Stutthof Concentration Camp

1. StutthofConcentration Camp Sarah Newport Final Project AP US History June 5, 2007

2. Stutthof (Sztutowo) 1941 First concentration camp created and established by the Nazi regime outside of Germany, Stutthof was built on September 2, 1939. It was located in a secluded, wet, and wooded area west of the small town, located in territory of the Free City of Danzig (22 miles east of the city of Gdańsk, Poland). It was also the last camp liberated by the Allies, on May 9, 1945, by the Russian Army. TODAY

3. Here is a list of 40 sub-camps and external kommandos: Bocion Bromberg Chorabie Cieszyny Danzig-Burggraben Danzig-Neufahrwasser Danzigerwerf Dzimianen Elbing Elblag Police Gdynia Gerdenau Graudenz Greendorf Grodno Gutowo Gwisdyn Heiligenbeil Jessu Kokoschken Kolkau Krzemieniewo Lauenburg Malken Mierzynek Nawitz Niskie Obrzycko Prault Rosenberg Scherokopas Schiffenbeil Serappen Sophienwalde Slipsk Starorod Pruszcz Brusy Torun The camp was composed of 8 barracks for the inmates and a huge building (the "kommandantur") for the SS. It was called “the old camp.” In 1942, the SS began to build a "new" camp, where 30 barracks were added.

4. Originally a small prison for Poles and Prisoners of War, the camp would become the site for some of the worst atrocities of the war. Between 1939 and 1945, 127,000 prisoners were officially registered in the camp, but those who were immediately singled out for execution were not registered at all, so there is no way of knowing the exact number of people brought to and/or killed at Stutthof. People from 26 different nationalities had been kept there, among them Poles, Jews, Russians, Ukrainians, White Russians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Czechs, Slovaks, Finns, Norwegians, French, Danes, Dutch, Belgs, Germans, Austrians, English, Spanish, Italians, Yugoslavs, Hungarians and Gypsies. The lowest estimation of the number of victims is 85,000. The real number is certainly much higher. The Stutthof camp was originally not designed to hold Jews, but, beginning in 1944, substantial numbers (30,000-50,000) of Jews were sent there, primarily from Kovno, Riga and Auschwitz.  While it had long been known that Jews had been shipped from these places, no name lists had been located up to then.

5. Originally, Stutthof was a civilian internment camp under the Danzig police chief. In November 1941, it became a "labor education" camp, administered by the German Security Police. Finally, in January 1942, Stutthof became a regular concentration camp. Poles arrested in Danzig on 1st of September 1939 Building of the first barracks- Autumn 1939 First prisoners at lunch break- Autumn 1939

6. The commander of the camp was SS officer Max Pauli. After the war, Max Pauli was tried by an Allied assembly and sentenced to death. The security officer of the camp was SS Captain Werner Hoppe. Despite the evidence of his participation in hundreds of murders, the court sentenced Werner Hoppe to nine years in prison. Other SS murderers include: 1st SS Lieutenant Schwarz, SS Lieutenant Dittmann, 1st SS Lieutenant and MD Otto, 1st Lieutenant Oerli, SS Lieutenants Mathesius and Neubauer. SS officer Max Pauli Some of the SS Staff SS officer Werner Hoppe

7. A Polish POW stands at attention in the roll call area at Stutthof. Commander's building, picture from 1941 View from commander’s building (1941)

8. While Stutthof is not as well known as other wartime German camps, a close look at the history of this important internment center actually tells more about the reality of the Third Reich's "final solution" policy than studies of much better known camps such as Dachau or Buchenwald. In particular, an impartial look at the pattern of Jewish deportations to and from this camp, and the treatment of the inmates there, simply cannot be reconciled with a wartime German program or policy to exterminate Jews. Portrait of the prisoner Wacław Lewandowski, illegally made in the camp

9. Treatment During the imprisonment they were exposed to a number of atrocious elements such as slave-like work, malnutrition, terrible sanitation, illnesses, diseases (typhus) and mental/physical tortures. The prisoners died as a result of exterminating living conditions as well as executions by shooting, hanging, murdering in gas chambers by means of Cyclone (or “Zyklon”) B, killing by means of phenol injection into the heart, beating /torturing, and during evacuation by land and by sea (about 5,000 prisoners from Stutthof sub-camps were marched to the Baltic Sea coast, forced into the water, and machine gunned.)

10. The last words of inmates at the death camp at Stutthof are carved into these walls. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/media_oi.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005197&MediaId=1220

11. One of the worst crimes committed by the Nazis has been in Stutthof. Professor Rudolf Spanner, an SS officer and “scientist,” was owner of a small soap factory located in Danzig. In 1940, he invented a process to produce soap from human fat. This “product” was called R.J.S. – “Reines Judische Fett” - which means “Pure Jewish Fat.” • Hundreds of inmates were executed for the "production" of soap. Rudolf Spanner was very proud of his invention. Following testimonies of some survivors, he used to spend hours and hours just to admire his “invention.” At the liberation, the Allies discovered chambers full of corpses used for the production of soap. After the war, Rudolf Spanner was not arrested and continued his “researches.”

