Amongst the prisoners were Jews from all over Europe, but also resistance
fighters, Soviet prisoners of war, communists, psychiatric patients and many more. The main
camp in Stutthof also had around 40 different sub camps that served it during World War
2, with different prisoners based in different sub camps, producing things for different
companies. Some of these companies were involved in the war effort, using slave labour to make
parts for the German war machine. For example an armaments factory was based at the camp,
and also later in the war a Focke-Wulf aircraft factory was built inside of the camp.
Conditions at Stutthof were very brutal and extremely tough. Inside of the camp, disease
was rife and thousands of prisoners died from starvation too. A couple of large Typhus epidemics
killed thousands of prisoners in 1942 and 1944, and this led to selections taking place.
During these selections, the SS officers and doctors would select prisoners who were ill,
or too weak to continue working to be sent to the small gas chamber that was based on
the site. Executions did occur at the camp, and many polish resistance fighters who found
themselves imprisoned were shot there. As mentioned there was a small gas chamber on
site, and using Zyklon B to mass murder prisoners began in June 1944. It has been estimated
that around 4000 prisoners, mostly Jewish women and children were murdered inside of
the gas chambers before the camp was evacuated.
Now the guards at the camp were incredibly sadistic, and there are many examples of them
inflicting barbaric punishment onto the inmates. Jenny Wanda Barkamnn was a guard who despite
being just 24 when she was executed, was noted for her horrific treatment. She was one who
selected prisoners to go to the gas chambers, and also regularly beat women prisoners to
death. Barkmann was just one of many guards who were noted for their barbaric treatment,
with many prisoners being clubbed and beaten to death. It was estimated that overall around
65,000 prisoners died at Stutthof, with many also drowning in the boggy mud that was inside
of the camp. Camp doctors also killed many injured and sick prisoners inside of the infirmary
using lethal injections. There was even allegations made that the SS used human fat from corpses
to make soap, and that hundreds of prisoners were executed for this purpose to just make
soap.
So Stutthof had an extremely high death count, executions were prominent and the guards were
noted for their barbaric treatment. Suffering continued as in late January 1945 a full scale
evacuation of the camp was ordered. 50,000 prisoners mostly Jews were forced out of the
camp. 5000 of them were forced to walk from the camp to the Baltic coast, and when they
arrived there they were forced to walk into the water, and then guards shot them indiscriminately
with their machine guns.
Other prisoners marched towards eastern Germany, but after being cut off by the Soviets they
were forced to return to Stutthof. The horrific treatment during the death march by the SS
guards, as well as being provided with little to no food and being forced to walk in the
freezing winter conditions meant thousands died on the death march. The remaining prisoners
a few months later were taken from the camp by sea, and more prisoners were thrown into
the sea and shot. It’s thought that in the evacuation of Stutthof, 25,000 prisoners died.
It was eventually liberated on the 9th May 1945, but only around 100 prisoners were found
there, those who hid from the death march.
Following the Second World War, many war crimes trials took place including the Nuremberg
Trials which aimed to bring the leaders of the Nazi Reich to justice. But many less high
profile trials took place to punish those guards inside of the Concentration camps,
and some of these was known as the Stutthof Trials. These were a series of trials to prosecute
the guards and officials responsible for the crimes that occured at Stutthof. There were
four trials in the series that began in 1946 and ended the following year. One issue was
that despite around 2000 SS staff working at Stutthof, only 72 SS officers and 6 female
overseers were brought to trial.
The trials were held in Gdansk, and during the first trial the 6 women who were accused
of being Aufseherins at the camp were placed on trial. These were Jenny Wanda Barkmann,
Elisabeth Becker, Wanda Klaff, Ewa Paradies, Gerda Steinhodd and Erna Beilhardt. During
the trial, witness statements and much evidence was heard inside of the courtroom, and it
was noted that the women in particular did not seem to take the trial very seriously.
In particular Jenny Barkmann was noted to have been more bothered with her hair, and
that she smirked during the presentation of horrific evidence, and even flirted with the
guards inside of the courtroom.
Of the women on trial, Jenny Barkmann, Elisabeth Becker, Wanda Klaff, Ewa Paradies and Gerda
Steinhoff were sentenced to death, with Erna Beilhardt sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.
Along with the women, a number of men were sentenced to death, all to get executed together
on the 4th July 1946. On that date all of those who were condemned were brought to the
city of Gdansk and in particular the Biskupia Gorka, an a large hill that stands in that
area of the city. They had been taken to the hill by car, being guarded by Soviet Officials.
At the site, there was a huge crowd that had gathered to watch the proceedings, around
200,000 people lined the area near to the gallows. The gallows in particular here were
every large. It was possibly to execute two of the condemned on one gallows where, and
even 3 on the centre gallows such was the size of them. They were also very tall ensuring
that the crowd in attendance saw the bloody proceedings easily.
Beginning with Jenny Barkmann, the women and the men executed that day were all loaded
onto trucks and then these were backed up to the gallows. Barkmann was first to be executed
that day, and she wore a simple dress and at 5pm stood under the gallows. Whilst on
the truck her arms and ankles were tied together, and a noose was passed over the wooden structure.
The hangman then placed the noose around her neck, and final preparations were made.
She was stood facing the huge crowds, and then suddenly the truck then drove away leaving
Jenny Barkmann suspended in the air, with nothing to stand on hanging in front of the
crowd. She was there dangling and her hands and feet twitched, and she lost a shoe as
she struggled for breath before turning limp and dying. She was the first of 11 executed
that day upon the hill, and the women who were condemned were all executed first. The
5 women were then left hanging whilst the men were executed also on the gallows next
to them. The public spectacle was huge, with 11 bodies dangling from the huge gallows.
For many who were stood on the hill during the executions, some small part of revenge
was had for the horrors that were inflicted at Stutthof Concentration Camp. Overall a
huge amount of people suffered and died inside the confines of the camp, and all of the guards
who were executed were killed for their barbaric treatment of prisoners. The women who were
executed had different roles inside the camp, but all had one thing in common. They were
happy to inflict mass suffering and were happy to murder prisoners with their own hands,
or to select them to go to their deaths inside the gas chambers.
Once again thanks for watching.
To support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Once again thanks for watching.