Stutthof

Stutthof (Sztutowo) was the first concentration camp built by the Nazi regime outside of Germany, on September 2, 1939. It was located in Danziger-Land County of Freistadt Danzig, 34 km from Danzig city (Gdansk). It was also the last camp liberated by the Allies, on May 9, 1945.

The Nazi authorities of the Free City of Danzig were compiling material about known Jews as early as 1936, and also reviewing suitable places to build concentration camps in their area. The first prisoners were 150 Jewish Danzig citizens. Prisoners from other countries along the Baltic Sea were transported there in 1944. A large number of people have perished of hunger and frost on the roads and by British bombardment of refugee ships, during the Soviet conquest of eastern Germany. Stutthof was not mentioned in the Nuremberg trials.

The inmate population rose to 6,000 in the following two weeks, on September 15 1939

The "old camp" comprised eight barracks for the inmates and a "kommandantur" for the SS guards, totalling 12 ha. In 1942, a "new camp" was built with 30 new barracks, raising the total area to 120 ha. A crematory and gas chamber were added in 1943, just in time to start mass executions when Stutthof was included on the "Endlösung" on June 1944. Mobile gas wagons were also used to complement the maximum capacity of the gas chamber (150 people per execution) when needed.

There were 115,000 to 127,000 inmates interned at Stutthof from 1939 until its liberation by the Soviet army, with a total number of dead somewhere between 65,000 and 85,000 people, with 22,500 more that were moved to other camps as the Allied forces approached.

These totals are thought to be conservative, as it is believed that inmates sent for immediate execution were not registered.

Subcamps and external Kommandos

There were 40 units attached to Stutthof main camp, listed in the List of subcamps of Stutthof.

The Stutthof Trials

After the war, the Soviets and Polish held four trials against former guards and kapos of Stutthof, charging them with crimes of war and crimes against humanity. The First trial was held against 30 ex-officials and kapos of the camp, at Gdansk, from April 25, 1946, to May 31, 1946. The Soviet/Polish Special Criminal Court found all of them guilty of the charges. Eleven of them, including the former commander, July 4 1946)

• Gerda Steinhoff: Death Sentence (Executed on July 4 1946)
• Kapo July 4 1946)
• Wanda Klaff: Death Sentence (Executed on July 4 1946)
• July 4 1946)
• Jenny-Wanda Barkmann: Death Sentence (Executed on July 4 1946)
• Kapo July 4 1946)
• Ewa Paradies: Death Sentence (Executed on July 4 1946)
• Kapo July 4 1946)
• Kapo July 4 1946)
• Elisabeth Becker: Death Sentence (Executed on July 4 1946)
• January 8, 1947, to January 31, 1947, at Gdansk, before a Polish Special Criminal Court. Twenty-four ex-officials and guards of the Stutthof concentration camp were judged and found guilty. Ten were sentenced to death.

The sentences of the Second trial:

• October 10, 1947)
• October 10, 1947)
• October 10, 1947)
• October 10, 1947)
• Kapo October 10, 1947)
• October 10, 1947)
• October 10, 1947)
• October 10, 1947)
• October 10, 1947)
• October 10, 1947)
• November 5, 1947, to November 10, 1947, at Gdansk, before a Polish Special Criminal Court. Twenty ex-officials and guards were judged. Nineteen were found guilty, and one was acquitted.

The sentences of the Third trial:

• Gdansk before a Polish Special Criminal Court, from November 19, 1947, to November 29, 1947. Twenty-seven ex-officials and guards were judged, twenty-six found guilty and one acquitted.

Sentences of the Fourth trial:

• List of Polish Martyrology sites

External links:

• (Polish)