(Following a recess)
Presiding Judge: Please summon the witness Alfred Woycicki.
Witness: Alfred Woycicki, 42 years old, secretary of the municipal theater in Kraków, religion – Roman Catholic, relationship to the accused – none.
Presiding Judge: I hereby instruct the witness, pursuant to the provisions of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, that you are required to speak the truth. The provision of false testimony is punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to five years. Do the parties want to submit any motions as to the procedure according to which the witness is to be interviewed?
Prosecutors: We release the witness from the obligation to take an oath.
Defense counsel: We likewise.
Presiding Judge: Can the witness tell us what is known to him about Auschwitz as such, and in particular about the accused?
Witness: When I read the surnames of the accused in the press, I was struck by a most characteristic trait, which was equally obvious both in Auschwitz, and all the other camps – namely, I was struck by the number of turncoats. These people were the most ardent implementers of all the criminal instructions given by the Third Reich.
To give but a few examples from amongst the accused who are present here today: Max Grabner, an Austrian, Bogusch – a Silesian, Szczurek, Hoffman, Lechner – a Czech. But there are some people missing, and they should definitely come within the jurisdiction of Polish courts, for example the doctor Entress – a citizen of Poznań, Kaduk – a Silesian, Lachman, Woźnica – both Silesians, and Palitzsch, one of the bloodiest butchers at the camp. These men were particularly zealous servants of the Hitlerite system, and they treated their slaves with the utmost ruthlessness.
Since the system, or rather the leaders of the system introduced in the Third Reich came to the conclusion that such people were exceptionally trustworthy, they looked far and wide for such turncoats to staff their camps and carry out their orders. Amongst these collaborators were the camp informers, who tried to sway people to the Hitlerite – Volksdeutscher – faith. They included Ołpiński, Wierusz-Kowalski, etc. And since I am talking about them, I must mention one of the most dangerous of all of Grabner’s lackeys – Lachman.
For me, the methods that he used to recruit people in the camp consisted in an entrapment of souls. I know many instances when Lachman would for months on end try to persuade inmates – who were not Germans and had nothing in common with Germany – to sign the Volksliste. Obviously, they would also have had to have signed an obligation that they would complete their military service, either in the Wehrmacht, or in the SS. Usually, however, they would be sent to the Dirlewanger division. This was a unit made up solely of criminals and offenders. First they would be promised that they would receive regular postings and be able to fight for Germany just like any other soldier, whereafter they were pressed into the said division. Afterwards, their protests – that they were political prisoners and had not opted for such service – were simply disregarded.
When speaking about these entrappers of souls (some of whom occupied themselves with kidnapping Polish children and deporting them to Germany for Germanization), I must mention Lachman, who – being a tool in the hands of people such as Höß, Grabner and Pohl – recruited prisoners and promised them freedom and all kinds of privileges for signing the Volksliste. There was an instance when Lachman tried to enlist a prisoner by the name of Władysław Wawrzyniak. Since Wawrzyniak did not know German, I acted as the interpreter. He was the son of a laborer, healthy and strong, and therefore an ideal candidate for recruitment. He never had anything in common with Germany, and had no contact with the Germans. Lachman set his trap, creating an atmosphere that seemed to imply that Wawrzyniak was in grave danger, and might even be sentenced to death. He did all this in order to strong-arm him into signing the Volksliste. These Lachmans and Grabners regularly employed people who specialized in machinations of this type, such as the turncoat Ołpiński, who was in constant contact with the head of the political department and provided him with detailed reports.
Everything that I have just said about these underhand methods should be given the common title of “Max Grabner”, for it was his kingdom.
Ołpiński’s method of recruiting people differed somewhat from that used by Lachman. He also tried to ensnare me. He milled around me for some time, dangling prospects of a bright and beautiful future before my eyes and encouraging me to sign the Volksliste, stating that since I had completed a part of my studies in Vienna, I definitely had something in common with German culture. And all this was said by a man who was in a concentration camp and had seen “German culture” in practice, its zenith ... the temerity! This Ołpiński, specially employed at Auschwitz concentration camp, had the following to say to me – briefly and succinctly – after a few months of trickery: – “Look, three months of collaboration, your signature on the Volksliste, and you will be free – I guarantee you will receive a good position either in the General Government or in the Reich”.
