At the edge of Nazi-occupied Poland, Stutthof concentration camp was a site of mass murder, starvation, and terror. But what sets it apart in the grim history of the Holocaust is not just the cruelty within its barbed wire fences—but what happened to some of the female guards who helped run it.
These women were not innocent bystanders. They were active participants in genocide, and in the aftermath of World War II, several faced public execution—swift, chilling, and unforgettable.
The Stutthof Camp: A Forgotten Horror
Established in 1939 near Gdańsk, Stutthof became one of the first Nazi concentration camps outside Germany. Over 110,000 people passed through it—Jews, Poles, Soviet POWs, and others. At least 65,000 died, many from starvation, forced labor, gas chambers, and brutal beatings.
Among the SS officers and guards were over 30 female guards, known as Aufseherinnen. Trained to enforce sadistic discipline, these women became infamous for their merciless violence.
Women of Cruelty: The SS Guards
Some of the most feared women in Stutthof included:
Jenny-Wanda Barkmann – Dubbed the “Beautiful Spectre,” she was young, attractive—and ruthless. Survivors remembered her for selecting prisoners for the gas chamber with a smirk and for beating women without hesitation.
Elisabeth Becker – A volunteer who trained at Ravensbrück before transferring to Stutthof. Her job involved choosing who lived or died during prisoner selections.
Ewa Paradies – Known for her arrogance and violence, she routinely assaulted inmates and oversaw forced marches.
Their beauty and youth stood in stark contrast to their vicious conduct, a fact that made their postwar trials even more shocking to the public.
The Gdańsk Trials: Facing Justice
In 1946, the new Polish government launched the Stutthof trials in Gdańsk. Eleven former camp personnel were charged with crimes against humanity—including five women.
The evidence was overwhelming. Survivors gave harrowing testimony of beatings, torture, and selections for execution. The defendants showed little remorse. The court sentenced ten of the eleven to death, including all five women.
Public Executions: A Grim Spectacle
On July 4, 1946, the condemned were taken to Biskupia Górka, a hill near Gdańsk, where wooden gallows were erected. Thousands gathered to witness the event. One by one, the prisoners were marched up and hanged in full public view.
Jenny-Wanda Barkmann, just 24 years old, was the first to be executed. Eyewitnesses say she remained defiant, even smirking as she approached the gallows. Her death—and those of the other women—was meant to send a message: no one, not even women, would escape justice for Nazi crimes.