Ruth Closius-Neudeck was a '' Schutzstaffel'' (SS) supervisor at a

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

complex from December 1944 until March 1945. She was executed for war crimes.

Early life

Ruth Closius was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland). She later married and was known as Ruth Neudeck or Ruth Closius-Neudeck.

Camp work

In July 1944, she arrived at the

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure o ...

to begin her training to be a camp guard. Neudeck soon began impressing her superiors with her unbending brutality towards the female prisoners, resulting in her promotion to the rank of ''Blockführerin'' (Barrack Overseer) in late July 1944. In the Ravensbrück camp, she was known as one of the most ruthless female guards. Former French prisoner Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz commented after the war that she had seen Neudeck "cut the throat of an inmate with the sharp edge of her shovel". In December 1944, she was promoted to the rank of Oberaufseherin, and moved to the Uckermark extermination complex down the road from Ravensbrück. There she involved herself in the selection and execution of over 5,000 women and children. The prisoners were mistreated by Neudeck or her fellow SS '' Aufseherinnen''. In March 1945, Neudeck became head of the Barth subcamp.

Capture and execution

In late April 1945, she fled the camp but was later captured and detained in prison while the British Army investigated the allegations against her. In April 1948, she stood accused at the third Ravensbrück trial, along with other '' Schutzstaffel'' (SS) women. The 28-year-old former SS supervisor admitted to the accusations of murder and maltreatment made against her. The British court found Neudeck guilty of war crimes and sentenced her to death by hanging. On 29 July 1948, she was executed by British executioner Albert Pierrepoint on the gallows at

Hamelin Prison Hamelin Prison, also known as the ''Stockhof'', was a prison and penitentiary in Hamelin. The penal institution, which had a predecessor since 1698, existed from 1827 to 1980. It was located between the old town and the river Weser. The listed pri ...

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