Ewa Paradies
Encyclopedia
Ewa Paradies was a Nazi concentration camp overseer.
Paradies was born in Lauenburg, Pomerania
(now Lębork
, Poland
), Neuendorferstrasse 100. She was a Protestant Christian and not married. In 1935 she left school and worked various jobs in Wuppertal
, Erfurt
and Lauenburg.
In August 1944 she went to Stutthof
SK-III camp for training as an Aufseherin. She soon finished training and became a wardress. In October 1944 she was reassigned to the Bromberg-Ost
subcamp of Stutthof, and in January 1945, back to Stutthof main camp. In April 1945 she accompanied one of the last transports of women prisoners to the Lauenburg subcamp and fled.
In May 1945 she was found and arrested by Polish officers in Lębork. At the Sztutowo trial, several witnesses told of Paradies abuse. One told the court: "She forced a group of women prisoners, in the dead of winter to undress. Then she poured icy water over them. If they moved then she [Paradies] would beat them." During the Stutthof Trial
, Paradies cried and pleaded for her life. Paradies was subsequently found guilty of murder
and sentenced to death
.
Ewa Paradies was publicly hanged at Biskupia Górka
near Gdańsk
, along with 10 others who had been sentenced to death (six men: the camp commandant Johann Pauls and five kapo
s; and four women: Jenny-Wanda Barkmann
, Elisabeth Becker
, Wanda Klaff
and Gerda Steinhoff
).
Paradies was born in Lauenburg, Pomerania
Pomerania
Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
(now Lębork
Lebork
Lębork is a town on the Łeba and Okalica rivers in Middle Pomerania region, north-western Poland with some 37,000 inhabitants.Lębork is also the capital of Lębork County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, formerly in Słupsk Voivodeship ....
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
), Neuendorferstrasse 100. She was a Protestant Christian and not married. In 1935 she left school and worked various jobs in Wuppertal
Wuppertal
Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in and around the Wupper river valley, and is situated east of the city of Düsseldorf and south of the Ruhr area. With a population of approximately 350,000, it is the largest city in the Bergisches Land...
, Erfurt
Erfurt
Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...
and Lauenburg.
In August 1944 she went to Stutthof
Stutthof concentration camp
Stutthof was the first Nazi concentration camp built outside of 1937 German borders.Completed on September 2, 1939, it was located in a secluded, wet, and wooded area west of the small town of Sztutowo . The town is located in the former territory of the Free City of Danzig, 34 km east of...
SK-III camp for training as an Aufseherin. She soon finished training and became a wardress. In October 1944 she was reassigned to the Bromberg-Ost
Bromberg-Ost
Bromberg-Ost or Konzentrationslager Bromberg-Ost , was the female subcamp of the German concentration camp Stutthof between 1944-1945, in the city of Bydgoszcz....
subcamp of Stutthof, and in January 1945, back to Stutthof main camp. In April 1945 she accompanied one of the last transports of women prisoners to the Lauenburg subcamp and fled.
In May 1945 she was found and arrested by Polish officers in Lębork. At the Sztutowo trial, several witnesses told of Paradies abuse. One told the court: "She forced a group of women prisoners, in the dead of winter to undress. Then she poured icy water over them. If they moved then she [Paradies] would beat them." During the Stutthof Trial
Stutthof Trial
Stutthof Trial was a war crime tribunal held at Gdańsk, Poland, from April 25, 1946, to May 31, 1946, where the joint Soviet/Polish Special Criminal Court tried and convicted of crimes against humanity a group of thirteen ex-officials and overseers of the Stutthof concentration camp and...
, Paradies cried and pleaded for her life. Paradies was subsequently found guilty of murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
and sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
.
Ewa Paradies was publicly hanged at Biskupia Górka
Biskupia Górka
Biskupia Górka is a part of the city of Gdańsk in Poland. Historically, Biskupia Górka had important strategic meaning, since it is a hill close to the main city....
near Gdańsk
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
, along with 10 others who had been sentenced to death (six men: the camp commandant Johann Pauls and five kapo
Kapo
Kapo can refer to one of the following:* Kapo , a Hawaiian goddess or god* Kapo , a privileged prisoner who served as a barracks supervisor/warder or led work details in a Nazi concentration camp...
s; and four women: Jenny-Wanda Barkmann
Jenny-Wanda Barkmann
Jenny-Wanda Barkmann was a Nazi concentration camp guard.She is believed to have spent her childhood in Hamburg, Germany. In 1944, she became an Aufseherin in the Stutthof SK-III women's camp, where she brutalized prisoners, some to death. She also selected women and children for the gas chambers...
, Elisabeth Becker
Elisabeth Becker
Elisabeth Becker was a concentration camp guard in World War II.-Life:Becker was born in Neuteich, Free City of Danzig to a German family. In 1936, aged 13, she joined the League of German Girls....
, Wanda Klaff
Wanda Klaff
Wanda Klaff was a Nazi camp overseer.Klaff was born in Danzig to German parents as Wanda Kalacinski. She finished school in 1938 and began working in a jam factory. This lasted until 1942 when she married Willy Gapes and became a housewife.In 1944 Klaff joined the camp staff at the Stutthof's...
and Gerda Steinhoff
Gerda Steinhoff
Gerda Steinhoff born in Danzig-Langfuhr , was a Nazi concentration camp overseer following the 1939 German invasion of Poland.-SS career:...
).
Sources
- Daniel Patrick Brown: The Female Auxiliaries Who Assisted the SS in Running the Nazi Concentration Camp System. Atglen PA: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., 2002. p. 288. ISBN 0764314440
- Jack G. Morrison: Ravensbrück: Everyday Life in a Women's Concentration Camp 1939-45. Markus Wiener Publishers, 2000. p. 380. ISBN 1558762183
- Rochelle G. Saidel: The Jewish Women of Ravensbrück Concentration Camp. University of Wisconsin Press, 2004. p. 336. ISBN 029919860X