View source for Stutthof concentration camp

{{Short description|Nazi concentration camp in Poland (1939–1945)}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Stutthof|Struthof|Stuthof}}
{{Infobox concentration camp
| type               = [[Nazi concentration camp]]
| name               = Stutthof
| image              = Barracks at Stutthof after liberation.jpg
| image size         = 
| caption            = Prisoner barracks after liberation
| alt                = 
| other names        = 
| known for          = 
| location           = [[Sztutowo]] 
| coordinates        = {{coord|54|19|44|N|19|09|14|E|display=inline,title}}
| location map       = Poland
| map size           = 220
| map relief         = 1
| map caption        = Location of the former Stutthof concentration camp in Poland
| built by           = 
| operated by        = [[Nazi Germany]]
| commandant         = [[Max Pauly]], September 1939 – August 1942<br />[[Paul-Werner Hoppe]], August 1942 – January 1945
| original use       = 
| construction       = 
| in operation       = 2 September 1939 – 9 May 1945 
| gas chambers       = 
| prisoner type      = [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Jews]], and political prisoners of various nationalities
| inmates            = 110,000 
| killed             = 63,000 - 65,000 (including 28,000 Jews)
| liberated by       = [[Red Army]]
| notable inmates    = 
| notable books      = 
| website            = 
}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}[[File:Plan Stutthof.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Map of the main camp after expansion. The German armaments factory [[Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke|DAW]] to the right (black, outlined in red) by the prisoner barracks. ''Death gate'' marked with an arrow, next to the red-brick ''SS'' administration building.]]
<!-- [[File:KL Stutthof 01.jpg|thumb|upright=2|Stutthof Museum panorama, 2007]] -->

'''Stutthof''' was a [[Nazi concentration camp]] established by [[Nazi Germany]] in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now [[Sztutowo]]) 34&nbsp;km (21&nbsp;mi) east of the city of Danzig ([[Gdańsk]]) in the territory of the German-annexed [[Free City of Danzig]]. The camp was set up around existing structures after the [[invasion of Poland]] in [[World War II]] and initially used for the imprisonment of Polish leaders and [[intelligentsia]].<ref name="Blatman"/><ref name="x">{{cite book|url=http://stutthof.org/projekty/zeszyty/2/10.pdf|title=Praca więźniów w obozie koncentracyjnym Stutthof|trans-title=Prisoner labour at Stutthof|publisher=Muzeum Stutthof w Sztutowie |date=1977|access-date=11 February 2015|author=Maria Przyłucka|page=59 (4–5/19 in PDF)}}</ref> The actual barracks were built the following year by prisoners.<ref name="Museum"/> Most of the infrastructure of the concentration camp was either destroyed or dismantled shortly after the war. In 1962, the former concentration camp with its remaining structures was turned into a memorial museum.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://pomorskie.travel/en/punkty-poi/muzeum-stutthof-w-sztutowie |title=The Stutthof Museum in Sztutowo |publisher=Pomorskie.travel |access-date=30 September 2021}}</ref>

Stutthof was the first German concentration camp set up outside German borders in World War&nbsp;II, in operation from 2 September 1939. It was also the last camp liberated by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]], on 9 May 1945. It is estimated that between 63,000 and 65,000 prisoners of Stutthof concentration camp and its subcamps died as a result of murder, starvation, epidemics, extreme labour conditions, brutal and forced evacuations, and a lack of medical attention. Some 28,000 of those who died were Jews. In total, as many as 110,000 people were deported to the camp in the course of its existence. About 24,600 were transferred from Stutthof to other locations.<ref name="Museum">{{cite web |author=Stutthof State Museum |location=Sztutowo, Poland |url=http://stutthof.org/historia |title=History of the concentration camp in Stuttfof |trans-title=Obóz koncentracyjny Stutthof (1939-1945)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322132425/http://stutthof.org/historia/ |archive-date=22 March 2016|language=pl}}</ref>

== Camp ==
The camp was established in connection with the ethnic cleansing project that included the [[Intelligenzaktion|liquidation of Polish elites]] (members of the intelligentsia, religious and political leaders) in the Danzig area and Western Prussia.<ref name="Blatman">{{cite book |last1=Blatman |first1=Daniel |author-link1=Daniel Blatman|title=The Death Marches, The Final Phase of Nazi Genocide |date=2011 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-72598-0 |pages=111–112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mT_A4ubQyXwC&pg=PA111}}</ref>

Even before the war began, the German [[Selbstschutz]] in [[Pomerania]] created lists of people to be arrested,<ref name="Museum"/> and the Nazi authorities were secretly reviewing suitable places to set up concentration camps in their area.

