Gerda Steinhoff (29 January 1922 – 4 July 1946) was a ''
Schutzstaffel
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe duri ...
'' (SS)
Nazi concentration camp overseer following the 1939 German
invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
.
SS career
Steinhoff was born in
Danzig-Langfuhr
Wrzeszcz (pronounced , german: Langfuhr; csb, Wrzészcz) is one of the boroughs of the Northern Polish city of Gdańsk. With a population of more than 65,000 in an area of (population density 6,622), Wrzeszcz is the most populous part of Gdań ...
. As a teenager, she worked as house maid on a farm at Tygenhagen near
Danzig. From 1939, she worked in a bakery in Danzig and later became a tramway conductor. She married in 1944 and had a child. In the same year, because of the Nazi call for new guards, she joined the camp staff at
Stutthof
Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig ( Gdańsk) in the territory of the Germ ...
.
On 1 October 1944, Steinhoff became a ''
Blockleiterin'', or block leader, in the Stutthof
SK-III women's camp. There, she took part in
selections of prisoners to be sent to the
gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide.
History
...
s. On 31 October, she was promoted to
SS-Oberaufseherin, senior overseer, and assigned to the
Danzig-Holm subcamp.
On 1 December 1944, Steinhoff was reassigned to the Stutthof
Bromberg-Ost female subcamp located in
Bydgoszcz, some 170 km (105 miles) south of Danzig. There, on 25 January 1945, she received a medal for her loyalty and service to the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. Steinhoff was devoted to her job in the camps and known as a ruthless overseer. Soon before the end of World War II, she fled the camp and returned home.
Arrest, trial and execution
On 25 May 1945, Steinhoff was arrested and imprisoned by Polish officials. She was tried at the first
Stutthof Trial with other ''
Schutzstaffel
The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe duri ...
'' (SS) female staff and
kapos, and was convicted and
condemned to death
''Condemned to Death'' is a 1932 British crime film directed by Walter Forde and starring Arthur Wontner, Gillian Lind and Gordon Harker. It was adapted from the play ''Jack O'Lantern'' by James Dawson which was itself based on a 1929 novel by ...
for her involvement in the selections and what was called her
sadistic
Sadism may refer to:
* Sadomasochism, the giving or receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation
* Sadistic personality disorder, an obsolete term proposed for individuals who derive pleasure from the s ...
abuse of prisoners. She was publicly
hanged
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...
with the other ten condemned camp personnel on 4 July 1946 on
Biskupia Górka Hill near
Gdańsk.
See also
*
Female guards in Nazi concentration camps
Aufseherin was the position title for a female guard in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Of the 50,000 guards who served in Nazi concentration camps, about 5,000 were women. In 1942, the first female guards arrived at Auschwitz an ...
References
Death on the Gallows
1922 births
1946 deaths
Stutthof trials executions
Military personnel from Gdańsk
People from the Free City of Danzig
Executed German women
Filmed executions
Women sentenced to death
Female guards in Nazi concentration camps
Publicly executed people
{{WWII-bio-stub
People executed for crimes against humanity