Wanda Klaff (6 March 1922 – 4 July 1946) was a Nazi concentration camp overseer. Klaff was born in Danzig to German parents as Wanda Kalacinski. She was executed for war crimes.

Early life

Wanda Kalacinski was the daughter of railway worker Ludwig Kalacinski. The family name was changed to Kalden in 1941. She finished school in 1938 and worked in a jam factory until 1942. That year, she married Willy Klaff and became a housewife, then a streetcar operator.

SS career, arrest, trial and execution

Biskupia Gorka executions - 14 - Barkmann, Paradies, Becker, Klaff, Steinhoff (left to right)

In 1944, Klaff joined the

Stutthof concentration camp 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 German- ...

staff at Stutthof's Praust subcamp in present-day Pruszcz, where she abused many of the prisoners. On 5 October 1944, she arrived at Stutthof's Russoschin subcamp, in present-day northern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. Klaff fled the camp in early 1945 but on 11 June 1945 was arrested by Polish officials; soon after, she fell ill from

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

in prison. She stood trial at the first Stutthof trial with other former female supervisors and male personnel. It is said that she stated at the trial, "I am very intelligent and very devoted to my work in the camps. I struck at least two prisoners every day." Klaff was convicted and received the

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

. She was publicly hanged by short-drop method on 4 July 1946 on Biskupia Górka Hill near Gdańsk, aged 24.Stutthof Trial. Female guards in Nazi concentration camps
, jewishvirtuallibrary.org (archived); accessed 13 November 2014.

References

Sources

* Benjamin B. Ferencz
''Less Than Slaves: Jewish Forced Labor and the Quest for Compensation''
books.google.com; accessed 13 November 2014. 1922 births 1946 deaths Executed German women Stutthof trials executions People from the Free City of Danzig Naturalized citizens of Germany Executed people from Pomeranian Voivodeship Female guards in Nazi concentration camps Filmed executions German people of Polish descent Publicly executed people {{Nazi-stub People executed for crimes against humanity