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STUTTHOF STUTTHOF
Kommandatur... SS staff building
Long before the outbreak of war Nazi officials in the Free City
of Danzig had been conspiring to build a camp designed to
detain and ultimately exterminate ‘undesirable elements’ of
the local population. Indeed, as early as 1935 lists detailing
the names of Polish politicians, intellectuals, economists,
religious figures and patriots were compiled by the German
Schutzpolizei. As covert preparations for war intensified
Himmler himself visited Danzig twice in the summer of 1939,
giving orders for the immediate strengthening of the local
police force. Furthermore August saw Gdańsk jail emptied,
the Victoriaschule (a girls school B-5 ul. Kładki 1) adapted to
hold large numbers of prisoners, and Sutthof identified as the
site of a camp. All the components, so it would seem, were in
place to wage a decisive strike against the sections of Polish
society most likely to disrupt the Nazi vision of the future.
September 1, 1939, not only signalled the invasion of Poland,
but also the beginning of a Saubersungsaktion (cleaning action)
by the police force. Waves of mass arrests followed, with the first
batch of prisoners arriving in Stutthof the following day. Stutthof,
penned in by sea and forest, but also serviced by rail lines, was
seen as an ideal location for a camp, and by February, 1940,
it had emerged as the principal holding area in Pomerania for
enemies of the Nazi state. At this stage, however, it was still
classified as a civilian camp, and it wasn’t until an official visit
from Himmler in November 1941 that it was transferred to the
jurisdiction of the Concentration Camp Inspectorate. What had
started off as a relatively small camp now welcomed transports
from across conquered Europe; by the end of the war Stutthof
had grown to include 26 sub-camps covering an area of 120
hectares, and holding an estimated 57,000 inmates.
Conditions were brutal with hard labour, epidemics and
starvation all culling prisoner numbers. Furthermore, those
who fell sick could expect to be murdered with a phenol
Stutthof medical wing
injection to the heart delivered by one of the camp doctors.
The second half of 1944 saw the decision to transport
Jews to Stutthof, a move that led to the killing process being
streamlined further with the addition of a gas chamber and
crematorium; of the 50,000 Jews imprisoned in Stutthof only
3,000 are estimated to have survived.
With the Red Army approaching, and liberation in sight, the
Nazis played the final card in their heinous game. An earlier
decree issued by Himmler had insisted no prisoners be liberated,
and as such tens of thousands were forced on arduous
‘death marches’ to camps further west. Scores perished on
the way, with those unable to continue summarily shot and
killed on the roadside. Soviet troops finally entered the camp
on May 9, 1945, greeted by little more than 100 emaciated
inmates who had managed to hide during the evacuation
process. Latest research indicates that of the 100,000
prisoners incarcerated throughout Stutthof’s existence, only
a third of that number survived.
The search for justice began immediately with the first Stutthof
trial concluding in June, 1946. Eleven death sentences
were passed, and these were carried out a month later in
front of a baying crowd of over 200,000 on J-4 ul. Pohulanka
in the Biskupia Góra district of Gdańsk. However, no commandant
was ever brought to face a Polish court; Max Pauly
was executed by the British for crimes in Neuengamme,
while the second commandant, Paul Werner Hoppe, was
only arrested years later in 1955. The man behind the
Stutthof death marches was eventually tried in the west
before receiving a sentence of nine years. Doctor Otto Heidl,
involved in countless phenol injections, cheated justice by
committing suicide in prison. The cases of over 1,900 SS
men and women employed at Stutthof never came to court.
Getting There
The town of Sztutowo lies 55 kilometres east of Gdańsk and
is easily accessed by both car and bus. Journey time by bus
us about 80 minutes and cost 14.00 zloty at time of writing.
From Gdansk bus station board the bus headed to Krynica
Morska, then jump off once you pass the perimeter of the
camp on your left hand side.
By car There are three routes you can follow, the first of
which is 40 kilometres. Take road number 501 until it reaches
Świbno. From here take the ferry crossing (cars 14zł, foot
passengers 4zł), and from there follow the signs. This scenic
route is only possible from the end of April to October 20,
and it’s also closed in bad weather.
Alternatively take road number 7 before going left just after
crossing the Wisła (in the direction of Mikoszewo). Once in
Mikoszewo follow signs to Krynica Morska. You’ll find Sztutowo
on the way. Total distance - - 55km.
Finally, you could take road number 7 (Gdańsk-Warszawa),
before switching to road number 502 at Nowy Dwor
Gdanski. Then follow signs to Stegna, then Sztutowo. Total
distance - 65km.
Entrance to the museum is free as is parking until May.
Muzeum Stutthof w Sztutowie ul. Muzealna 6, Sztutowo,
tel. (+48) 798 41 80 24, www.stutthof.org. In the
years after the war Stutthof was allowed to fall into disrepair,
many of its buildings falling prey to both the elements and
looters. The Kommandatur building at the front - once the
administrative heart of the concentration camp - existed for
over a decade as a tourist hotel, while the former DAW Armaments
Factory passed into state hands. The decision to turn
Stutthof into a museum was only reached in 1961, and what
you see today is the result of years of research and restoration.
