Stutthof concentration camp facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Stutthof |
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| Nazi concentration camp | |
Prisoner barracks after liberation
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 Location in Poland
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| Coordinates | 54°19′44″N 19°09′14″E / 54.32889°N 19.15389°E |
| Location | Sztutowo |
| Operated by | German government |
| Commandant | Max Pauly, September 1939 – August 1942 Paul-Werner Hoppe, August 1942 – January 1945 |
| Operational | 2 September 1939 – 9 May 1945 |
| Inmates | Poles, Jews, and political prisoners of various nationalities |
| Number of inmates | 110,000 |
| Killed | 63,000 - 65,000 (including 28,000 Jews) |
| Liberated by | Red Army |
Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp built by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was located in a quiet, swampy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo), about 34 kilometers (21 miles) east of Danzig (Gdańsk). The camp was set up after Germany invaded Poland in 1939. At first, it was used to imprison Polish leaders and educated people. The actual prisoner buildings were built by the prisoners themselves the next year.
Stutthof was the first German concentration camp created outside of Germany during World War II. It opened on September 2, 1939, and was also the last camp to be freed by the Allies on May 9, 1945. Historians believe that between 63,000 and 65,000 prisoners died at Stutthof and its smaller camps. These deaths were caused by murder, starvation, diseases, very hard work, forced marches, and a lack of medical care. Around 28,000 of those who died were Jewish people. In total, about 110,000 people were sent to Stutthof during its existence. After the war, most of the camp's buildings were either destroyed or taken apart. In 1962, the former camp became a museum to remember what happened there.
Contents
The Camp's Purpose and Growth
Stutthof was created as part of a plan to remove Polish leaders and important people from the Danzig area and Western Prussia. Even before the war, German groups had made lists of people to arrest. The Nazi authorities were secretly looking for places to build concentration camps.
Initially, Stutthof was a camp for civilians, managed by the Danzig police. It later grew much larger. In November 1941, it became a "labor education" camp, similar to Dachau, run by the German Security Police. Finally, in January 1942, Stutthof became a regular concentration camp.
The first part of the camp, called the "old camp," was surrounded by barbed wire. It had eight buildings for prisoners and an office for the SS guards. This area covered about 120,000 square meters. In 1943, the camp was made much bigger, and a "new camp" was built next to the old one. This new part was also surrounded by an electric barbed-wire fence and had 30 new buildings. The total camp area grew to 1.2 square kilometers. A crematorium (a place to burn bodies) and a gas chamber were added in 1943. These were used for mass killings when Stutthof became part of the "Final Solution" in June 1944. Mobile gas wagons were also used when the gas chamber, which could kill 150 people at a time, was not enough.
Camp Staff
The camp was run by German SS guards. After 1943, Ukrainian helpers, known as Trawniki men, also worked there.
In 1942, the first German female SS guards, called Aufseherinnen, arrived at Stutthof along with female prisoners. A total of 295 women guards worked in the Stutthof camp system. Some of these female guards were later found guilty of terrible crimes against humanity.
Prisoners' Experiences
The first 150 prisoners arrived on September 2, 1939. They were Poles and Jews arrested in Danzig right after the war started. The number of prisoners quickly grew to 6,000 by September 15, 1939. Until 1942, almost all prisoners were Polish.
The number of prisoners increased a lot in 1944, with many Jewish people arriving. The first group of 2,500 Jewish prisoners came from Auschwitz in July 1944. In total, over 23,000 Jewish people were moved to Stutthof from Auschwitz, and over 25,000 from camps in the Baltic states. When the Soviet army moved through German-occupied Estonia in 1944, many prisoners from Klooga concentration camp were sent to Stutthof by sea. Other reports say that most remaining prisoners at Klooga were shot.
Prisoners at Stutthof came from 28 different countries. Besides Jews and Poles, there were Germans, Czechs, Dutch, Belgians, French, Norwegians, and many others. Among the 110,000 prisoners were Jewish people from all over Europe, members of the Polish underground resistance, Polish civilians from the Warsaw Uprising, and Soviet prisoners of war. Some prisoners, like those sent for immediate execution, were not even registered.
