Tenth day of trial, 4 December 1947.
President: Next witness, Staszkiewicz.
Witness Bronisław Staszkiewicz, 26 years old, butcher, Roman Catholic, no relationship to the accused parties.
President: I remind the witness of the obligation to speak the truth. Making false declarations is punishable by imprisonment of up to five years. Do the parties wish to make any representations concerning the procedure of interviewing the witness?
Prosecutors and defense attorneys: We want to release the witness from an oath.
President: I hereby ask the witness to state what he knows about the case itself, or else about particular defendants, and to cite particular facts.
Witness: I came to Auschwitz on 25 June 1940. After two months, I was assigned to the SS kitchen and worked there until the end of my stay. Due to my position in the SS kitchen, I often came into contact with SS men and saw quite a lot. I often saw the defendants Szczurek and Müller at the gate, where they carried out searches and tortured prisoners who brought something to the camp in an inhumane manner. In the blocks, they would sit the prisoners on stools, squatting, and place broken bottles under their heels so that they couldn’t support their feet. The prisoner would also have to hold another stool with stretched out arms. Due to exhaustion, the prisoner would fall to the floor. During a search, if they caught a prisoner with some potato or rutabaga, they would stood him against the wall or between the wires, and make him stand there for the whole day with that rutabaga in his mouth. If he was caught with potatoes, the potatoes were to be made into a rosary and hung on his neck, while one potato was to be placed in the prisoner’s mouth, and again the prisoner would stand like that all day.
In regards to the defendant Muhsfeldt, at the beginning of his stay in Auschwitz he was employed as the company’s courier and delivered food. When he was appointed Blockführer, he harassed the prisoners in an inhumane manner and beat them for the slightest offence.
The defendant “Duck” Kirschner was a Blockführer from the first day of my stay in the camp. At the time he held the rank of Rottenführer. He tormented the prisoners in an unheard of manner, kicking them, and during the “duck” exercise – Kniebeugen [squats] in the inner yard – when some prisoner could no longer bear it and fell down due to exhaustion, Kirschner would douse him with water and kick him until he lost consciousness.
The defendant Plagge took part in gassing and executions, and we heard about it from the defendant Palitzsch, who was a frequent visitor to the kitchen and for whom we had to make packages of sausage and butter. He came to the kitchen several times a week. We did this to earn greater freedom, and Palitzsch, in order to obtain yet more, would call in other SS men and entertain them.
The defendant Palitzsch mentioned that he himself took part in gassing and executions and that the defendant Plagge also took part in them and bragged in December 1942 that he had personally shot dead approximately 10,000 people.
Moreover, for those who took part in gassing, the SS kitchen issued Sonderverpflegung [special ration], which consisted of 10 decagrams of sausage, one fifth of a liter of rum, cigarettes and one third or fourth of a loaf of bread. As far as I remember, the following men received Sonderverpflegung: Aumeier, Grabner, Plagge, Müller, Szczurek, chauffeur Lorenz, and two men, that is Dinges i Romeikat, who received it till the very end.
Next, Aumeier received liqueurs which we took from “Canada”. These were left behind by the transports of people who were gassed. Höß, Aumeier, and Grabner all received special liqueurs and champagne.
Later, we took food for the SS kitchen from the prisoners’ kitchen. It happened with the knowledge of Aumeier and Obersturmführer Licht, who was a Verpflegungsführer [food manager]. On Aumeier’s orders, food surpluses from the storeroom for prisoners were sent to the kitchen – thousands of tons of margarine, flour, sugar, even black bread, and also canned meat; everything that was for prisoners.
When the commission from Berlin came – Himmler came twice – the storeroom was concealed.
In December 1942 or in January 1943, it happened during Kameradschaftsabend [social evening] that one prisoner from the SS kitchen fled the camp. It was Henio Wąsik who escaped. It was 11.00 p.m., and Aumeier, Grabner, Palitzsch and many others came to the kitchen. Schwarz also came and demanded that all of us be executed. Since we knew many SS men, we managed to hush it up with bribes and remained in the kitchen. During the same evening, when all SS men got tight, Aumeier punched prisoners in the face. Schwarz did the same. In January 1942, prisoner no. 1256 was executed by shooting, but his relatives were informed that he died of pneumonia.
Besides, Buntrock, Bogusch, Gehring and Seufert also received Sonderverpflegung. The evenings, Kameradschafts, were organized quite often, and we got canned foods from “Canada” to make sandwiches, rum to prepare grog and hot wine and we also baked cookies. Later, when a transport of Jews had arrived, everything they had was sent to “Canada”.
That would be all.
