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In the Ravensbrück camp, she was known as one of the most ruthless female guards. Former French prisoner [[Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz]] commented after the war that she had seen Neudeck "cut the throat of an inmate with the sharp edge of her shovel".<ref>{{cite book|last=De Gaulle-Anthonioz|first=Geneviève|authorlink=Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz|author2=Richard Seaver|title=The Dawn of Hope|year=1999|publisher=Arcade Publishing|isbn=1-55970-498-5}}</ref> Another survivor testified that Neudeck "took off the clothes of some inmates, poured cold water over them and made them stand in the cold for hours."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smeulers |first=Alette |date=2015-01-22 |title=Female Perpetrators: Ordinary or Extra-ordinary Women? |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/icla/15/2/article-p207_1.xml |journal=International Criminal Law Review |language=en |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=207–253 |doi=10.1163/15718123-01502001 |issn=1571-8123}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Porter |first=Theresa |title=Women, Torture, and the Abuse of Power |date=2022-01-01 |work=Women and the Abuse of Power |pages=123–138 |editor-last=Gavin |editor-first=Helen |url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/978-1-80043-334-220221010/full/html |access-date=2024-09-21 |series=Emerald Interdisciplinary Connexions |publisher=Emerald Publishing Limited |doi=10.1108/978-1-80043-334-220221010/full/html |isbn=978-1-80043-335-9 |last2=Gavin |first2=Helen}}</ref>
In the Ravensbrück camp, she was known as one of the most ruthless female guards. Former French prisoner [[Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz]] commented after the war that she had seen Neudeck "cut the throat of an inmate with the sharp edge of her shovel".<ref>{{cite book|last=De Gaulle-Anthonioz|first=Geneviève|authorlink=Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz|author2=Richard Seaver|title=The Dawn of Hope|year=1999|publisher=Arcade Publishing|isbn=1-55970-498-5}}</ref> Another survivor testified that Neudeck "took off the clothes of some inmates, poured cold water over them and made them stand in the cold for hours."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smeulers |first=Alette |date=2015-01-22 |title=Female Perpetrators: Ordinary or Extra-ordinary Women? |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/icla/15/2/article-p207_1.xml |journal=International Criminal Law Review |language=en |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=207–253 |doi=10.1163/15718123-01502001 |issn=1571-8123}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Porter |first=Theresa |title=Women, Torture, and the Abuse of Power |date=2022-01-01 |work=Women and the Abuse of Power |pages=123–138 |editor-last=Gavin |editor-first=Helen |url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/978-1-80043-334-220221010/full/html |access-date=2024-09-21 |series=Emerald Interdisciplinary Connexions |publisher=Emerald Publishing Limited |doi=10.1108/978-1-80043-334-220221010/full/html |isbn=978-1-80043-335-9 |last2=Gavin |first2=Helen}}</ref>


In December 1944, Neudeck was promoted to the rank of Oberaufseherin, and moved to the [[Uckermark concentration camp|Uckermark extermination complex]] down the road from Ravensbrück.<ref name=":0" /> There she was involved in the [[Selection (Holocaust)|selection]] and execution of over 5,000 women and children.<ref name=":0" /> The prisoners were mistreated by Neudeck or her fellow SS ''[[Aufseherin]]nen''. In March 1945, Neudeck became head of the Barth subcamp.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Phillip |title=Quickly to Her Fate |date=2010 |publisher=PJ Publishing |location=England |isbn=978-0956554932 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SCotAgAAQBAJ&q=Ruth+Closius-Neudeck+barth&pg=PT61 |accessdate=30 July 2019}}</ref>
In December 1944, Neudeck was promoted to the rank of Oberaufseherin, and moved to the [[Uckermark concentration camp|Uckermark extermination complex]] down the road from Ravensbrück.<ref name=":0" /> There she was involved in the [[Selection (Holocaust)|selection]] and execution of over 5,000 women and children.<ref name=":0" /> The prisoners were mistreated by Neudeck or her fellow SS ''[[Aufseherin]]nen''. In March 1945, Neudeck became head of the Barth subcamp.<ref name=":2">{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Phillip |title=Quickly to Her Fate |date=2010 |publisher=PJ Publishing |location=England |isbn=978-0956554932 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SCotAgAAQBAJ&q=Ruth+Closius-Neudeck+barth&pg=PT61 |accessdate=30 July 2019}}</ref>


