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After Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, the Stutthof concentration camp grew into a vast system of imprisonment, forced labour, and mass murder. Among the guards who served there was Gerda Steinhoff, a woman from Danzig who joined the camp system in 1944 and quickly gained a reputation for brutality.
Assigned to several Stutthof subcamps, Steinhoff was accused of abusing prisoners, including women and children, and taking part in selections that sent inmates to the gas chambers. Despite the worsening military situation facing Nazi Germany, she was awarded the Iron Cross in January 1945 for her service as a camp overseer.
This story examines the origins of Stutthof, the persecution of Jews and Poles under German occupation, Gerda Steinhoff's role within the camp system, and the fate that awaited her after the war. Captured in 1945, she was tried during the First Stutthof Trial, found guilty of war crimes, and ultimately faced justice in 1946.

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“The Merciless Stutthof Guard Awarded the Iron Cross: Gerda Steinhoff”

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Transcript
00:00On the 25th of January, 1944, Gerda Steinhof got married and soon gave birth to a child.
00:07The same year in June, the SS in Stutthof began conscripting women from Danzig and the surrounding
00:12cities to train as camp guards because of their severe shortage after the women's sub-camp of
00:17Stutthof called Brombergost was set up in the city of Bydgosz. One such woman became Gerda Steinhof,
00:23who at that time worked as a tram conductor. Until the 31st of October, 1944, she belonged to the
00:30SS guards in one of the Stutthof's 40 sub-camps, the Stutthof SK-3, and had 400 women and children
00:36in her jurisdiction, all at her mercy. Discover the full story on worldhistory.tv

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