Ewa Paradies

Ewa Paradies (17 December 1920 – 4 July 1946) was a Nazi concentration camp overseer.

Ewa Paradies
Ewa Paradies after her execution
Born	(1920-12-17)17 December 1920 Lębork, Weimar Republic
Died	4 July 1946(1946-07-04) (aged 25) Biskupia Górka, Gdańsk, Republic of Poland
Cause of death	Execution by hanging
Occupation	Guards of the Stutthof concentration camp
Political party	Nazi Party
Motive	Nazism
Conviction	Crimes against humanity
Trial	Stutthof trials
Criminal penalty	Death

In August 1944, Paradies arrived at the Stutthof SK-III camp for training as an Aufseherin, or overseer. She soon finished training and became a wardress. In October 1944, she was reassigned to Stutthof's Bromberg-Ost subcamp; and in January 1945, she was moved back to the main Stutthof camp. ^{[citation needed]} In April 1945, Paradies accompanied one of the last transports of women prisoners to the Lauenburg subcamp and fled. After she was captured, she was a defendant in the Stutthof trial. One witness testified: "She ordered a group of female prisoners to undress in the freezing cold of winter, and then doused them with ice cold water. When the women moved, Paradies beat them."^[1][2]

Execution

Public execution of Stutthof concentration camp personnel on 4 July 1946 by short-drop hanging. In the foreground, from left to right, are female camp overseers Jenny-Wanda Barkmann, Ewa Paradies, Elisabeth Becker, Wanda Klaff, and Gerda Steinhoff.

As punishment for her brutalities, including causing the deaths of some prisoners, Paradies was sentenced to death.^[3] She was publicly executed by short-drop hanging on Biskupia Górka Hill near Gdańsk on 4 July 1946 with ten other Stutthof guards and kapos (five women and six men in all); Paradies was the last woman to hang.^[4]

See also

• Biography portal
• Germany portal

• Female guards in Nazi concentration camps