Jenny-Wanda Barkmann was known as “The Beautiful Spectre” and “Mad Jenny,” but neither nickname was accurate. She may have been beautiful or pleasing to the eyes (although not in my opinion), but this was just a thin veneer to cover her evilness, and she wasn’t mad—because I believe—she knew exactly what she was doing.
She was born in Hamburg on May 30, 1922. She was a German nurse who went to work as a female SS Aufseherin in the Stutthof Concentration Camp in 1944. She was known for her beauty, as well as being infamous for her inhuman cruelty to the prisoners. She selected prisoners for the gas chambers and others she abused, sometimes to the point of death.
In everyday life, she was considered a helpful and kind person by her family and acquaintances. They could not imagine that she was guilty of any atrocities.
In 1945, Barkmann was picked up at a train station in Gdańsk and arrested. She had fled as the Russians continued to advance toward Germany and was then captured and brought to trial. She was a war criminal. The judge sentenced her to death by hanging. She was 24 years old when they executed her.
In 1944, Barkmann became a guard at Stutthof. She was one of 3,700 women to take on such a position—of 55,000 total guards in the Nazi concentration camps. She quickly made a name for herself as one of the most brutal Aufseherin at Stutthof.
From the very first days of work, the former model showed great enthusiasm for her job and would apply exceptional cruelty. She did not hesitate to beat her victims to death, and she did not flinch while selecting the women and children for the gas chambers. She showed remarkable imagination, torturing her victims and sometimes shocked even her colleagues.
Barkmann became a defendant in the Stutthof Trial. She and other defendants faced their fate. During her interrogation, she claimed that she had always treated Jewish prisoners well and even said that she had saved some of them from death. However, the interrogators saw through her lies.
Dozens of survivors of Stutthof testified against Barkmann in court, describing the brutal atrocities she committed as an Aufseherin. Even her own lawyer admitted that Barkmann was guilty of the crimes but argued that it was because she was mentally ill, no sane person, he suggested, could have done what she did at the concentration camp.
Barkmann didn’t help her own defense. Faced with accusations of brutality and murder, she responded with contemptuous laughter. She didn’t ask for forgiveness. She never shed a tear or showed any remorse. At some stage, she was seen arranging her hair while hearing testimony. She was found guilty, after which she declared, “Life is indeed a pleasure, and pleasures are usually short.”
There was a public execution. Barkmann had a short drop hanging along with ten other defendants from the trial on Biskupia Gorka Hill near Gdańsk on 4 July 1946.
Sources
https://www.liberationroute.com/stories/60/jenny-wanda-barkmann
https://allthatsinteresting.com/jenny-wanda-barkmann
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