Polish Mission for the Prosecution of War Crimes
Polish War Crimes, Liaison Group, Team Brunswick
Brunswick, 17 June 1946
Present:
Investigating Judge: Capt. R. Zdankiewicz, District Court Judge
Reporter: Lieutenant Cz. Tundak, secretary
In the case against: Otto Arthur Lätsch
There appears a witness, who having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and duly sworn, testifies as follows:
| Name and surname | Rachmil Cukier |
| Age | 20 years old |
| Religious affiliation | Jewish |
| Marital status | unmarried |
| Occupation | weaver |
| Relationship to the suspect | none |
| Criminal record for perjury | none |
| Place of residence | Brunswick, Steinstraße 4, Jewish Community |
As regards the case of Otto Lätsch, I have recently been interrogated at a German police station in Brunswick. My testimony, which I made in German at that police station and which has now been read out to me, is true to fact in its entirety and I fully uphold it now that I testify under oath.
In response to the question, I would like to add the following information: I myself witnessed several times how Lätsch shot at Häftlings [prisoners], mowing them down. Once I saw how he killed one Häftling with a shot to the back of the head from a dozen or so steps. He ordered that man to go 50 steps, and when the Häftling was already at some distance from him, Lätsch took out his gun and shot him. The reason for this was that this Häftling had lice.
Another time I saw Lätsch shoot one Strassberg (son) upon crossing the main gate to the camp. It happened during waste disposal.
The third time, I saw Lätsch shoot at one Häftling, Alte Najmann, and kill him on the spot during our evacuation march. The reason was that this Häftling was weak.
I witnessed how Lätsch tortured to death one Bajgielmann (a violinist from Łódź). Bajgielmann was so exhausted that he couldn’t push his wheelbarrow well, and Lätsch made him exercise on a barrel, and whenever he failed to do it properly, Lätsch beat him with another barrel all over the body. About an hour and a half later, Bajgielmann died.
From time to time, Lätsch would organize punitive exercises, so called "sporting" exercises, during which we were beaten and tormented to breaking point.
For telling some Germans from outside our lager about what went on in our camp, we (that is 30 Häflings) had two hours of punitive sporting exercises. During these exercises each of us received a dozen or so forceful blows with a rubber baton with a wire inside. Moreover, we had to do squats holding iron bars. After two hours, a few people died and were left at the site, and a few more died two days later. In total, ten people fell victim to the above-described "sporting" exercises.
At this I conclude my testimony. The report was read out before signing.sss
The witness additionally testifies: on Lätsch’s orders, the sick room with 57 people who couldn’t be evacuated due to illness was burned down. Two people managed to survive; I spoke about this event at a later date, when I was already in Łódź, with one of them, a man by the name of Rosenfeld. When coming back to Poland, I myself passed by our former lager and saw with my own eyes the burned sick room and charred human bodies left at the site.
At this I conclude my testimony. I have read the report before signing it.
The report was brought to a close.