Polish War Crimes Mission
Team Brunswick
Brunswick, 24 June 1946
Those present:
Investigating Judge: Lieutenant Czesław Tundak
In the case against: Otto Arthur Lätsch
Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the
witness testifies:
| Name and surname | Zenek Baron |
| Age | 20 |
| Religious affiliation | Jewish |
| Marital status | single |
| Occupation | no profession |
| Relationship to the accused | none |
| Perjury charge | none |
| Current place of residence | Feldafing near Monachium, Waldwinkel Villa |
In 1944 I was transported by the Germans from the ghetto in Łódź to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. I was then transported to the labor camp Gliwice IV on 18 August 1944. This camp was managed by the Todt Organization [OT – Organisation Todt], and SS men performed the function of the guards. Suspect Lätsch was Rapportführer [report leader] in this camp.
In the first days of our stay at this camp, one of the Häftlings [prisoners] was shot (I do not know his name). He was marched outside the camp and shot there. I don’t know who shot him – weather it was Lätsch himself or some other SS man. This must have happened on Lätsch’s orders, because the Lagerführer was not in the camp – he got there three months later.
Lätsch beat me with a board and rubber in the head, back, and all over the body. This happened during work at the camp, when we were digging a ditch. I saw Lätsch beat and abuse prisoners who committed the most trivial offences or none at all.
On 19 January 1945, the camp was evacuated to the west. About 50 prisoners unfit for marching stayed behind in the sick room. The sick room was burnt three days later, and these ill people burnt along with it. I don’t know who gave the order. I learned about this from one Dąbrowski (father) and another former Häftling. They were the only people from the group of sick prisoners who survived. They told me about this incident when I saw them in the spring of 1945 in Łódź. They survived because they managed to jump from a window of the burning building and hide among the corpses of those who were shot when they were jumping out.
On the first day of the march, about 20 kilometers from Gliwice, I saw Lätsch shoot a Häftling who couldn’t walk any longer. I didn’t see Lätsch shoot anyone else. Considering all crimes and atrocities committed by Lätsch, the fact that he gave orders to beat and torment us during the march isn’t really worth mentioning.
After two days of marching, we got to Blechhammer. On the second day of the march, I saw Lätsch for the last time around noon. I don’t know if he left the column. I suspect that three hours before we got to Blechhammer, he drove ahead by car. I never saw him in Blechhammer, but I did see the car that he would drive with the Lagerführer.
In addition, I would like to testify that in 1944, a camp physician (member of the SS) conducted selections among those prisoners who were unfit for work and who did not look promising. He sent them to the crematorium at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The first group was transported and the second, the one I belonged to, was halted. Some said that this happened because the ovens were destroyed on account of the Russians getting closer. This is why I survived. I know that the sick from [illegible] who suffered from dysentery were sent to these ovens earlier.
At this I would like to conclude.
The report was read out, signed, and concluded.