Originally, Stutthof was a civilian internment camp<ref>{{cite book |last1=Winstone |first1=Martin |title=The Holocaust Sites of Europe: An Historical Guide |date=2010 |publisher=I.B Tauris |isbn=978-1-84-885-290-7 |page=302}}</ref> under the [[Free City of Danzig Police|Danzig police]] chief, before its subsequent massive expansion. In November 1941, it became a "labor education" camp (like [[Dachau concentration camp|Dachau]]), administered by the [[Sicherheitsdienst|German Security Police]].{{sfn|''Holocaust Encyclopedia''|2014}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rempel |first1=Gerhard |title=Mennonites and the Holocaust: From Collaboration to Perpetuation |journal=Mennonite Quarterly Review |date=2010 |volume=84 |issue=4 |pages=507–549 |url=https://www.goshen.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/75/2016/06/Oct10Rempel.pdf}}</ref> Finally, in January 1942, Stutthof became a regular concentration camp.<ref name="Blatman"/>

The original camp (known as the old camp) was surrounded by the barbed-wire fence. It comprised eight barracks for the inmates and a "Kommandantur" for the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] guards, totaling {{convert|120000|m2}}. In 1943, the camp was enlarged and a new camp was constructed alongside the earlier one. It was also surrounded by electrified barbed-wire fence and contained thirty new barracks, raising the total area to {{convert|1.2|km2}}. A crematorium and gas chamber<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stutthof Concentration Camp |url=http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/stutthof.html|access-date=2021-02-06|website=www.holocaustresearchproject.org}}</ref> were added in 1943, just in time to start mass executions when Stutthof was included in the "[[Final Solution]]" in June 1944. Mobile [[Nazi gas van|gas wagons]] were also used to complement the maximum capacity of the gas chamber (150 people per execution) when needed.{{citation needed|date=September 2018}}

=== Staff ===
[[File:Sztutowo.jpg|thumb|left|Stutthof concentration camp administration]]

The camp staff consisted of German ''SS'' guards and, after 1943, the [[Trawniki men|Ukrainian auxiliaries]] brought in by SS-''[[Gruppenführer]]'' [[Fritz Katzmann]], the Higher [[SS and Police Leader]] of the area.{{sfn|''Holocaust Encyclopedia''|2014}}

In 1942 the first German female ''SS'' ''[[Aufseherin]]nen'' guards arrived at Stutthof along with female prisoners. A total of 295 women guards worked as staff in the Stutthof complex of camps.<ref name="elholocausto">Nunca Mas (2007), [https://web.archive.org/web/20141113092702/http://www.elholocausto.net/parte01/0127.htm Datos de 295 Mujeres Pertenecientes a la SS: Christel Bankewitz, Stutthof], Historia Virtual del Holocausto, elholocausto.net; accessed 30 December 2017.</ref>

Among the notable female guard personnel were: [[Elisabeth Becker]], [[Erna Beilhardt]], Ella Bergmann, Ella Blank, Gerda Bork, [[Herta Bothe]], Erna Boettcher, [[Hermine Boettcher-Brueckner]], Steffi Brillowski, Charlotte Graf, Charlotte Gregor, Charlotte Klein, [[Gerda Steinhoff]], [[Ewa Paradies]], and [[Jenny-Wanda Barkmann]]. Thirty-four female guards including Becker, Bothe, Steinhoff, Paradies, and Barkmann were identified later as having committed crimes against humanity. The ''SS'' in Stutthof began conscripting women from Danzig and the surrounding cities in June 1944, to train as camp guards because of their severe shortage after the women's subcamp of Stutthof called [[Bromberg-Ost]] (Konzentrationslager Bromberg-Ost) was set up in the city of [[Bydgoszcz]].<ref name="Ferencz">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2T5CPGvAGB4C&q=bromberg+concentration+camp&pg=PA107|title=Less Than Slaves: Jewish Forced Labor and the Quest for Compensation|author=Benjamin B. Ferencz|year=2002|publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=0-253-21530-7|access-date=24 June 2013}}</ref>

Several Norwegian [[Frontkjemper|Waffen SS volunteers]] worked as guards or as instructors for prisoners from [[Nordic countries]], according to senior researcher at the Norwegian Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities, Terje Emberland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=10011346|title=Norske vakter jobbet i Hitlers konsentrasjonsleire|date=15 November 2010 |access-date=21 January 2013}}</ref>

===Prisoners===
[[File:Stutthof prisoners eat during a break in the construction of the camp.jpg|thumb|Stutthof prisoners eat during a break in the construction of the camp, October 1939.]]
The first 150 inmates, imprisoned on 2 September 1939, were selected among Poles and Jews arrested in Danzig immediately after the outbreak of war.<ref name="Museum"/> The inmate population rose to 6,000 in the following two weeks, on 15 September 1939. Until 1942, nearly all of the prisoners were Polish. The number of inmates increased considerably in 1944, with Jews forming a significant proportion of the newcomers. The first contingent of 2,500 Jewish prisoners arrived from [[Auschwitz]] in July 1944. In total, 23,566 Jews (including 21,817 women) were transferred to Stutthof from Auschwitz, and 25,053 (including 16,123 women) from camps in the Baltic states.<ref name="Blatman"/> When the [[Red Army|Soviet army]] began its advance through German-occupied [[Estonia]] in July and August 1944, the camp staff of [[Klooga concentration camp]] evacuated the majority of the inmates by sea and sent them to Stutthof.<ref>{{Cite web|title=PHASE II: THE GERMAN OCCUPATION OF ESTONIA IN 1941–1944|url=http://www.mnemosyne.ee/hc.ee/pdf/conclusions_en_1941-1944.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305103650/http://www.mnemosyne.ee/hc.ee/pdf/conclusions_en_1941-1944.pdf|archive-date=2012-03-05|url-status=live|access-date=2020-07-23|website=www.webcitation.org}}</ref> Other sources say that the camp staff shot most remaining inmates in a mass murder.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Klooga Concentration Camp and Holocauts Memorial. Basic Information|url=https://issuu.com/mnemosyne2/docs/klooga_concentration_camp_and_holocaust_memorial._|access-date=2020-07-23|website=Issuu|date=10 September 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

