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

Biskupia Gorka executions - 13 - Steinhoff, Pauls, 3 Kapos (left to right)

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, 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.

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

SS career

Arrest, trial and execution

See also

References