|
|
|
|
|
Stutthof Concentration CampStutthof (Sztutowo) was the first concentration camp built by the Nazi regime outside of Germany, on September 2, 1939. It was located in small town of Sztutowo 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 In 1942 the first female prisoners and SS women arrived in Stutthof, including Herta Bothe. A total of over 130 women served in the Stutthof complex of camps spread across the Baltic coast of Poland. Today we know of thirty-four female guards who served in Stutthof, inluding Gerda Steinhoff, Rosy Suess, Ewa Paradies, and Jenny-Wanda Barkmann. Starting in June 1944, the SS in Stutthof began conscripting women from Danzig and the surrounding cities to come to Stutthof and train as camp guards because of a severe guard shortage. Their attitude towards the female prisoners was horrible. They even took part in selections to the Stutthof gas chamber after October 1944 and in mass murder. 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 "Endlsung" 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. The former prisoner of Stutthoff and Lithuanian writer Balys Sruoga wrote afterall a novel Dievų miskas (The Forest of Gods) describing the everyday life of this camp. 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, Johann Pauls, were sentenced to death. The rest were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Some of the sentences of the First trial: The Second trial was held from 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: - Theodor Meyer: Death Sentence (Executed on October 10, 1947)
- Ewald Foth: The Death Sentence (Executed on October 10, 1947)
- Karl Reger: 8 Years Imprisonment
- Eduard Zerlin: 12 Years Imprisonment
- Emil Wenzel: 10 Years Imprisonment
- Adalbert Wolter: 8 Years Imprisonment
- Karl Eggert: Death Sentence (Executed on October 10, 1947)
- Wilhelm Vogler: 15 Years Imprisonment
- Paul Wellnitz: Death Sentence (Executed on October 10, 1947)
- Kapo Alfred Nikolaysen: Death Sentence (Executed on October 10, 1947)
- Hans Rach: Death Sentence (Executed on October 10, 1947)
- Adolf Grams: 10 Years Imprisonment
- Josef Wennhardt: 8 Years Imprisonment
- Fritz Peters: Death Sentence (Executed on October 10, 1947)
- Kurt Dietrich: Death Sentence (Executed on October 10, 1947)
- Hugo Ziehm: 3 Years Imprisonment
- Erich Thun: Life Imprisonment
- Albert Paulitz: Death Sentence (Executed on October 10, 1947)
- Werner Wllnitz: 10 Years Imprisonment
- Martin Stage: 8 Years Imprisonment
- Oskar Gottchau: 10 Years Imprisonment
- Karl Zurell: Death Sentence (Executed on October 10, 1947)
- Walter Englert: 3 Years Imprisonment
- Johannes Grtz: 8 Years Imprisonment
The Third trial was held from 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: The Fourth and last trial was, as usual, held at 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: See also External links:
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|