Stutthof's registered inmates included citizens of 28 countries, and besides Jews and Poles – Germans, Czechs, Dutch, Belgians, [[French citizen|French]], Norwegians, Finns, Danes, Lithuanians, Latvians, Belarusians, Russians, and others. There were also those classed and condemned as "vagrants who travel around after the manner of the gypsies", a category that included [[Romani people|Romani]], [[Sinti]] and [[Yenish people|Yenish]] people.<ref>Wolfgang Ayaß, [http://www.bundesarchiv.de/imperia/md/content/abteilungen/abtg/dzd/dokumentenverzeichnisse/materialien_5_gemeinschaftsfremde.pdf ''"Gemeinschaftsfremde". Quellen zur Verfolgung von "Asozialen" 1933–1945''], Koblenz 1998, Nr. 50.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/117242-009-A/re-the-yenish-fighting-for-recognition/ |title=The Yenish - Fighting for Recognition |date=2024 |last=ARTE |first=Documentary |language=en |access-date=2025-02-11 |via=www.arte.tv}}</ref>

Among 110,000 prisoners were Jews from all over Europe, members of the [[Polish underground]], Polish civilians deported from [[Warsaw]] during the [[Warsaw Uprising]], Lithuanian and Latvian intelligentsia, [[Latvian anti-Nazi resistance movement 1941–45|Latvian resistance fighters]], [[Aktion T4|psychiatric patients]], [[German mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war|Soviet prisoners of war]],<ref name="Museum" /> and Communists (as an example of Communist deportations to Stutthof, see the Danish [[Horserød camp]]). One prominent inmate and survivor of the Stutthof concentration camp was a member of parliament for the [[Communist Party of Denmark]] [[Martin Nielsen (politician)|Martin Nielsen]], who detailed his deportation to, experience in and ensuing [[Death marches (Holocaust)|death march]] from the camp in his book ''{{lang|da|Rapport fra Stutthof}}'' ('Report from Stutthof').<ref>{{cite book |last=Nielsen |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Nielsen (politician) |date=1947 |language=da |no-pp=yes |title= Rapport fra Stutthof |trans-title= Report from Stutthof |publisher=Gyldendal}}</ref> It is believed that inmates sent for immediate execution were not registered.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

=== Conditions ===
[[File:A Polish POW stands at attention in the Appellplatz at the Stutthof concentration camp.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A Polish POW stands at attention in the Appellplatz at Stutthof, October 1939.]]
Conditions in the camp were extremely harsh;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Matussek |first1=Paul |display-authors=etal |title=Internment in Concentration Camps and Its Consequences |date=1975 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=978-3-642-66077-1 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3AArBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19}}</ref> tens of thousands of prisoners succumbed to starvation and disease.<ref name="Gilbert">{{cite book |last1=Gilbert |first1=Martin |author-link1=Martin Gilbert |title=The Routledge Atlas of the Holocaust |date=2002 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=0-415-28145-8 |page=195 |edition=3rd}}</ref> Many died in [[typhus]] epidemics that swept the camp in the winter of 1942 and again in 1944; those whom the SS guards judged too weak or sick to work were gassed in the camp's small gas chamber.<ref name="Museum"/> The first executions were carried out on 11 January and 22 March 1940 – 89 Polish activists and government officials were shot.<ref name="Museum"/> Gassing with [[Zyklon B]] began in June 1944.<ref name="Blatman"/> 4,000 prisoners, including Jewish women and children, were killed in a gas chamber before the evacuation of the camp.<ref name="Blatman"/> Another method of execution practiced in Stutthof was lethal injection of [[phenol]].<ref name="Gilbert"/><ref name="Museum"/> Prisoners were also drowned in mud or clubbed to death.<ref name="Gilbert"/> A [[Yenish people|Yenish]] survivor recalls that his mother, having given birth in the KZ, was made to witness her newborn being cast into the incinerator.<ref name=":2" /> Between 63,000 and 65,000 people died in the camp.<ref name="Museum"/>

A range of German organisations and individuals used Stutthof prisoners as forced laborers. Many prisoners worked in SS-owned businesses such as DAW ({{lang|de|[[Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke]]}}, literally the 'German Equipment Works'), the heavily guarded armaments factory located inside the camp next to prisoner barracks. Other inmates labored in local brickyards, in private industrial enterprises, in agriculture, or in the camp's own workshops. In 1944, as forced labor by concentration camp prisoners became increasingly important in armaments production, a [[Focke-Wulf]] aircraft factory was constructed at Stutthof. Eventually, the Stutthof camp system became a network of forced-labor camps. The ''[[Holocaust Encyclopedia]]'' estimates that (less officially) some 105 Stutthof subcamps were established throughout northern and central Poland. The major subcamps were in [[Toruń]] (Thorn) and in [[Elbląg]] (Elbing).{{sfn|''Holocaust Encyclopedia''|2014}}<ref name="HRP">Chris Webb, Carmelo Lisciotto (2007), [http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/stutthof.html Stutthof Concentration Camp.] H.E.A.R.T at HolocaustResearchProject.org.</ref>

