Brutal Execution Of The Female Guards Of Stutthof Concentration Camp

On the 4th of July 1946, 200,000 people in Gdansk flocked to see the executions of the former guards of Stutthof concentration camp. High upon the Biskupia Gorka Hill, a number of women were brought out to the huge gallows. They were there to take their lives. These women were found guilty of crimes against humanity. They were some of the most evil female guards that worked for the SS inside the concentration camp systems. They’d all been found guilty after a war crimes trial. They were known for being violent brutes and women who were happy to torture and execute.

This is a story of the executions of the female guards of Stutthof concentration camp in full. Each of the women in this documentary were known for their brutality and evil. Join us today as we look at the executions of the female guards of Stutthof. And, as always, to support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.

Stutthof concentration camp opened almost straight after the Second World War broke out, as the initial prisoner population was sent to the camp to establish it and build the different buildings. However, in 1944, the number of inmates at Stutthof rose sharply, and most of the newcomers were Jewish prisoners who had come from other camps, such as Auschwitz. Around 24,000 prisoners were sent there from the largest concentration camp. To deal with the sheer number of people who were transferred, a number of new guards were sent there. Because of this, a number of guards were recruited to work specifically in Stutthof from the local area. The conditions there were terrible.

It was a very harsh concentration camp, and thousands of prisoners succumbed to starvation and disease. Many died from epidemics such as typhus, which took the camp to its knees. The prisoners were from many different countries, and executions were carried out on a daily basis there. Different prisoners were shot inside the firing range. The gas chambers were also used at Stutthof. Some inmates almost drowned in mud and were clubbed to death by the prison guards. In total, around 65,000 people were killed in the camp, and many of these were killed by the forced labor they were made to complete.

However, one of the women who worked at Stutthof was drafted to work at the camp, was Eva Paradis, who had a terrible reputation amongst the prisoner population. She was born on the 17th of December, 1920, in Labork in the Weimar Republic, and it’s not known completely what her early life was like. It’s believed that she was an ardent Nazi. She then, in August 1944, arrived at Stutthof for her training alongside a number of other women. She was training to become an Asterin, or an overseer of the women’s camp and the women prisoners.

When she finished her training, she became a wardress at Stutthof. She became known for being immensely brutal and barbaric, and she often beat inmates with her whip and with other weapons. One witness said of one incident that she ordered a group of female prisoners to undress in the freezing cold of winter, then doused them with ice-cold water. When the women moved, Paradis beat them. This sort of punishment was very common inside the concentration camps. It was often linked to punishing many inmates at once inside of a barrack.

Eva continued to brutalize and beat inmates. She was then, at some point, transferred to the Bromberg sub-camp for a brief period of time until she was transferred back to the main Stutthof camp. But then, in April 1945, she was part of the mass transports of prisoners out of Stutthof, as the Allies and the Red Army were on the horizon. She was part of the last transport of women prisoners to the Laurenburg concentration camp, but during the death march, she fled. She knew that she would be brought to trial at the end of the Second World War. She tried to hide out for as long as she could, but she was then captured.

She was imprisoned and interrogated for a short period. She was then transferred to the Stutthof Trials, which was one of 16 defendants who were accused of being involved in the horrors at the camp. The courtroom imposed a number of death sentences on a number of women who had served at the camp, and Eva Paradis was one woman who was condemned to death.

On the 4th of July 1946, at the age of just 25, Eva Paradis was taken to the Scupia Gorka on a huge hill. A huge set of gallows were created and were standing to take the lives of those guards who worked at Stutthof. The former guards were brought out in front of 20,000 people who had gathered to witness the executions. On a huge, central triple gallows, Johann Powell, the former commandant, and another female guard, Gerda Steinhoff, were hanged.

To the side, Eva Paradis and Jenny Wonder Barkman, two young women who were known for their brutality, were brought out on a truck. The pair had been sat on a stool on the truck. Then the executioners came forward. One of them placed a noose around Eva Paradis‘ neck, and then final preparations were made. With the noose around her neck, she was stood on a stool, and then slowly, the truck drove off, and Eva was left hanging from the gallows. It took a number of minutes for her to be pronounced dead. She slowly strangled to death as the crowds looked on.

