This article recounts the story of Jenny-Wanda Barkmann – a female SS guard at the Stutthof concentration camp whose name became synonymous with cruelty during World War II. The content is for educational and historical documentation only, based on court records, survivor testimonies, and archival materials. It does not aim to glorify violence or advocate for any political ideology.
20 Minutes of Agony: Post-War Revenge for “Mad Jenny” of Stutthof
Jenny-Wanda Barkmann was one of the most notorious female SS guards of the Stutthof concentration camp. Her crimes were not limited to following orders; she actively tortured, beat, and participated in selecting victims for the gas chambers. Convicted of war crimes, she was sentenced to death. On July 4, 1946, before thousands of spectators, Jenny-Wanda Barkmann was led to the gallows at Biskupia Górka, Poland. This is the story of the crimes and punishment of “Mad Jenny” – who endured 20 agonizing minutes before death finally took her.
1. From a Hamburg Girl to an SS Guard
Jenny-Wanda Barkmann was born on May 30, 1922, in Hamburg, Germany, into a working-class family . She grew up during the instability of the Weimar Republic and was deeply influenced by Nazi propaganda, which glorified obedience, racial hierarchy, and violence while suppressing empathy and independent thought.
As the war progressed and labor shortages grew, the SS increasingly recruited women to serve as guards in concentration camps. In 1944, at just 21 years old, Barkmann volunteered for service as an SS Aufseherin (female guard) and was assigned to Stutthof concentration camp, located near Danzig (today Gdańsk, Poland) .
2. “Mad Jenny” and the “Beautiful Spectre”
Stutthof was one of the most brutal camps in Nazi-occupied Poland, known for starvation, forced labor, disease, executions, and later gassings.
Under Barkmann’s service, survivors testified that she displayed extreme sadism. She beat female prisoners with whips, sticks, and her bare hands, often for no reason at all. She also participated in the “selections” that sent women and children to their deaths in the gas chamber.
Prisoners nicknamed her “Mad Jenny” and the “Beautiful Spectre” because of the chilling contrast between her youthful appearance and her violent behavior. Witnesses recalled that she appeared to enjoy humiliating inmates and showed no remorse for her actions. Even fellow guards considered her exceptionally cruel.
According to historical sources, Barkmann later admitted that guards deliberately held long roll calls in freezing conditions, knowing that many prisoners would die from exposure.
3. Arrest and the Stutthof Trial
As Soviet forces advanced in early 1945, Barkmann fled Stutthof and went into hiding. She was arrested by Polish authorities in May 1945 . During interrogation, she initially denied wrongdoing, but survivor testimonies exposed her crimes.
Barkmann was tried during the First Stutthof Trial in Gdańsk in 1946. She was convicted of crimes against humanity. The court found that she had tortured and beaten prisoners to death and had directly participated in selecting prisoners for execution. The sentence: death by hanging.
4. “20 Minutes of Agony” – The Execution of July 4, 1946
On July 4, 1946, Jenny-Wanda Barkmann was led to the gallows at Biskupia Górka (Polish: Łysa Góra, “Bald Mountain”), near Gdańsk . A crowd of thousands gathered to witness justice being served.
Unlike some other condemned prisoners who tried to appear brave, Barkmann experienced her final moments in complete collapse. According to contemporary reports, she struggled for more than 20 minutes before dying. The noose was later declared by officials to have killed her by “fracture of the spinal cord.”
Some accounts even suggest that after she fell through the trapdoor, witnesses saw her still moving. Twice, prison workers had to climb down into the pit and pull her body back up higher, once involving her scarf catching on her chin, further delaying death .
Barkmann shouted in German: “Bitte machen sie es kurz, ich sterbe gern für mein Vaterland!” (Please make it quick, I die gladly for my Fatherland!) . But this declaration did not move the crowd, who watched her endure 20 agonizing minutes of horror and pain.
5. The Fate of Her Accomplices
Barkmann was one of several female guards executed that day. Others included:
All were convicted of crimes against humanity and hanged on the same July morning in 1946.
6. The Legacy of “Mad Jenny”
The story of Jenny-Wanda Barkmann remains one of the most chilling accounts of female participation in the Nazi machinery of brutality. She was only 22 years old when she began her work at Stutthof, and 24 when she was executed. She was not forced; she volunteered. And she did not merely follow orders – she actively sought cruelty.
Her agonizing execution – 20 minutes of struggling on the rope – became part of post-war justice. For the survivors of Stutthof, for the families who lost loved ones at her hands, it was not brutality. It was payback.
“Mad Jenny” died, but her name lives on as a reminder that evil can hide behind any face – even a young, pretty one.
Primary Sources:
First Stutthof Trial records (1946)
Survivor testimonies – Stutthof Museum
Wikipedia – Jenny-Wanda Barkmann / Stutthof trials
The Scotsman – “The beautiful beast of Stutthof” (2013)
Stutthof Memorial Museum archives
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)