=== Alleged human soap production  ===
{{see|Soap made from human corpses#Danzig Anatomical Institute}}
[[File:Лагерь смерти «Штуттгоф». «Это не забывается».jpg|thumb|Stutthof crematoria after liberation, 9 May 1945]]
[[File:Лагерь смерти «Штуттгоф». Одежда людей, уничтоженных в лагере.jpg|thumb|Clothes of victims of Stutthof concentration camp, 9 May 1945]]
[[File:Лагерь смерти «Штуттгоф». Ограда лагеря.jpg|thumb|Electrified barbed wire fences at Stutthof, 9 May 1945]]
There was a controversy regarding whether corpses from Stutthof were used in the production of [[soap made from human corpses]] at the lab of Professor [[Rudolf Spanner]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=CIENCIALA|first=ANNA M.|date=2011|title=Review of Profesor Rudolf Spanner 1895-1960. Naukowiec w III Rzeszy [Professor Rudolf Spanner 1895-1960: A Scientist in the Third Reich], Piotr Semków|journal=The Polish Review|volume=56|issue=3|pages=265–269|doi=10.2307/41550440 |jstor=41550440|s2cid=254434249 |issn=0032-2970}}
*{{cite book|last=Shermer|first=Michael|author2=Alex Grobman|title=Denying history: Who says the Holocaust never happened and why do they say it?|url=https://archive.org/details/denyinghistorywh00sher|url-access=registration|publisher=Univ. of California Press|year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/denyinghistorywh00sher/page/114 114–17]|isbn=978-0-520-23469-7}}</ref><ref>Drobnicki, John A. "[https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1245&context=yc_pubs Soap from Human Fat: The Case of Professor Spanner]." (2018).</ref>

Historian Joachim Neander argued that, contrary to some claims made in previous years, what the [[Institute of National Remembrance]] (IPN) calls the "chemical substance which was essentially soap"<ref name=TomSem>{{cite book |last1=Tomkiewicz |first1=Monika |last2=Semków |first2=Piotr | title=Soap from human fat: the case of Professor Spanner | publisher=Gdynia Wydawnictwo Róża Wiatrów  |year=2013 |isbn=978-83-62012-02-2 }}</ref> was the byproduct of Spanner's [[Maceration (bone)|bone maceration]] processes done to create [[anatomical model]]s at the Danzig Anatomical Institute, where he worked and which was not part of the Stutthof camp.<ref name=Neander>{{Cite journal|last=Neander|first=Joachim|date=2006|title=The Danzig Soap Case: Facts and Legends around "Professor Spanner" and the Danzig Anatomic Institute 1944-1945|journal=German Studies Review|volume=29|issue=1|pages=63–86|jstor=27667954|issn=0149-7952}}</ref> The corpses used for this were not "harvested" bodies, and the byproduct of Spanner's work at the Danzig institute was collected. This was conflated with the separate [[Soap made from human corpses#World War II|debunked rumours of industrial production of human soap in concentration camps]], which circulated during the war, and thereafter used as proof of this during the [[Nuremberg trials]].<ref name=Neander/><ref name=TomSem/> 