Eva Paradis was just 25 years old when she was executed by the short-drop method. With her were 10 other guards from Stutthof and camps who were put to death that day. She was a woman who struck fear into the hearts of the prisoners of Stutthof, and her actions contributed to the large death toll at the site. But along with women such as Jenny Wonder Barkman, Elisabeth Falconrath, and Irma Gräzer, she was one of a number of young women who turned to the brutality inside the concentration camps.

Elisabeth Becker was born on the 20th of July, 1923, in Danzig. Her family was German, and as the Nazis came to power, she joined the League of German Girls. This was a female youth wing of the Nazi Party, and it was the only female youth organization in Nazi Germany. Membership for young women was compulsory, and at its height, there were over 4.5 million members. The BDM, as it was known, indoctrinated and brainwashed girls into Nazi beliefs and systems.

They were trained for their roles in German society as wives, mothers, and housewives. This was what Hitler wanted women to be: to have as many children for his Reich and Empire as possible, who would then be loyal to the dictator and his party. The girls were forced to learn Nazi songs and sing them. They also had to participate in physical education, including track and field. They were even forced to conduct a year of land service, working on farms and other roles to show their loyalty to the Nazis.

During the outbreak of the Second World War, the girls were told that the invasion of Poland was justified to punish those people who were considered “sub-human.” The propaganda they were told was ramped up, and because of this, a number of girls who were part of the group would want to pursue a career inside the Nazi party’s industries, such as the SS and inside the concentration camps. One example of this was Irma Gräzer, who became known as the “Beautiful Beast” and her involvement in the League of German Girls caused her father to throw her out of the family home.

But she would become more loyal to Hitler than her own family. She joined the concentration camp labor force and became a notorious guard. Other girls would volunteer for the German war effort as nurses and aides inside hospitals. Some even served as anti-aircraft defenders, working as flak helpers and searchlight operators.

Elizabeth Becker, as mentioned, joined this group at the age of 13, where she was very impressionable and became a devoted Nazi. It’s believed her family was also part of the Nazi movement, but in 1938, when she was just 15, she went to work as a conductor on the tramways in Danzig. Her hometown. In 1940, she was unemployed at various firms and businesses, and also worked as an agriculture assistant. All of her roles and jobs were within her hometown of Danzig.

But then, as the war turned against the Nazis and the Germans, and with a shortage of local men to work inside the concentration camps, the SS placed advertisements around local towns and cities to appeal to German women to train as concentration camp guards. Many women inside Danzig answered the call. One of them was Elizabeth Becker. She had little choice but to answer this call and, in 1944, was sent to Stutthof.

She completed her training there, with more senior guards schooling a number of women on how to become brutes. After completing her training, she was sent to Stutthof’s sub-camp, which was found in a small town nearby. This was where many women prisoners were based. While stationed there, she would beat, whip, and assault many of the women that were held there.

Following a short stint at Pruszków, she was transferred to Rosenburg, another subcamp of Stutthof, where she continued her brutal work. As the Soviet forces were approaching Stutthof, a large number of evacuations took place. The remaining prisoners of around 50,000 were marched toward the sea, and once they arrived, German SS guards executed them as they marched into the water, shooting them with their machine guns. It’s believed that around 25,000 prisoners were killed during these evacuations.

However, some of the guards, including Elizabeth Becker, fled the scene. As the war ended, Becker tried to escape justice. In May 1945, she was arrested while boarding a train in Gdansk to leave. She had been helped while hiding for some time. Her image was kept in the records of the camp, and prisoners remembered her well. A description of her was sent all over Europe to try to find her. Following her interrogation, she said she’d always treated the prisoners of Stutthof well and that she had never killed or ill-treated the inmates.

However, the descriptions of her actions did not add up. One prison guard was even fooled by her lies. This man began to sympathize with her, and she begged him to let her out of her prison cell for a few hours. But when the guard saw the inmates and her victims, he did not let her out.

