Key Points
Establishment
Founded in September 1939, just after the German invasion of Poland, Stutthof initially functioned as a civilian internment camp. The camp's early prisoners were primarily Polish intelligentsia, political opponents, and members of the resistance from Danzig and surrounding regions. In 1942, it officially became a concentration camp, and its infrastructure expanded to accommodate more prisoners, including Jews, Soviet POWs, and others deemed undesirable by the Nazis.
Inmate Population
Stutthof held a diverse range of prisoners, including Jews from across Europe, Poles, Soviets, and prisoners from various countries under Nazi occupation. An estimated 110,000 prisoners passed through Stutthof during its existence, with around 65,000 deaths due to executions, starvation, disease, and mistreatment.
Conditions
Prisoners were subjected to harsh living conditions, with widespread disease (typhus epidemics that swept the camp in the winter of 1942 and again in 1944), forced labor, starvation, and brutal treatment by the guards. Thousands of prisoners died due to the harsh conditions, executions, or in the gas chambers that were installed later in the camp's operation. Gassing with Zyklon B gas began in June 1944. Camp doctors also killed sick or injured prisoners in the infirmary with lethal injections. Many prisoners were also forced to work in nearby factories, contributing to the Nazi war effort. Some prisoners worked in SS-owned businesses such as the German Equipment Works (DAW), located near the camp. Others labored in local brickyards, in private industrial enterprises, in agriculture, or in the camp's own workshops. In 1944, as forced labor by concentration camp prisoners became increasingly important in armaments production, a Focke-Wulff airplane factory was constructed at Stutthof. Eventually, the Stutthof camp system became a vast network of forced-labor camps.
Evacuations, Death Marches, Liberation
As the Soviet forces advanced in January 1945, the Nazis began evacuating prisoners. When the final evacuation began, there were nearly 50,000 prisoners, many of them Jews. About 5,000 prisoners from Stutthof subcamps were marched to the Baltic Sea coast, forced into the water, and machine gunned. The rest of the prisoners were marched in the direction of Lauenburg in eastern Germany. They were cut off by advancing Soviet forces. The Germans forced the surviving prisoners back to Stutthof. Marching in severe winter conditions and treated brutally by SS guards, thousands died during the march. In late April 1945, the remaining prisoners were removed from Stutthof by sea, since Stutthof was completely encircled by Soviet forces. Again, hundreds of prisoners were forced into the sea and shot. Over 4,000 were sent by small boat to Germany, some to the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg, and some to camps along the Baltic coast. Many drowned along the way. Shortly before the German surrender, some prisoners were transferred to Malmo in neutral Sweden. It has been estimated that over 25,000 prisoners died during the evacuation. Those who had managed to hide in the camp were liberated by the Soviet Red Army on May 9, 1945.