Polish historians and employees at the IPN, Monika Tomkiewicz and Piotr Semków, reached similar conclusions. Semków states that the presence of human [[Adipose tissue|fat tissue]] has been confirmed in the samples of soapy grease (claimed to be "unfinished soap"<ref name=Neander/>) from Danzig presented during the trials through analysis performed by the [[Institute of National Remembrance|IPN]] and [[Gdańsk University of Technology]] in 2011<ref>[https://dziennikbaltycki.pl/gdansk-ofiary-zbrodniczych-eksperymentow-w-zapomnianej-mogile/ar/394930]''Gdańsk: Ofiary zbrodniczych eksperymentów w zapomnianej mogile'' Dziennik Baltycki 21.04.2011</ref><ref name="Shallcross2011">{{cite book|author=Bozena Shallcross|title=The Holocaust Object in Polish and Polish-Jewish Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QHrpxz5i1T8C&pg=PA57|date=21 February 2011|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-00509-0|page=57}}</ref> and 2006,<ref>{{cite web|author=Polska Press Sp. z o.o. |url=http://www.wiadomosci24.pl/artykul/zakonczono_sledztwo_w_glosnej_sprawie_profesora_spannera_8420.html |title=Zakończono śledztwo w głośnej "sprawie profesora Spannera" |publisher=Wiadomosci24.pl |date=2006-10-07 |access-date=2016-01-14}}</ref><ref>[http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/m/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=8 "Human Fat Was Used to Produce Soap in Gdansk during the War"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521224630/http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/m/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=8 |date=2011-05-21 }}, Auschwitz–Birkenau Memorial and Museum website, 13 October 2006. Accessed July 12, 2011.</ref> respectively, but his and Tomkiewicz research concluded that this was a byproduct stemming from Spanner's work in bone maceration at the institute unrelated to the Stutthof camp.<ref name=TomSem/> Spanner was unlikely to have "really occupied himself with the production of usable soap from human fat", and that any soap production in his laboratory was likely marginal.<ref name=":0" /><ref>M. Tomkiewicz, P. Semków: Profesor Rudolf Maria Spanner – naukowiec czy eksperymentator? Medycyna na usługach systemu eksterminacji ludności w Trzeciej Rzeszy i na terenach okupowanej Polski. Edited by G. Łukomski, G. Kucharski. Poznań–Gniezno 2011, page 131 . Należy odnotować, że prowadzone w latach 2002–2006 przez Oddziałową Komisję Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu w Gdańsku śledztwo potwierdziło, że w Instytucie Anatomicznym produkowano w czasie wojny mydło z tłuszczu ludzkiego, wprawdzie nie na skalę przemysłową, jednak do celów użytkowych, translated: One should note that the investigation carried out in the years 2002–2006 by the District Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Gdańsk (Oddziałowa Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu w Gdańsku) proved that during the war soap from human fat was manufactured at the Anatomical Institute. It was not produced on an industrial scale, but still for utilitarian purpose</ref> It was also added that Spanner was arrested twice after the war but released after each time after explaining how he had conducted the maceration and injection process of his models and was declared "clean" by the [[denazification]] program in 1948, officially exonerated, and resumed his academic career.<ref name=Neander/><ref name=TomSem/><ref name=Aus>{{Cite web|url=http://www.auschwitz.org.pl/new/index.php?tryb=news_big&language=PL&id=1129|title=Zakończono śledztwo w głośnej "sprawie profesora Spannera"|website=Dziennik Bałtycki|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930015505/http://www.auschwitz.org.pl/new/index.php?tryb=news_big&language=PL&id=1129|archive-date=2007-09-30}}</ref>

== Sub-camps ==
The main German concentration camp in Stutthof had as many as 40 sub-camps during World War II. In total, the sub-camps held 110,000 prisoners from 25 countries. The sub-camps of Stutthof included:<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gliński|first=Mirosław|title=Podobozy i większe komanda zewnętrzne obozu Stutthof (1939–1945)|journal=Stutthof. Zeszyty Muzeum|language=pl|volume=3|pages=165–180|issn=0137-5377}}</ref>

{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
# Bottschin in [[Bocień]] 
# [[Bromberg-Ost]] in [[Bydgoszcz]]
# [[Bromberg Dynamit Nobel AG Factory|DAG Factory]] in Bydgoszcz
# Bruss ([[Brusy]])
# Chorabie ([[Chorab]])
# [[Cieszyny, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship|Cieszyny]]
# Danzig&ndash;Burggraben in [[Kokoszki]]
# Danzig–Holm ([[Gdańsk]]–[[Ostrów Island]])
# Danzig&ndash;Neufahrwasser (Gdańsk–[[Nowy Port]])
# [[Danziger Werft]] in [[Gdańsk]]
# Dzimianen ([[Dziemiany]])
# Außenstelle Elbing in [[Elbląg]]
# Elbing / [[Org. Todt]] (Elbląg)
# Elbing / [[Schichau-Werke]] (Elbląg)
# Pölitz ([[Police, West Pomeranian Voivodeship|Police]] near Szczecin)
# Gotenhafen in [[Gdynia]]
# [[Orłowo, Gdynia|Gdynia-Orłowo]]
# [[Außenarbeitslager Gerdauen]] ([[Zheleznodorozhny, Kaliningrad Oblast|Zheleznodorozhny]])
# Graudenz in [[Grudziądz]]
# Grenzdorf in [[Graniczna Wieś]]
# [[Grodno, Toruń County|Grodno]]
# Gutowo
# Gwisdyn in [[Gwiździny, Nowe Miasto County|Gwiździny]]
# [[Heiligenbeil concentration camp|KL Heiligenbeil]] ([[Mamonovo]])
# Hopehill in [[Nadbrzeże]]
# Jesau/''Juschny'', Russia
# [[Kolkau]]
# Königsberg in [[Kaliningrad]]
# [[Krzemieniewo, Pomeranian Voivodeship|Krzemieniewo]]
# Lauenburg ([[Lębork]])
# Matzkau in Maćkowy (now within city limits of Gdańsk)
# [[Malken Mierzynek]]
# [[Mikoszewo]]
# [[Nawitz|Camp Nawitz]] in [[Nawcz|Nawitz/''Nawcz'']]
# Niskie
# [[Obrzycko]]
# [[Pelplin]]
# [[Potulice concentration camp|Potulitz]] in [[Potulice]]
# [[Pruszcz Gdański|Praust/''Pruszcz Gdański'']]
# [[Przebrno]]
# Russoschin in [[Rusocin, Pomeranian Voivodeship|Rusocin]]
# [[Brodnica]]
# Schichau-Werft in [[Gdańsk]]
# Schirkenpass (Scherokopas)
# [[Sępopol|Schippenbeil/''Sępopol'']], Poland
# [[Lyublino, Kaliningrad Oblast|Seerappen/''Lyublino'']], Russia 
# [[Dziemiany|Sophienwalde]]
# [[Słupsk|Stolp/''Słupsk'']]
# Preußisch Stargard ([[Starogard Gdański]])
# [[Susz]]
# Thorn ([[AEG (German company)|AEG]], [[Organisation Todt|Org. Todt]]) in [[Toruń]]
# [[Westerplatte]] in Gdańsk
# [[Wiślinka]]
# Zeyersniederkampen in [[Kępiny Wielkie]]
{{div col end}}

