At the end of World War II, a series of post-war trials exposed the full extent of Nazi crimes—and among those brought to justice were female guards of the Stutthof concentration camp. These SS women, once symbols of authority and cruelty in the Nazi camp system, were publicly tried and executed for their roles in horrific atrocities. But what exactly did they do to face the gallows? Here’s the dark truth behind their executions.
Stutthof: A Camp of Horror
Stutthof was established in 1939 near Gdańsk, Poland, and became one of the Nazi regime’s lesser-known, yet equally brutal concentration camps. Over 100,000 prisoners passed through its gates—Jews, political prisoners, resistance fighters, and civilians. An estimated 65,000 died there due to starvation, forced labor, disease, torture, medical experiments, and mass executions.
Among the SS personnel who ran the camp were not just men, but women—SS Aufseherinnen (female overseers)—trained specifically to control, beat, and even kill female prisoners.
The SS Women’s Role in Brutality
The SS women at Stutthof were not passive administrators. Many actively participated in cruel punishments, selections for the gas chambers, and beatings that often ended in death. They enforced brutal work quotas, withheld food, and humiliated inmates for sport. Survivors spoke of female guards who enjoyed tormenting prisoners and showed no hesitation in sending women and children to their deaths.
Some of the most notorious among them included:
Jenny-Wanda Barkmann – Known as the “Beautiful Beast,” she reportedly enjoyed overseeing selections for the gas chamber and carried herself with pride and sadistic glee while prisoners were marched to their deaths.
Ewa Paradies – Actively involved in prisoner abuse, she was said to have kicked, beaten, and tortured inmates regularly.
Elisabeth Becker – She volunteered for camp duty and took part in selections and cruel treatment of prisoners despite being barely trained.
The Stutthof Trials: Justice for the Victims
In 1946, the Polish authorities held the Stutthof trials in Gdańsk, where former SS guards and kapos (prisoner functionaries) were put on trial for crimes against humanity. The trials included both male and female staff who had been caught and handed over to Allied or Polish authorities.
Eyewitnesses—survivors of Stutthof—testified in grim detail. They spoke of female guards who beat children to death, dragged prisoners to gas chambers, or laughed as inmates collapsed from starvation. The court was shown evidence of gas vans, human experimentation, and forced labor conditions that led to slow and torturous deaths.