==Capture, trial and execution==
==Capture, trial and execution==
In late April 1945, she fled the camp but was later captured<ref name=":0" /> and detained in prison while the British Army investigated the allegations against her. From 26 April 1948,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ingmann |first=Lorenz |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=b89VEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84&dq=Ruth+Neudeck&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjop_-Z-9OIAxUb8rsIHQ9QDjo4HhDoAXoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=Ruth%20Neudeck&f=false |title=KZ-Aufseherinnen im Visier der Fahnder in »Ost- und Westdeutschland« |date=2021-12-01 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-96229-287-4 |pages=84 |language=de}}</ref> she stood accused at the [[third Ravensbrück trial]], along with other ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' (SS) women.<ref>Stracey, Heather. (2017) ''‘Enfer Des Femmes’: Britain and the Ravensbrück-Hamburg Trials.'' MS thesis. Canterbury Christ Church University.</ref> The 28-year-old former SS supervisor admitted to the accusations of murder and maltreatment made against her.<ref>Jone, Phillip (2010) [https://books.google.com/books?id=SCotAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT61&dq= ''Quickly To Her Fate'']. Lulu.com. {{ISBN|0956554938}}.</ref>
In late April 1945, she fled the camp but was later captured<ref name=":0" /> and detained in prison while the British Army investigated the allegations against her. From 26 April 1948,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ingmann |first=Lorenz |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=b89VEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA84&dq=Ruth+Neudeck&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjop_-Z-9OIAxUb8rsIHQ9QDjo4HhDoAXoECAYQAg#v=onepage&q=Ruth%20Neudeck&f=false |title=KZ-Aufseherinnen im Visier der Fahnder in »Ost- und Westdeutschland« |date=2021-12-01 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |isbn=978-3-96229-287-4 |pages=84 |language=de}}</ref> she stood accused at the [[third Ravensbrück trial]], along with other ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' (SS) women.<ref>Stracey, Heather. (2017) ''‘Enfer Des Femmes’: Britain and the Ravensbrück-Hamburg Trials.'' MS thesis. Canterbury Christ Church University.</ref> The 28-year-old former SS supervisor admitted to the accusations of murder and maltreatment made against her.<ref name=":2" />


The British court found Neudeck guilty of [[war crime]]s and sentenced her to death by [[hanging]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> On 29 July 1948, she was executed by British executioner [[Albert Pierrepoint]] on the [[gallows]] at [[Hamelin Prison]].<ref>{{cite news|accessdate=26 September 2012|title=Nazi She-Devils|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nazi-she-devils-566055|journal=Mirror|date=13 November 2014}}</ref>
The British court found Neudeck guilty of [[war crime]]s and sentenced her to death by [[hanging]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> On 29 July 1948, she was executed by British executioner [[Albert Pierrepoint]] on the [[gallows]] at [[Hamelin Prison]].<ref>{{cite news|accessdate=26 September 2012|title=Nazi She-Devils|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nazi-she-devils-566055|journal=Mirror|date=13 November 2014}}</ref>

Revision as of 23:07, 21 September 2024

Ruth Neudeck
Born
Ruth Closius

5 July 1920
Breslau, Weimar Republic
(present day Wrocław, Poland)
Died29 July 1948 (age 28)
Hamelin Prison, Hamelin, Allied-occupied Germany
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Criminal statusExecuted
Conviction(s)War crimes
TrialHamburg Ravensbrück trials
Criminal penaltyDeath
Military career
Allegiance Germany
Service / branch Schutzstaffel
Years of service1944 — 1945
RankBlockführerin
(Barrack Overseer)

Ruth Closius-Neudeck (5 July 1920 – 29 July 1948) was a Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS) supervisor at a Nazi concentration camp complex from December 1944 until March 1945. She was executed for war crimes for her role in the Holocaust.