== Commandants ==
{{refimprove|date=February 2024}}
The camp had two commanders:
* [[Sturmbannführer|SS-Sturmbannführer]] [[Max Pauly]],<ref name="Grabowska">{{cite web|url=http://kki.net.pl/~museum/rozdz13.htm |title=Odpowiedzialność za Zbrodnie Popełnione w Stutthofie. Procesy|publisher=KL Stutthof, Monografia|date=22 January 2009|access-date=12 November 2014|author=Janina Grabowska|format=Internet Archive|trans-title=Responsibility for the Atrocities Committed at Stutthof. The trials.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122201600/http://kki.net.pl/~museum/rozdz13.htm|archive-date=22 January 2009}}</ref> September 1939 – August 1942
* [[Sturmbannführer|SS-Sturmbannführer]] [[Paul-Werner Hoppe]], August 1942 – January 1945

== Death march ==
[[File:Crematoria of Stutthof, photographed after liberation.jpg|thumb|Two crematoria of Stutthof, photographed after liberation]]
[[File:Pomnik KL Stutthof.jpg|thumb|Camp memorial]]

The evacuation of prisoners from the Stutthof camp system began on 25 January 1945. When the final evacuation began, there were nearly 50,000 prisoners, most of them Jews, in the Stutthof camp system. The prisoners were marched in the direction of [[Lębork|Lauenburg]] in eastern Germany. Cut off by advancing Soviet forces, the Germans forced the surviving prisoners to march back to Stutthof.{{sfn|''Holocaust Encyclopedia''|2014}}

In late April 1945, the remaining prisoners were removed from Stutthof by sea, since the camp was completely encircled by Soviet forces. 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.{{sfn|''Holocaust Encyclopedia''|2014}}

On 5 May 1945, a [[Rescue of Stutthof victims in Denmark|barge full of starving prisoners]] was towed into harbour at [[Klintholm Havn]] in Denmark where 351 of the 370 on board were saved. Shortly before the German surrender, some prisoners were transferred to [[Malmö]], Sweden, and released into the care of that neutral country. It has been estimated that around half of the evacuated prisoners, over 25,000, died during the evacuation from Stutthof and its subcamps.{{sfn|''Holocaust Encyclopedia''|2014}}

Soviet forces liberated Stutthof on 9 May 1945, rescuing about 100 prisoners who had managed to hide.{{sfn|''Holocaust Encyclopedia''|2014}}

== Stutthof trials ==
{{Main|Stutthof trials}}
{{Multiple image
|image1=Stutthof female SS guards trial.jpg
|caption1=First row from left to right: [[Elisabeth Becker]], [[Gerda Steinhoff]], [[Wanda Klaff]]; second row: [[Erna Beilhardt]], [[Jenny-Wanda Barkmann]]
|image2=Biskupia Gorka executions - 3 - Becker, Klaff, Steinhoff, Pauls (right to left).jpg
|caption2=The execution of the SS overseers of the Stutthof concentration camp: Becker, Klaff, Steinhoff, and Pauls on 4 July 1946, with priest}}

The well known [[Nuremberg Trials]] were only concerned with concentration camps as evidence for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Third Reich leadership. Several lesser known trials followed against the staff of various concentration camps. Poland held four trials in [[Gdańsk]] against former guards and ''[[Kapo (concentration camp)|kapos]]'' of Stutthof, charging them with crimes of war and crimes against humanity.

The first trial was held from 25 April to 31 May 1946, against 30 ex-officials and prisoner-guards of the camp. [[Supreme National Tribunal|The Soviet/Polish Special Criminal Court]] found all of them guilty of the charges. Eleven defendants including the former commander, [[Johann Pauls]], were sentenced to death. The rest were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment.

The second trial was held from 8 October to 31 October 1947, before a Polish Special Criminal Court. The arraigned 24 ex-officials and guards of the Stutthof concentration camp were judged and found guilty. Ten were sentenced to death.

The third trial was held from 5 November to 10 November 1947, before a Polish Special Criminal Court. Arraigned were 20 ex-officials and guards judged; 19 then found guilty, with one acquitted.

The fourth and final trial was also held before a Polish Special Criminal Court, from 19 November to 29 November 1947. Twenty-seven ex-officials and guards were arraigned and judged; 26 were found guilty, and one was acquitted.