Covering around 20% of the former camp area, Stutthof
Gdańsk In Your Pocket gdansk.inyourpocket.com
Museum has undergone a significant program of progress
to allow non-Polish visitors the chance to understand what
happened here: English language signs, walking trails and
explanation boards - for so long mono-lingual - have been
added, while in the car park a small booth sells books, guides
and memorial candles - this might be getting knocked down
soon, so head instead to the year-round store inside the main
museum building. To fully appreciate the history of Stutthof
purchase Janina Grabowska-Chałka’s excellent guide book
for 25zł, or one of the new small printed guides available in
Polish, English and German for 4zł.
Walking from the car park visitors should follow the path to
the main gates. Tour guides are available from the former
SS guardhouse to the left, while sobering films detailing
everyday life in the camp are shown in the Kommandatur
further on. Screenings are shown every half hour (minimum
of four people necessary, with the last screening at 17:30),
and the films act as a fitting prelude to what you are about
to see. It’s also here, in corridors that once resounded to
the thump of jackboots, you’ll find temporary exhibitions of
inmate art as well as the archive and book of remembrance
(which is on display variously depending on exhibits).
Having left the admin building the scale of atrocities hits
home on entering the first proper exhibit: thousands of
shoes confiscated from prisoners lie piled up in dusty stacks,
presenting visitors with a stark, grim image that takes a long
time to dispel. It’s after this visitors pass through what was
once referred to as ‘the death gate’ - the main entrance
through which tens of thousands entered the camp. Directly
to the right a hot and musty barracks tells the wartime history
of both the camp and the regime. The outbreak of the war
is covered in specific detail, with accompanying photos and
mugshots of the first arrests and Nazi murders, while further
on other sections deal with the camps construction and the
SS crews employed within; Himmler’s visit is given particular
attention, as are the roles played out by his underlings in
Stutthof - on show a commemorative goblet presented to
the first commandant, Max Pauly, by his colleagues.
Just how fast Stutthof swelled and increased in size is illustrated
next, as well as individual stories of heroism and
escape; only Wlodzimierz Steyer is recognized as having
successfully fled, testament enough to the camps reputation
as being escape proof. A huge scale model, hidden behind
glass, demonstrates the size of the challenge prisoners
would have faced while planning such break-outs.
From here visitors cross the grass to reach the barracks that
formerly housed the women’s block. English explanations
decrease in frequency at this stage, though the maps showing
prisoner transports, striped uniforms and photographs
of gaunt looking prisoners prove self-explanatory enough.
Most poignant of all, a host of personal items are also on
display. These include rings crafted illegally by prisoners,
gdansk.inyourpocket.com
Crematorium
dolls and pictures drawn by children - lollipop trees et al. It’s
powerful stuff, and the experience gains further significance
as you shuffle across creaking wooden floors. One barrack
is stacked solid with original triple tier bunks, while others
are home to a brutal looking operating theatre as well as a
slab on which prisoners would lie before being given a fatal
injection of phenol. The sight of clunky looking syringes
repulses the body.
As the war lengthened the killing process was streamlined,
and next on your tour is a brick gas chamber used to execute
anything up to a hundred prisoners at a time. A Star of David
and Catholic cross outside recognizes the beliefs of those
who died, while to the right is a gloomy crematorium used
to burn corpses. Three original ovens have been preserved,
and these are flanked by memorial notices, candles and
floral tributes. Walk through further chambers outlining the
Nazis’ murderous methods, as well as rooms dedicated to
the death marches and the Nazi trials that followed after. An
original gallows stands outside, as well as cattle trucks used
to transport men and women from across occupied Europe.
As you loop around to the area of the ‘new camp’ your route
takes you past an epic memorial that dominates the skyline.
Known as the Monument to Fight and Freedom, and designed
by Wiktor Tolkin, it was unveiled on May 9, 1968, the 23rd
anniversary of the camps liberation. Forming a part of this
landmark obelisk is a horizontal shaped reliquary containing
the human ashes and bone fragments recovered from the soil
in the excavations that followed in the years after liberation.
Remembrance services are held here on the first Saturday
of September to mark the creation of the camp.
Much of Stutthof was razed to the ground as the Nazis
sought to hide traces of their crimes, and as such the area
known as ‘new camp’ now has 21 concrete blocks placed
in the area where the barracks once were, as well as a Star
of David marking what was once the Jewish area of the
camp. Walking across this wind blasted field allows plenty
of opportunity for reflection, though don’t think your visit has
ended. Around 500 metres into the forest to the north of the
perimeter is what is referred to as ‘the Holocaust stake’.
Prior to the construction of the gas chamber it’s here that
thousands of Jews were herded before being executed by
firing squads, their bodies then burned on funeral pyres. A
ring of symbolic stones marks the edge of the pit. QOpen
09:00 - 18:00. Admission free (contributions welcomed). Film
exhibit 3zł. Guided tours 140zł. Audioguides 15zł. Children
under 13 should not visit the museum.
Stutthof gas chamber
May - July 2012
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