Living Conditions
Life in the camp was extremely difficult. Tens of thousands of prisoners died from hunger and sickness. Many died during typhus epidemics that spread through the camp in the winters of 1942 and 1944. Those who the SS guards thought were too weak or sick to work were killed in the camp's small gas chamber. The first executions by shooting happened on January 11 and March 22, 1940, when 89 Polish activists were killed. Killing with Zyklon B gas began in June 1944. About 4,000 prisoners, including Jewish women and children, were killed in a gas chamber before the camp was evacuated. In total, between 63,000 and 65,000 people died in the camp.
Many German organizations and individuals used Stutthof prisoners as forced laborers. Many prisoners worked in businesses owned by the SS, such as DAW (Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke, meaning 'German Equipment Works'). This was a heavily guarded arms factory located inside the camp, next to the prisoner buildings. Other prisoners worked in local brickyards, private factories, on farms, or in the camp's own workshops. In 1944, as forced labor became more important for making weapons, a Focke-Wulf aircraft factory was built at Stutthof. Eventually, the Stutthof camp system became a large network of forced-labor camps. The Holocaust Encyclopedia estimates that about 105 smaller Stutthof subcamps were set up across northern and central Poland.
Sub-camps
The main Stutthof concentration camp had as many as 40 smaller camps, called sub-camps, during World War II. These sub-camps held 110,000 prisoners from 25 countries. Some of the major sub-camps were in Toruń and Elbląg.
Camp Leaders
Stutthof had two main commanders:
- SS-Sturmbannführer Max Pauly, from September 1939 to August 1942
- SS-Sturmbannführer Paul-Werner Hoppe, from August 1942 to January 1945
The Death March and Liberation
The forced evacuation of prisoners from the Stutthof camp system began on January 25, 1945. When this final evacuation started, there were almost 50,000 prisoners, mostly Jewish people, in the Stutthof camps. The prisoners were forced to march towards Lauenburg in eastern Germany. When advancing Soviet forces cut them off, the Germans made the surviving prisoners march back to Stutthof.
In late April 1945, the remaining prisoners were taken from Stutthof by sea because Soviet forces had completely surrounded the camp. Again, hundreds of prisoners were forced into the sea and shot. Over 4,000 were sent by small boat to Germany, some to the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg, and some to camps along the Baltic coast.
On May 5, 1945, a boat filled with starving prisoners was pulled into the harbor at Klintholm Havn in Denmark. There, 351 of the 370 people on board were saved. Shortly before Germany surrendered, some prisoners were moved to Malmö, Sweden, and released into the care of that neutral country. It is thought that about half of the evacuated prisoners, over 25,000, died during the evacuation from Stutthof and its subcamps.
Soviet forces finally freed Stutthof on May 9, 1945, rescuing about 100 prisoners who had managed to hide.
Stutthof Trials
After the war, several trials were held to hold those responsible for the crimes at Stutthof accountable. These trials were separate from the famous Nuremberg Trials. Poland held four trials in Gdańsk against former guards and prisoner-guards (called kapos) from Stutthof. They were charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The first trial took place from April 25 to May 31, 1946. Thirty former officials and prisoner-guards were found guilty. Eleven defendants, including the former commander, Johann Pauls, were sentenced to death. The others received different prison sentences.
Later, more trials were held in 1947, where many more former guards and officials were judged. Most were found guilty, and some were sentenced to death.
In recent years, more people who worked at Stutthof have been brought to trial. In 2020, Bruno Dey, a former camp guard, received a two-year suspended sentence for his role in the killings of 5,230 prisoners. In 2022, Irmgard Furchner, a 96-year-old former secretary at Stutthof, was found guilty of being involved in the murder of more than 10,000 people. She received a two-year suspended sentence. These trials show that even many years later, efforts are made to bring justice for the victims of the Holocaust.
Notable People Imprisoned at Stutthof
- Reidar Kvammen, a Norwegian international football player.
- Helen Lewis, a Czech dancer and choreographer.
- Martin Nielsen (politician), a Danish politician.
- Ingrid Pitt, a Polish-British actress and writer.
- Julia Rodzińska, a Catholic nun who is now considered a blessed person.
- Balys Sruoga, a Lithuanian poet and writer.
- Thøger Thøgersen, a Danish politician.
See also
- Female guards in Nazi concentration camps
- List of Nazi-German concentration camps
- Nazi crimes against ethnic Poles
- Rescue of Stutthof victims in Denmark
