Elisabeth Becker
Encyclopedia
Life
Becker was born in NeuteichNowy Staw
Nowy Staw is a small town in northern Poland on the Święta river in the Żuławy region, with 3 896 inhabitants . Situated in Malbork County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, it was previously assigned to Elbląg Voivodeship . City rights were applied in 1345. The name of the town means New...
, Free City of Danzig
Free City of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig was a semi-autonomous city-state that existed between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig and surrounding areas....
(today Nowy Staw, 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...
) to a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
family. In 1936, aged 13, she joined the League of German Girls
League of German Girls
The League of German Girls or League of German Maidens , was the girl's wing of the overall Nazi party youth movement, the Hitler Youth. It was the only female youth organization in Nazi Germany....
.
In 1938 she became a cook
Cooking
Cooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...
in Danzig
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...
.
In 1939 the Germans arrived in the city, and Becker reportedly adapted successfully. In 1940 she began working for the firm Dokendorf in Neuteich, where she worked until 1941, when she became an agriculture assistant in Danzig.
Camps
In 1944, the SSSchutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
needed more guards at the nearby concentration camp at Stutthof
Stutthof
Stutthof can refer to:*Sztutowo in Poland*Stutthof concentration camp built near Sztutowo...
, and Becker was called up for service. She arrived at 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...
on September 5, 1944 to begin training as an SS Aufseherin. She later worked in the Stutthof women's camp at SK-III. There, she personally selected women and children for the gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
.
Post war
Becker fled the camp on January 15, 1945 and went back home to Neuteich. On April 13 PolishPoland
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...
police arrested and placed her in prison to await trial. 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...
began in Danzig on May 31, 1946 with five former SS women and several kapos as defendants. Becker, along with the other ten defendants, was sentenced to death
Death Sentence
Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...
.
She sent several letters to Polish president Bolesław Bierut requesting a pardon, claiming her actions had not been as severe as 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:...
's or 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...
's. No pardon was issued and she was publicly hanged
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 4, 1946 at Biskupia Gorka
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....
along with the ten other SS supervisors and kapos.