12. Trials The Nuremberg Trials did not include staff of the Stutthof concentration camp. However, the Polish held four trials in Gdańsk against former guards 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, 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 were sentenced to death on July 4th, 1946. The rest were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Here’s the list: Johann Pauls: The Death Sentence Gerda Steinhoff: The Death Sentence Kapo Josef Reiter: The Death Sentence Wanda Klaff: The Death Sentence Erna Beilhardt: 5 Years Imprisonment Kapo Waclaw Kozlowski: The Death Sentence Jenny-Wanda Barkmann: The Death Sentence Kapo Fanciszek Szopinski: The Death Sentence Ewa Paradies: The Death Sentence Kapo Kazimierz Kowalski: 3 Years Imprisonment Jan Breit: The Death Sentence Kapo Tadeusz Kopczynski: The Death Sentence Elisabeth Becker: The Death Sentence

13. …continued The second of the Stutthof Trials, a group of twenty-four ex-officials and guards of the Stutthof concentration camp were arraigned before a Polish Special Criminal Court at Gdansk, from January 8, 1947 to January 31, 1947. All were found guilty and ten were sentenced to death. The remainder were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Theodor Meyer: The Death Sentence (Executed on the 10th October 1947) Ewald Goth: The Death Sentence (Executed on the 10th October 1947) Karl Reger: 8 Years Imprisonment Eduard Zerlin: 12 Years Imprisonment Emil Wenzel: 10 Years Imprisonment Adalbert Wolter: 8 Years Imprisonment Karl Eggert: The Death Sentence (Executed on the 10th October 1947) Wilhelm Vogler: 15 Years Imprisonment Paul Wellnitz: The Death Sentence (Executed on the 10th October 1947) Kapo Alfred Nikolaysen: The Death Sentence (Executed on the 10th October 1947) Hans Rach: The Death Sentence (Executed on the 10th October 1947) Adolf Grams: 10 Years Imprisonment Josef Wennhardt: 8 Years Imprisonment Fritz Peters: The Death Sentence (Executed on the 10th October 1947) Kurt Dietrich: The Death Sentence (Executed on the 10th October 1947) Hugo Ziehm: 3 Years Imprisonment Erich Thun: Life Imprisonment Albert Paulitz: The Death Sentence (Executed on the 10th October 1947) Werner Wöllnitz: 10 Years Imprisonment Martin Stage: 8 Years Imprisonment Oskar Gottchau: 10 Years Imprisonment Karl Zurell: The Death Sentence (Executed on the 10th October 1947) Walter Englert: 3 Years Imprisonment Johannes Görtz: 8 Years Imprisonment

14. #3 • The third trial was held from November 5, 1947, to November 10, 1947, before a Polish Special Criminal Court. 20 ex-officials and guards were judged. 19 were found guilty, and one was acquitted. • The sentences of the third trial: • Karl Meinck: 12 years imprisonment • Gustav Eberle: 10 years imprisonment • Harry Müller: 4 years imprisonment • Alfred Tissler: 5 years imprisonment • Otto Schneider: 10 years imprisonment • Johann Lichtner: 5 years imprisonment • Ernst Thulke: 5 years imprisonment • Otto Welke: 10 years imprisonment • Willy Witt: 10 years imprisonment • Heinz Löwen: 5 years imprisonment • Erich Stampniok: 5 years imprisonment • Richard Timm: 4 years imprisonment • Adolf Klaffke: 10 years imprisonment • Hans Möhrke: 4 years imprisonment • Hans Tolksdorf: acquitted and released • Nikolaus Dirnberger: 4 years imprisonment • Friedrich Tessmer: 4 years imprisonment • Erich Jassen: 10 years imprisonment • Johann Sporer: 4 years imprisonment • Nikolai Klawan: 3 years imprisonment

15. The fourth and final trial was also held before a Polish Special Criminal Court, from November 19, 1947, to November 29, 1947. 27 ex-officials and guards were judged, 26 were found guilty, and one was acquitted. • Sentences of the fourth trial: • Christof Schwarz: 3 years imprisonment • Albert Weckmüller: 15 years imprisonment • Kurt Reduhn: 10 years imprisonment • Walter Ringewald: 7 months imprisonment • Hermann Link: 5 years imprisonment • Richard Wohlfeil: 7 months imprisonment • Waldemar Henke: 5 years imprisonment • Anton Kniffke: 3 years imprisonment • Kapo Franz Spillmann: acquitted and released • Gustav Brodowski: 7 months imprisonment • Johann Wrobel: 7 months imprisonment • Ernst Knappert: 7 months imprisonment • Martin Pentz: 5 years imprisonment • Horst Köpke: 10 years imprisonment • Bernard Eckermann: 7 months imprisonment • Rudolf Berg: 10 years imprisonment • Josef Stahl: 10 years imprisonment • Johann Pfister: 5 years imprisonment • Johannes Wall: 5 years imprisonment • Leopold Baumgartner: 7 months imprisonment • Willi Buth: life imprisonment • Richard Akolt: 3 years imprisonment • Fritz Glawe: 10 years imprisonment • Emil Lascheit: 10 years imprisonment • Gustav Kautz: 5 years imprisonment • Emil Paul: 7 months imprisonment • Erich Mertens: 5 years imprisonment #4

17. "No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior.All collective judgments are wrong.Only racists make them."         ELIE WIESEL

19. STATE MUSEUM STUTTHOFIN  SZTUTOWO82-110 SZTUTOWO, ul.  MUZEALNA  6tel. (055)2478353, (055)2478359, fax (055)2478358 Today there is a museum at Stutthof, open Monday through Friday from May 1st until September 30th: 8 am - 6pm, and from October 1st to April 30th from: 8 am - 3 pm. On Mondays there are no guide services, and no film shows. It should also be noted that, in accordance with Polish law, children under the age of 13 are not admitted. Admission is free, unless you request a tour guide. Sightseeing of the camp area and the expositions of the Museum takes minimum 2 hours.