Wanda Klaff
Wanda Klaff | |
---|---|
![]() Klaff at the Stutthof Trial in 1946 | |
Born | Wanda Kalacinski 6 March 1922 |
Died | 4 July 1946 | (aged 24)
Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
Occupation | Guard of the Stutthof concentration camp |
Conviction(s) | Crimes against humanity |
Trial | Stutthof trials |
Criminal penalty | Death |
Wanda Klaff (6 March 1922 – 4 July 1946) was a Nazi concentration camp overseer. Klaff was born in Danzig to German parents as Wanda Kalacinski.[1] After the war, she was executed for crimes against humanity.
Early life
[edit]Wanda Kalacinski was the daughter of railway worker Ludwig Kalacinski.[2] The family name was changed to Kalden in 1941.[2] She finished school in 1938 and worked in a jam factory until 1942. That year, she married Willy Klaff and became a housewife, then a streetcar operator.[2]
SS career, arrest, trial and execution
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Biskupia_Gorka_executions_-_14_-_Barkmann%2C_Paradies%2C_Becker%2C_Klaff%2C_Steinhoff_%28left_to_right%29.jpg/220px-Biskupia_Gorka_executions_-_14_-_Barkmann%2C_Paradies%2C_Becker%2C_Klaff%2C_Steinhoff_%28left_to_right%29.jpg)
In 1944, Klaff joined the Stutthof concentration camp staff at Stutthof's Praust subcamp in present-day Pruszcz, where she abused many of the prisoners.[3] On 5 October 1944, she arrived at Stutthof's Russoschin subcamp, in present-day northern Poland.
Klaff fled the camp in early 1945 but on 11 June 1945 was arrested by Polish officials; soon after, she fell ill from typhoid fever in prison. She stood trial at the first Stutthof trial with other former female supervisors and male personnel.[4] She stated at the trial, "I am very intelligent and very devoted to my work in the camps. I struck at least two prisoners every day."[2]
Klaff was convicted and received the death sentence. She was publicly hanged by short-drop method on 4 July 1946 on Biskupia Górka Hill near Gdańsk, aged 24.[5]
References
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ^ "Female Nazi war criminals". Capitalpunishmentuk.org. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
- ^ a b c d Wanda Klaff (1922–1946), archived from the original on 2 September 2006, retrieved 12 April 2019
- ^ Cohen, Susan Sarah (1999). Antisemitism: An Annotated Bibliography. Saur. p. 347. ISBN 978-3-598-23707-2.
- ^ Roland, Paul (15 August 2014). Nazi Women: The Attraction of Evil. Arcturus Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78428-046-8.
- ^ Stutthof Trial. Female guards in Nazi concentration camps Archived 13 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine, jewishvirtuallibrary.org (archived); accessed 13 November 2014.
Sources
[edit]- Benjamin B. Ferencz, Less Than Slaves: Jewish Forced Labor and the Quest for Compensation, books.google.com; accessed 13 November 2014.
- 1922 births
- 1946 deaths
- Executed German women
- German people convicted of crimes against humanity
- Stutthof trials executions
- People from the Free City of Danzig
- Naturalized citizens of Germany
- Executed people from Pomeranian Voivodeship
- Female guards in Nazi concentration camps
- Filmed executions
- Publicly executed people
- Nazi Germany stubs
- People executed for crimes against humanity