An additional trial was attempted in November 2018, when Johann Rehbogen was accused of being an accessory to murder.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nazi-ss-guard-johann-rehbogen-stutthof-concentration-camp-germany-accessory-murder/ |title=Ex-Nazi concentration camp guard Johann Rehbogen, 94, goes on trial in Germany |date=November 6, 2018 |agency=Associated Press |work=CBS News}}</ref> There was no evidence to link him to specific killings, and though he admitted to serving at the camp, he said that he was unaware that people were being murdered there.<ref name=bbc>{{cite news |title=Holocaust trial: Germany tries former SS guard at Stutthof camp |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46108753 |publisher=BBC News |date=6 November 2018}}
*{{cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/johann-rehbogen-former-ss-guard-94-on-trial-over-deaths-at-stutthof-concentration-camp-11546199|title=Johann Rehbogen: Former SS guard, 94, on trial over deaths at Stutthof concentration camp |first = Russell |last = Hope |date=6 November 2018|publisher=Sky News}}</ref> He was charged as a juvenile, as he was under 21 at the time of the offense. Images in the news broadcasts concealed his face for legal reasons.<ref name=bbc/> Being tried at the age of 94, court proceedings were limited to no more than two hours per day and two non-consecutive days per week.<ref name=bbc/> In February 2019 the trial of a defendant matching this description (whom Reuters reported could not be named for legal reasons) was halted after a medical report was issued stating that the defendant was unfit to stand trial, the trial already having been suspended since the previous December.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-warcrimes/german-court-stops-trial-of-former-death-camp-guard-idUSKCN1QE1O8|title=German court stops trial of former death-camp guard |first=Elke |last = Ahlswede |newspaper=Reuters |date=2019-02-25}}
*{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/german-court-trial-of-nazi-guard-unlikely-to-be-restarted/2019/02/25/270c928c-38fd-11e9-b10b-f05a22e75865_story.html?noredirect=on|date=2019-02-25|title=German court: Trial of Nazi guard unlikely to be restarted|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref>

Another Nazi camp guard, Bruno Dey from Hamburg, was charged in October 2019 with contributing to the killings of 5,230 prisoners at Stutthof camp between 1944 and 1945. He was tried in a juvenile court due having been about 17 at that time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/16/former-guard-93-at-nazi-concentration-camp-to-go-on-trial-in-hamburg|title=Former Nazi camp guard to go on trial in Hamburg|website=The Guardian|date=17 October 2019}}</ref> On 23 July 2020, he was given a two-year suspended sentence by the court in Hamburg.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/23/former-concentration-camp-guard-convicted-over-5232-murders|author=Oltermann, Philip|location=Hamburg  |title=Nazi concentration camp guard convicted over 5,232 murders|website=The Guardian|date=23 July 2020}}</ref>

In July 2021, a 96-year-old German secretary, [[Irmgard Furchner]], who had been part of KZ Stutthof was arrested to be tried for [[war crimes]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-10-20|title=96-Year-Old Former Nazi Death Camp Secretary Goes on Trial Over Murders of 11,000 People - October 20, 2021|url=https://dailynewsbrief.com/2021/10/20/96-year-old-former-nazi-death-camp-secretary-goes-on-trial-over-murders-of-11000-people/|access-date=2021-10-20|website=Daily News Brief|language=en-US}}</ref> On 28 September 2021, Frau Furchner left her home in Hamburg and failed to appear for her hearing. She was arrested on 30 September 2021 and the hearing was rescheduled for 19 October 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://hamodia.com/2021/07/18/german-court-try-96-year-old-time-nazi-concentration-camp/|title=German Court to Try 96-Year-Old Over Time at Nazi Concentration Camp |date=July 18, 2021|work=[[Hamodia]]}}</ref> On 20 December 2022 Furchner, then 97, was convicted of being an accessory to murder of more than 10,000 people at Stutthof concentration camp during World War II. A two-year suspended sentence in line with that requested by prosecutors was handed down by the Itzehoe state court in northern Germany.<ref name=":1">{{cite news |last1=Kirby |first1=Paul |last2=Greenall |first2=Robert |date=20 December 2022 |title=Irmgard Furchner: Nazi typist guilty of complicity in 10,500 murders. |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64036465 |access-date=20 December 2022 |work=BBC News}}</ref> On 20 August 2024, the German [[Federal Court of Justice]] upheld Furchner's conviction.<ref>{{cite news |last=Moulson |first=Geir |date=20 August 2024 |title=A German court upholds the conviction of a former secretary at a Nazi concentration camp, age 99 |url=https://apnews.com/article/germany-nazi-trial-stutthof-secretary-appeal-99-8dd7525a3c1b1f0cb8daca0518939f06 |accessdate=20 August 2024 |publisher=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=von Richtfofen |first=Luisa |date=20 August 2024 |title=German court upholds ex-Nazi camp secretary conviction |url=https://www.dw.com/en/germany-upholds-sentence-of-former-nazi-camp-secretary/a-69986542 |accessdate=20 August 2024 |publisher=Duetsche Welle}}</ref>

