Gerda Steinhoff (29 January 1922 – 4 July 1946) was a ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It beg ...

'' (SS)

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

overseer following the 1939 German

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

SS career

Steinhoff was born in Danzig-Langfuhr. 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. 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 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 Donatie ...

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 Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

, some 170km (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, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. Steinhoff was devoted to her job in the camps and was known as a ruthless overseer. Just 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 ''

'' (SS) female staff and kapos. During her trial, Steinhoff repeatedly smiled and joked with her co-defendants. She was found guilty and convicted of crimes against humanity for her involvement in the selection process and her sadistic abuse of prisoners. Sentenced to

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

, Gerda Steinhoff was publicly hanged with the other ten condemned camp personnel on 4 July 1946 on Biskupia Górka Hill near

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

References

Sources

Death on the Gallows
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinhoff, Gerda 1922 births 1946 deaths Stutthof trials executions Military personnel from Gdańsk People from the Free City of Danzig German people convicted of crimes against humanity German people convicted of torture Executed German mass murderers Executed German women Filmed executions Female guards in Nazi concentration camps People executed for crimes against humanity

SS career

Arrest, trial and execution

See also

References

Sources