Her name was Jenny-Wanda Barkmann, and she became infamous as one of the most sadistic guards at the Stutthof Concentration Camp — a name that, even today, sends shivers down the spine of Holocaust historians. But what truly haunts people isn’t just what she did inside those camp gates.
It’s how she died.
And it was unlike any Nazi execution you've heard about before.
A Pretty Face with a Sadistic Smile
Jenny Barkmann was barely in her early 20s when she joined the Nazi SS as a camp overseer at Stutthof, the lesser-known but utterly horrific concentration camp located in Poland. But don't let her youth fool you — witnesses said she had ice in her veins.
She didn’t just supervise. She tormented.
Prisoners later testified that she beat women unconscious with whips, oversaw hangings with eerie calm, and was known to choose who lived or died based on her mood.
She was nicknamed: “The Beautiful Beast” — a title both chilling and disturbingly fitting.
Her victims? Mostly Jewish women and children. Survivors said she sometimes smiled as people were dragged to the gas chambers.
The End of the War Didn't Mean the End of Her Reign — Yet
When the Third Reich collapsed, Barkmann tried to vanish into the chaos. Like many SS guards, she ran — ditched her uniform, changed her name, and hoped history would forget.
But fate wasn’t on her side.
She was eventually captured by Allied forces and handed over to Polish authorities, who weren’t interested in letting her disappear quietly. She was put on trial during the Stutthof Trials of 1946, one of the earliest Nazi war crime prosecutions in post-war Europe.
The courtroom was packed.
And the stories that came out were beyond horrifying.
She Showed No Remorse — Just Lipstick
During the trial, Barkmann reportedly showed no signs of guilt. She wore makeup, styled her hair, and sometimes smirked as her crimes were recounted.
She was accused of selecting women for execution, beating prisoners to death, and participating in mass killings. The witnesses? Survivors who had seen it all — and lost everyone they loved.
In May 1946, she was found guilty of crimes against humanity.
The sentence? Death by public hanging.
The Execution That Stopped the Streets
On July 4, 1946, in the town square of Gdańsk (formerly Danzig), thousands of people gathered to watch justice be served. It wasn’t behind closed doors or in a sterile prison chamber. This was public, raw, and unforgettable.
Eleven Nazi war criminals — including Jenny Barkmann — were brought to a series of wooden gallows built specifically for this moment.
Witnesses say Jenny remained stoic… until the noose was placed around her neck.
She was just 24 years old.
As the executioner pulled the lever, her body dropped — and her reign of terror ended in silence. No final words. No mercy.
One eyewitness wrote: "She had the face of an angel, and the heart of a demon. No one cried for her."
Why Does Her Story Still Terrify People?
Because Jenny Barkmann wasn’t an old Nazi general. She wasn’t a male monster barking orders behind a desk. She was a young woman — seemingly ordinary — who transformed into a symbol of how far human cruelty can go when evil becomes systemic.