Gerda Steinhoff
Gerda Steinhoff (29 January 1922 – 4 July 1946), born in Danzig-Langfuhr, was a Schutzstaffel (SS) Nazi concentration camp overseer following the 1939 German invasion of Poland.
Gerda Steinhoff | |
|---|---|
 Guards of Stutthof and Bromberg-Ost Concentration Camps at the Stutthof Trial between 25 April and 31 May 1946 in Gdańsk. Gerda Steinhoff, front row center | |
| Born | 29 January 1922 |
| Died | 4 July 1946 (aged 24) |
| Cause of death | Hanging |
| Occupation | Stutthof concentration camp guard |
| Organization | Schutzstaffel (SS) |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Criminal charge | Sadistic abuse of prisoners |
| Penalty | Death |
SS career
As a teenager Steinhoff worked as house maid on a farm at Tygenhagen near Danzig. From 1939, she worked as a cook 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.
On 1 October 1944 she became a Blockleiterin in Stutthof women's camp SK-III. There, she took part in selections of prisoners to be sent to the gas chambers. On 31 October 1944 she was promoted to SS-Oberaufseherin and was assigned to the Danzig-Holm subcamp.
On 1 December 1944 she was reassigned to Bromberg-Ost female subcamp of Stutthof 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. She was devoted to her job in the camps and was known as a very ruthless overseer. Soon before the end of World War II, she fled the camp and went back home.
Arrest, trial and execution
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On 25 May 1945 she was arrested by Polish officials and sent to prison. She was tried at the Stutthof Trial with other Schutzstaffel (SS) women and kapos and was convicted and condemned to death for her involvement in the selections and what was called her sadistic abuse of prisoners. She was publicly hanged on 4 July 1946 on Biskupia Gorka Hill, near Gdańsk.