MARYLA KAUFMAN

On 28 August 1947 in Katowice, Investigative Judge of the District Court W. Mędlewski, with the participation of reporter Stefan Krawczyk, pursuant to Article 20 of the provisions introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviewed the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Maryla Kaufman
Age 18 years old
Parents’ names Szeja and Fela, née Mehler
Place of residence Katowice, Kochanowskiego Street 2 a
Occupation student
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

From 1942 to January 1945 I stayed in the camp in Płaszów. In 1944, I met Alice Orlowski who served as a supervisor.

During my detention in the camp I knew her by name. At that time I was lodged in barrack 11 and worked in the underclothes storeroom known as ‘Balb’. Although she was neither in charge of ‘Balb’ nor of barrack 11, she appeared both in the storeroom and in the barrack and beat prisoners with a whip.

I also received a beating from her. She noticed me drinking coffee during my work. She jumped at me and poured the coffee out on my chest, scalding me. Then she hit me in the face with a cup and cut my upper lip. On another occasion, the defendant turned up in the barrack and deprived its prisoners of their underclothes and bedding. She also shaved prisoners’ heads, including mine, with a hair clipper.

In my presence, she beat my father, Szaja Kaufman, for asking her to leave our bedding. During the roll-calls she would walk along prisoners’ lines and beat those who dared to move with a whip. Sometimes she pulled prisoners out of the lines and took them to the commandant which meant placing them in the bunker. While still in Płaszów, I was told that she had killed a number of prisoners.

In January 1945, I was transferred to Auschwitz where I spent only three days. The defendant marched us from Auschwitz to Wodzisław. She was accompanied by a dog that she set on prisoners who fell out of the marching line. The defendant was the terror of the camp prisoners.

The report was read out and signed.