Ruth Closius
Encyclopedia
Ruth Closius-Neudeck was an SS supervisor at a death camp complex from December 1944 until March 1945.
to begin her training to be a camp guard. Neudeck soon began impressing her superiors with her unbending brutality towards the women prisoners, so she was promoted to the rank of Blockführerin (Barrack Overseer) in late July 1944. In the Ravensbrück camp, she was known as one of the worst female guards. Former French prisoner Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz
commented after the war that she had seen wardress Neudeck "cut the throat of an inmate with the sharp edge of her shovel". In December 1944, she was promoted to the rank of Oberaufseherin and moved to the Uckermark extermination complex
down the road from Ravensbrück. There she involved herself in the selection and execution of over 5,000 women and children. The prisoners were also mistreated by Neudeck or her fellow SS Aufseherinnen. In March 1945, Neudeck became head of the Barth subcamp.
, along with other SS women. The twenty-eight-year-old former SS supervisor confessed to all the accusations of murder and maltreatment in her deposition.
The British court found her guilty of war crimes. She was executed by hanging
on July 29, 1948, at the age of 28.
Early life
Ruth Closius was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland). She later married and was known as Ruth Neudeck.Camp work
In July 1944, she arrived at the Ravensbrück concentration campRavensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
to begin her training to be a camp guard. Neudeck soon began impressing her superiors with her unbending brutality towards the women prisoners, so she was promoted to the rank of Blockführerin (Barrack Overseer) in late July 1944. In the Ravensbrück camp, she was known as one of the worst female guards. Former French prisoner Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz
Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz
Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz , was a niece of General Charles de Gaulle, a member of the French Resistance, and the president of ATD Quart Monde.-Biography:...
commented after the war that she had seen wardress Neudeck "cut the throat of an inmate with the sharp edge of her shovel". In December 1944, she was promoted to the rank of Oberaufseherin and moved to the Uckermark extermination complex
Uckermark concentration camp
The Uckermark concentration camp was a small Nazi concentration camp for girls near the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Fürstenberg/Havel, Germany and then an "emergency" extermination camp....
down the road from Ravensbrück. There she involved herself in the selection and execution of over 5,000 women and children. The prisoners were also mistreated by Neudeck or her fellow SS Aufseherinnen. In March 1945, Neudeck became head of the Barth subcamp.
Capture and execution
In late April 1945, she fled from the camp, was later captured and put in prison while the British Army investigated her crimes. In April 1948, she stood accused at the third Ravensbrück TrialRavensbrück Trial
The Hamburg Ravensbrück Trials were a series of seven trials for war crimes against camp officials from the Ravensbrück concentration camp that the British authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Hamburg after the end of World War II. These trials were heard before a military...
, along with other SS women. The twenty-eight-year-old former SS supervisor confessed to all the accusations of murder and maltreatment in her deposition.
The British court found her guilty of war crimes. She was executed by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
on July 29, 1948, at the age of 28.
Sources
- Daniel Patrick Brown, The Camp Women: The Female Auxiliaries Who Assisted the SS in Running the Concentration Camp System