The story of "Mad Jenny" - a model and the most beautiful Nazi criminal

Jenny-Wanda Barkmann, the youngest warden of the Stutthof concentration camp, became famous for her incredible cruelty. It's hard to believe that a bloodthirsty monster is hiding under the guise of a cute student. The prisoners nicknamed her "Mad Jenny" and "Beautiful Ghost" and cursed her for many years after her death.

Very little is known about the biography of Jenny-Wanda Barkmann. She was born on May 22, 1922 in Hamburg in a poor German family. Her father was a simple dockworker, and her mother was a housewife. As a child, Jenny was no different from her peers — she also played with dolls and dreamed of becoming an actress.

After school, the girl, whom nature endowed with a very attractive appearance, began a career as a fashion model. The outbreak of war did not change her plans and Barkmann successfully filmed for German magazines and advertisements. But at the beginning of 1944, something happened in the life of the beauty. Jenny suddenly quit her modeling job and got a job as a warden at the Stutthof concentration camp, located near Danzig.

It is not known exactly what prompted the 21-year-old girl to get a job in this hell. Probably, she was attracted by the high earnings of the guards and the opportunity for career growth. Or maybe the desire for power over people has awakened in Barkmann. Anyway, Jenny successfully passed the interview and was accepted into the staff of overseers.

From the very first days of work, the former model showed zeal for service and special cruelty. The main contingent of Stutthof were women and children of Jewish and Polish nationality. Barkmann mercilessly beat prisoners and sent dozens of them to the gas chambers. Jenny showed remarkable imagination, torturing her victims, and sometimes shocked even her colleagues.

Externally, the supervisor Barkmann looked like a fragile intelligent student and this contrast made her even more terrible. The exact number of victims of "Mad Jenny" is unknown, but they say that she was involved in the deaths of hundreds of prisoners and killed dozens with her own hands. Such a stormy activity did not leave the matron with illusions, so in 1945, as soon as the Soviet troops began to approach Stutthof, she fled.

Jenny-Wanda Barkmann became one of the most wanted Nazi criminals. But she still managed to successfully hide from justice for 4 months. Where she spent this time and who helped her, the investigation could not find out. Fortunately, the personal file of the sadist with a photo was preserved in the concentration camp, and besides, the prisoners remembered her well in person. Pictures and a description of "Mad Jenny" were sent all over Europe and soon she was captured.

Barkmann fell into the hands of a military patrol at the Gdansk train station when she was about to leave Poland. At the first interrogation, Jenny stated that she had always treated Jews well and had never bullied prisoners. Moreover, she claimed that she secretly helped the unfortunate and even saved them from death.

The image of the monster from Stutthof did not fit at all with the appearance and behavior of a modest girl. Barkmann even managed to mislead one of the prison guards. The corporal of the Polish Army, Joseph Lyas, a Jew by nationality, was so imbued with the girl's stories that he began to sympathize with her.

The Nazi criminal begged Lyas to let her out for just a few hours. According to the girl, this would be enough to collect evidence of innocence. But the corporal saw the materials of the Barkmann case with creepy photos of her victims in time and did not make a fatal mistake.

What he saw enraged Joseph Lyas, because his parents and many friends died in German concentration camps. The corporal didn't talk to Jenny anymore, and the villain's last chance for salvation disappeared like smoke.

Dozens of surviving prisoners of Stutthof testified against Jenny Barkmann in court. Their words were confirmed by dozens of documents found in the camp office. The lawyer tried to build a line of defense for his ward on the state of her mental health. He claimed that a normal person is not capable of the atrocities attributed to Barkmann. Especially since she had no reason to hate anyone.

But Barkmann didn't look crazy. She reacted to all the arguments of the lawyer and the prosecutor's accusations with contemptuous laughter. When the death sentence was announced, Jenny did not cry or ask for clemency and listened to everything calmly. The last word of the criminal in court was: "Life is really a great pleasure, and pleasure, as a rule, does not last long."

Early in the morning of July 4, 1946, Barkmann, along with 10 other war criminals, was brought to the place of execution on the Biskup Hill near Gdansk. More than 200 thousand people gathered there to see the death of the damned executioners. Many have come from afar to see the death of their tormentors and executioners of their relatives and friends. Corporal Joseph Lyas also stood in the crowd of spectators.

No one was going to bother with criminals in Gdansk as in Nuremberg. A professional executioner was not even involved in the execution. The condemned were taken under the big gallows on trucks, put nooses on their necks, after which the car drove off. When it was Barkmann's turn, the car didn't want to start. There was a hitch that caused a murmur in the huge crowd. Then a former prisoner of Stutthof ran up to the car and just pushed Jenny out of the back.

As soon as Barkmann died, dozens of people rushed to her dangling body on a rope. Everyone certainly wanted to get a button or a piece of clothes executed as a souvenir. Considering what this woman has done, it is impossible to blame them for something. But even the death of "Mad Jenny" was not enough to atone for her terrible crimes.

After the death of the matron, there was a story among the people about her shameful funeral. Someone started a rumor that Barkmann was cremated and her ashes were taken to Hamburg. There he was allegedly dumped into the toilet of the apartment where this monster was born. Of course, it was just a story. At that time, no one would bother with the corpse of a villainess and cremate it, and then take the ashes somewhere.

Like the bodies of the other executed, Jenny's corpse was sent to the Anatomical Theater in Gdansk. There they became visual aids for medical students, after which they were disposed of as biological waste. Thus, the dead scum brought at least some benefit to society.