Elizabeth Becker was brought to trial, and during the trial, dozens of prisoners from the camp testified against her. Documents were also brought forward, showing and portraying her evil. Her lawyer tried to make a case that she was insane and not fit enough to stand trial. He claimed that she did not have the capacity to make sound decisions and was insane.

However, Elizabeth Becker did not come across as crazy at all. She spent most of her time at the trial flirting with guards and bothering more about her hair than the evils she’d committed. When she worked at the camp, she would laugh in the face of witnesses. In the end, Elizabeth Becker was sentenced to death. She confessed to selecting at least 30 women to be sent to the gas chambers and be killed.

On the 4th of July, 1946, she was taken from her prison cell to Biskupia Gorka, a huge hill in Gdansk, where a large crowd gathered. The female guards were led out in front of the crowd. Elizabeth Becker was helped onto the truck and was told to sit on a stool on the back while the noose was thrown over the gallows. The executioners were in place, and the final adjustments were made.

The truck reversed under the huge gallows, and with the noose securely fastened, the truck drove off. Elizabeth Becker was left hanging from the gallows. Minutes later, she was declared dead. At just 24 years old, she was executed for the crimes she had committed in the concentration camp.

Elizabeth Becker’s execution, along with the others, marked a grim and powerful moment in history. The immense crowd of 200,000 people at Biskupia Gorka bore witness to the final chapters of the horrific crimes committed by the SS guards. The brutal acts carried out in Stutthof had left a deep scar on the psyche of those who survived, and the sight of these women facing justice brought a measure of closure, albeit one that could never fully undo the damage they had inflicted.

The Stutthof Trials were a painful reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust and the complex role women played in the machinery of evil. Despite their young age, many of these women had been just as instrumental in carrying out the atrocities as their male counterparts. They were not mere bystanders; they were active participants in the systematic extermination of innocent lives. Some of these women, like Eva Paradis and Jenny Wonder Barkman, were known for their cruelty, taking pleasure in inflicting pain and suffering on those under their charge. Elizabeth Becker was no different. Her role in the selections, where she chose who would live and who would die, was a chilling reminder of how deeply the ideology of the Nazi regime had infected its followers.

What makes Elizabeth Becker’s story so tragic is that she was not a product of a brutal, oppressive upbringing. She was born into an ordinary family, had dreams of becoming a model, and lived a life that could have been entirely different. But the call of Nazi ideology, coupled with the promise of power and control, led her down a path that ultimately destroyed countless lives. It is a tragic commentary on the ability of totalitarian regimes to corrupt the hearts and minds of individuals, especially when indoctrinated from a young age.

Stutthof, like so many other camps, was a place where the worst in humanity was brought to the surface. It was where Elizabeth Becker, once a young woman with dreams of modeling, became a symbol of evil. But what about the others? What about the women who stood beside her, who also carried out similar acts of cruelty?

Gerda Steinhoff, another of the women who faced the gallows that day, was also known for her brutality. Like Becker, she had been a part of the League of German Girls, indoctrinated from a young age to believe in the supremacy of the Aryan race. Her rapid ascent to the role of SS overseer was part of the Nazi regime’s effort to place women in positions of power within the concentration camps. Steinhoff’s sadistic nature and unwavering loyalty to the regime made her a feared figure among the prisoners. The punishments she meted out were savage, and the lives she destroyed were countless.

Jenny Wonder Barkman, too, was infamous for her actions. Known as the “Beautiful Specter,” her youth and beauty were a stark contrast to the horrific acts she committed. As a concentration camp guard, she reveled in the control she held over the lives of others. Her participation in the selections, where she determined who would be sent to the gas chambers, was a daily reminder of how far she had fallen from the innocent girl she once was.

It was only in the wake of the war that these women were held accountable for their actions. The trials, though crucial, were often overshadowed by the larger debates surrounding the Nuremberg Trials, where higher-ranking Nazis were brought to justice. But the female guards of Stutthof proved that the evil of the Holocaust was not limited to the men who led the regime—it was a collective effort, one that involved many, both male and female, who allowed themselves to be complicit in the most horrific genocide in human history.