[[:de:Josef_Salomonovic|Josef Salomonovic]], who arrived at Stutthof in June 1944 from [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]] just before his sixth birthday,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Josef Salomonovic {{!}} KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg |url=https://www.gedenkstaette-flossenbuerg.de/en/history/prisoners/josef-salomonovic |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=www.gedenkstaette-flossenbuerg.de}}</ref> was the only survivor to give evidence in person at the Furchner trial. He described Stutthof, where his father was murdered by [[phenol injection]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Josef Salomonovič (1938) |url=https://www.memoryofnations.eu/en/salomonovic-josef-1938 |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=www.memoryofnations.eu |language=en}}</ref> as the worst of the several camps through which he and his family had passed. Asia Shindelman, who arrived in Stutthof in July 1944 aged 16,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dimensions in Testimony: The Interviewees |url=https://sfi.usc.edu/dit/interviewees |access-date=2025-01-15 |website=USC Shoah Foundation |language=en}}</ref> testified from the United States via video link to prisoners being thrown by guards into electrified fences.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-12-20 |title=Stutthof survivor: Entering Nazi camp meant a death sentence |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64042502 |access-date=2025-01-15 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Filming location==

In 1999, [[Artur Żmijewski (filmmaker)|Artur Żmijewski]] filmed a group of nude people playing [[Tag (game)|tag]] in one of the Stutthof gas chambers, sparking outrage.<ref>{{cite news |title=Poland asked to explain naked Nazi gas chamber video |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42178470 |access-date=24 February 2023 |work=BBC News |date=30 November 2017}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.newser.com/story/252305/outrage-over-naked-game-of-tag-in-nazi-gas-chamber.html|title=Outrage Over Naked Game of Tag Played in Nazi Gas Chamber|first=Michael|last=Harthorne|date=30 November 2017}}
*{{cite web|url=http://observer.com/2015/07/art-fail-nude-game-of-tag-in-gas-chamber-disgusting-critics-say/|title=Outrage Over Museum's Video-Art Display of a Nude Game of Tag in Gas Chamber|website=[[The New York Observer]]|date=8 July 2015}}</ref>

==Notable inmates==
===Survivors===
*[[Reidar Kvammen]], Norwegian international [[Association football|football]] player
*[[Helen Lewis (choreographer)|Helen Lewis]] (''née'' Katz), Czech dancer, choreographer (memoir: ''A Time to Speak'') 
*[[Martin Nielsen (politician)]], Danish politician and member of parliament
*[[Ingrid Pitt]], Polish-British actress, author, and writer
===Murdered or died as a result===
* [[Eva Mamlok]], German anti-fascist and Jewish resistance fighter
*[[Julia Rodzińska]], Dominican Sister, blessed of the Catholic Church
*[[Balys Sruoga]], Lithuanian poet playwright, critic, and literary theorist
*[[Thøger Thøgersen]], Danish politician

== See also ==
{{Portal|Germany}}
* [[Female guards in Nazi concentration camps]]
* [[List of Nazi concentration camps]]
* [[Nazi crimes against ethnic Poles]]
* [[Rescue of Stutthof victims in Denmark]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* [http://stutthof.org/node/421 Stutthof National Museum. Selection of monographs in PDF] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222041903/http://stutthof.org/node/421 |date=22 February 2019 }} from ''Zeszyty Muzeum Stutthof'' No. 1–8. Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich. {{in lang|pl}}
* [http://chelm.freeyellow.com/stutthof.html Memorial to the Victims of the Stutthof Concentration Camp] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130624235032/http://chelm.freeyellow.com/stutthof.html |date=24 June 2013 }}
* Several authors, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090122025959/http://kki.net.pl/~museum/monografia.htm Monografia KL Stutthof (KL Stutthof monograph)] Organization, prisoners, subcamps, extermination, responsibility. {{in lang|pl}}
* [http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=3682 SS personnel serving at Ravensbrück], Axis History.com
* [http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=3684 SS personnel serving at Stutthof], Axis History.com
* {{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia|date=20 June 2014|url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005197|title=Stutthof|publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|location=Washington, DC|ref={{sfnref|''Holocaust Encyclopedia''|2014}}}}
* [http://www.jewishgen.org/Forgottencamps/Camps/StutthofEng.html Brief facts and photos of the camp]
* Joachim Neander *[http://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/dachau/legends/2006NeanderDanzigSoapCaseGSR.pdf "The Danzig Soap Case: Facts and Legends around "Professor Spanner" and the Danzig Anatomic Institute 1944-1945"], German Studies Review
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* Marek Orski: [http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Acta_Cassubiana/Acta_Cassubiana-r2001-t3/Acta_Cassubiana-r2001-t3-s11-26/Acta_Cassubiana-r2001-t3-s11-26.pdf Zbrodnie hitlerowskie w obozie koncentracyjnym Stutthof : liczba ofiar w świetle źródeł i badań : próba bilansu]. "[[Acta Cassubiana]]" 2000. Vol. 2.

{{Nazi concentration camps}}
{{Holocaust Poland}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Stutthof concentration camp| ]]
[[Category:1939 establishments in Poland]]
[[Category:1945 disestablishments in Poland]]
[[Category:Lists of Nazi concentration camps|Stutthof]]
[[Category:Museums in Pomeranian Voivodeship]]
[[Category:Registered museums in Poland]]
[[Category:World War II museums in Poland]]
[[Category:World War II sites in Poland]]
[[Category:Death marches in World War II]]