Prosecutor Brandys: To ascertain the facts – the witness indicated that Romeikat was a chauffeur. Was he one?
Witness: Yes, he was a chauffeur.
President: For how long did the witness remain in the camp?
Witness: Until 27 February 1943. On that day seven of us escaped, for which my mother was killed in Auschwitz.
Attorney Minasowicz: In what circumstances did the witness meet Romeikat?
Witness: He would come to the kitchen, as he was a chauffeur.
Attorney Minasowicz: Romeikat claims that he worked in the Bekleidungskammer [clothes storeroom] and wasn’t a chauffeur.
Witness: That is correct, right.
Attorney Minasowicz: Would the witness then like to correct his statement that Romeikat received Sonderverpflegung?
Witness: I am sure that he received it.
Attorney Minasowicz: Does the witness know why SS men received additional provisions?
Witness: They received them for taking part in gassing and selections.
Attorney Minasowicz: Was it also for overtime work?
Witness: No, not for that.
Attorney Minasowicz: So they received it in return for activities connected with extermination?
Witness: Yes, they did.
Attorney Minasowicz: How about Bogusch? Did he receive Sonderverpflegung? Where did he work?
Witness: He worked in the Schreibstube [administrative office] and
received Sonderverpflegung.
Attorney Minasowicz: Did he work as a Blockführer?
Witness: I don’t know that.
Attorney Minasowicz: Did he hold any post equivalent to Blockführer?
Witness: I am unable to say. However, apart from their standard tasks, at nights when the transports came to the camp, all of them took part in selections and gassing, and for performing this work, they received small cards for Sonderverpflegung.
| Attorney Minasowicz: | Who signed these cards? |
| Witness: | These cards were signed either by Aumeier or by Fritzsch. |
| President: | Do any of the defendants wish to make any representations? |
(Defendant Seufert raises.)
Defendant Seufert: I ask permission to ask the witness in which year did I receive special food rations, that is Sonderverpflegung.
Witness: I cannot answer this question; we didn’t make an effort to memorize dates as none of us were sure whether we were going to make it to the next day. However, I recognize the defendant Seufert, and I declare that he received additional food.
Defendant Seufert: In which year did the witness come to know me?
Witness: I stayed in the camp from 1940 to 1943, and during that time I met various SS men, including the defendant Seufert.
Defendant Seufert: The witness must recall when he saw me in Auschwitz.
Witness: I cannot give the exact date, as a great number of SS men crossed my path there.
President: Does the defendant Dinges wish to make a declaration?
Defendant Dinges: I suppose the witness recalls that I was employed as a chauffeur in the Zentralbauleitung [central construction management] and that members of the Zentralbauleitung never received additional food rations.
Witness: Defendant Dinges came to the kitchen to collect additional food rations. I can attest that he was a good man, but nevertheless, he received additional food.
Defendant Dinges: The witness can ask Göbel about this; currently he is incarcerated in the prison at Montelupich Street. He can confirm that I worked in the Zentralbauleitung and that I didn’t receive additional food rations.
Witness: I don’t need to ask Göbel because I know it myself. As an SS man, Göbel also received Sonderverpflegung.
President: Defendant Gehring.
Defendant Gehring: Your Honor! I would like to counter claims made by the witness to the effect that I received additional food. Many witnesses who knew me have already appeared here, and none of them claimed that I received additional food. Did the witness ever see me in the kitchen?
Witness: Not in the kitchen itself, but by the window, where he received additional food. I gave it to him myself, so I remember it clearly and I am surely not mistaken.
Defendant Gehring: I state firmly that I didn’t receive any additional food, that the witness never handed it over to me, and that there must have been some mistake. I state once again that I never received any additional food; please ask the defendant Aumeier whether he ever issued me a card for additional food rations.
President: The defendant Gehring calls the defendant Aumeier. Defendant Aumeier, please answer.
Defendant Aumeier: I state that what the defendant Gehring has said is true.
President: Who from among the defendants present in the room received additional food? Please name them.
Defendant Aumeier: I didn’t learn the surnames by heart.
President: What was the basis for issuing Sonderverpflegung?
Defendant Aumeier: Additional food rations were issued not only for transports and gassing, but also for those SS men who did overtime. As a result one cannot say that those who received additional food rations took part in gassing or executions. I can support my claim with the fact that Blockführers who worked overtime received additional food rations.
President: What does the witness say to that?
Witness: When the SS men worked overtime, they were rewarded in a different manner, with the so-called Nachschlag [second helping], not Sonderverpflegung.
Defendant Aumeier: I would like to state once again that they received Nachschlag, as they couldn’t get anything else from the kitchen as it was closed at night.