Elisabeth Becker

Becker was born in Neuteich, Danzig (today Nowy Staw, Poland) to a German family. In 1936, aged 13, she joined the League of German Girls. In 1938, she became a cook in Danzig. In 1939, the German army arrived in the city, and Becker reportedly adapted successfully to the new situation. In 1940, she began working for the Dokendorf firm in Neuteich, where she was employed until 1941, when she became an agriculture assistant in Danzig.

In 1944, the SS needed more guards at the nearby Stutthof concentration camp, and Becker was called up for service. She arrived at Stutthof on 5 September 1944 to begin training as an SS Aufseherin, or overseer. She later worked in the Stutthof SK-III women's camp, personally selecting women and children for the gas chamber.

After working in the camp for four months, Becker fled on 15 January 1945 and returned home to Neuteich. Three months later, on 13 April, Polish police arrested her and placed her in prison to await trial.

The first Stutthof Trial began in Danzig on 31 May 1946, with five former SS women and several kapos as defendants. Becker, along with ten other defendants, was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Becker sent several letters to Polish president Bolesław Bierut requesting a pardon, claiming her actions had not been as severe as those of co-defendants Gerda Steinhoff or Jenny-Wanda Barkmann. No pardon was issued, and she was publicly hanged on 4 July 1946 at Biskupia Górka along with the ten other condemned SS supervisors and kapos.[1]

• In the play Maidens, written and directed by Kenley Smith, Becker is portrayed by Megan Dianne DeWald.[2]

• Female guards in Nazi concentration camps

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