Early life

Ruth Closius was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland). She hoped to become a nurse, but worked a saleswoman in a textiles warehouse.[1] She later married and was known as Ruth Neudeck or Ruth Closius-Neudeck.[2]

Atrocities in Nazi concentration camps

In July 1944, she arrived at the Ravensbrück concentration camp to begin her training to be a camp guard. Neudeck soon began impressing her superiors with her unbending brutality towards the female prisoners, resulting in her promotion to the rank of Blockführerin (Barrack Overseer) in late July 1944.

In the Ravensbrück camp, she was known as one of the most ruthless female guards. Former French prisoner Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz commented after the war that she had seen Neudeck "cut the throat of an inmate with the sharp edge of her shovel".[3] Another survivor testified that Neudeck "took off the clothes of some inmates, poured cold water over them and made them stand in the cold for hours."[4][5]

In December 1944, Neudeck was promoted to the rank of Oberaufseherin, and moved to the Uckermark extermination complex down the road from Ravensbrück.[2] There she was involved in the selection and execution of over 5,000 women and children.[2] The prisoners were mistreated by Neudeck or her fellow SS Aufseherinnen. In March 1945, Neudeck became head of the Barth subcamp.[6]

Capture, trial and execution

In late April 1945, she fled the camp but was later captured[2] and detained in prison while the British Army investigated the allegations against her. From 26 April 1948,[7] she stood accused at the third Ravensbrück trial, along with other Schutzstaffel (SS) women.[8] The 28-year-old former SS supervisor admitted to the accusations of murder and maltreatment made against her.[6]

The British court found Neudeck guilty of war crimes and sentenced her to death by hanging.[1][2] On 29 July 1948, she was executed by British executioner Albert Pierrepoint on the gallows at Hamelin Prison.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Willmott, Lauren (2015-06-10). "The Forgotten Brutality of Female Nazi Concentration Camp Guards". TIME. Retrieved 2024-09-21.
  2. ^ a b c d e Heath, Tim (2018-04-30). In Hitler's Shadow: Post-War Germany & the Girls of the BDM. Grub Street Publishers. ISBN 978-1-5267-2003-0.
  3. ^ De Gaulle-Anthonioz, Geneviève; Richard Seaver (1999). The Dawn of Hope. Arcade Publishing. ISBN 1-55970-498-5.
  4. ^ Smeulers, Alette (2015-01-22). "Female Perpetrators: Ordinary or Extra-ordinary Women?". International Criminal Law Review. 15 (2): 207–253. doi:10.1163/15718123-01502001. ISSN 1571-8123.
  5. ^ Porter, Theresa; Gavin, Helen (2022-01-01), Gavin, Helen (ed.), "Women, Torture, and the Abuse of Power", Women and the Abuse of Power, Emerald Interdisciplinary Connexions, Emerald Publishing Limited, pp. 123–138, doi:10.1108/978-1-80043-334-220221010/full/html, ISBN 978-1-80043-335-9, retrieved 2024-09-21
  6. ^ a b Jones, Phillip (2010). Quickly to Her Fate. England: PJ Publishing. ISBN 978-0956554932. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  7. ^ Ingmann, Lorenz (2021-12-01). KZ-Aufseherinnen im Visier der Fahnder in »Ost- und Westdeutschland« (in German). BoD – Books on Demand. p. 84. ISBN 978-3-96229-287-4.
  8. ^ Stracey, Heather. (2017) ‘Enfer Des Femmes’: Britain and the Ravensbrück-Hamburg Trials. MS thesis. Canterbury Christ Church University.
  9. ^ "Nazi She-Devils". Mirror. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2012.

Sources

  • Daniel Patrick Brown (2002). The Camp Women: The Female Auxiliaries Who Assisted the SS in Running the Concentration Camp System. Schiffer Military History. Schiffer Publishing Limited.
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