Such was the “helping hand” extended by the political department to the camp. There were many like myself whom they tried to talk round. I do not know how many Ołpiński recruited, but he also had another task – which I have already mentioned, and this was to secure the three months of labor. How was this presented? For a start, everyone knew that Germany had to win the War. And it was completely obvious that when this goal was achieved, all the émigré governments would lose their significance, and that the allies who continued the fight on our behalf – with the participation of our countrymen – would be defeated. Changing sides was therefore the only salvation. So if for three months you could show your loyalty to the future European order, and prove that you believed in it, you would become a free man and a citizen of the victorious Reich.
The resistance movement in the camp knew full well about these people, and kept them under observation. And thus we were not surprised when one day Ołpiński fell ill with typhus. What surprised us, however, was that while ill, Ołpiński was kept in a regular block. Only when the situation became critical and it was obvious that he would be finished without professional medical care was he transferred to the hospital, with the proviso that the personnel who looked after patients at the infirmary would be held responsible for his life. They risked their heads. Ołpiński is not present in the dock today.
The rule followed by the political department and the camp command was “divide et impera”. They would stop at nothing to create antagonisms between individual nationalities incarcerated at the camp, and there were 16 or 17 of them. Attempts were made to incite hatred between Poles and Czechs, between Poles and Russians, and between Slavs and representatives of the Latin countries of Europe. But they pulled out all the stops when it came to stirring up a loathing of the Jews. The camp population – the thousands of prisoners detained there – was therefore set at variance. This made the job easier for the political department, which was able to observe everything that went on and secure itself against a united front, which one day could have possibly torn down the camp gates.
In the main, we were political prisoners. We had been arrested and detained for political crimes, for being members of clandestine organizations, etc. Contrary to all legal principles, we had been subjected to the rule of criminals – specially brought in to the camp in May 1940. And in June of that year, when the first transport of politicals arrived, these delinquents were instructed by the SS to keep order in the camp. These people, too, were led by a turncoat, one Brodniewicz, the Lagerältester [camp elder] of camp I. He cooperated closely with the political department, for he was their man – a fence, a white slave trader, an excellent burglar who had practiced his profession across Europe, and a murderer. For us prisoners, he was the master of life and death, the representative of the “justice” meted out by the gentlemen sitting today in the dock. The political department was administered by Max Grabner, a citizen of Vienna. He was assisted by the following: Kürschner, Lachman, the infamous “tiger of Auschwitz”, Boger (he used to be a high-ranking SS officer, but was demoted and performed a more petty role), Roch, Dylewski, and pawns such as Kaufmann – pawns, but harmful nevertheless. Stark, who received transports arriving at the camp and authored the falsifications made in their files.
I heard that the former employees of the political department are defending themselves by saying that Berlin was to blame for everything, that Höß was to blame, however it is a well- known fact that the political department was independent. Grabner was a man who decided for himself. Grabner maintains that, for example, execution orders – an inescapable element of camp life – were sent in from Berlin. I would like to ask the accused Grabner what were the official channels of communication with Berlin. How long could it have taken to report that something or other had to be done? Did Mr. Grabner wait at attention by the telephone until Berlin gave him an order and Mr. Grabner could carry it out? How much time did proceedings under this “system of justice” take? I would like to stress – a German “system of justice”. And I would like to receive an answer to this question, for I remember many instances where someone committed an offense in the camp one day, and was physically eliminated the next.
I remember how one day Franz Malz from Szczecin held a speech in the so-called Birch Avenue, this on the occasion of a Soviet victory, one which allowed them to break through the front line, and explained what this entailed and what the consequences could be, and how we should adapt to the new situation. Malz was a Communist. I am not saying that he was a wise man, or a good politician. He was a man suffering from a nervous breakdown brought on by the camp system. This all occurred in the evening, while the next day the kommando leader stopped Malz and told him that he was to bring some photograph to Grabner. Malz went at noon, and we learned that we would have a new kapo; in the evening friends of ours who worked in the political department and at the crematoria informed us, through resistance channels, that Franz Malz had been liquidated by the head of the political department.
And thus I am curious about how communication with Berlin functioned. I think that it was the head of the political department who decided, for he was independent within the camp and answerable to the central authorities only to a certain extent. I know for a fact that people summoned for interrogations to the political department in the morning, after roll call, very often failed to return. Very frequently, they returned to block 11 in such a state that they could not be shown around camp.
On 25 September 1943, the Germans arrested 43 people who were accused by the political department of organizing a secret organization within the camp. Five of the leaders were executed. And presently I can tell the accused Grabner that I was one of the group. 40 more people were arrested later, and Grabner – he had sciatic pain, or maybe he was just simulating – walked past the first row during roll call. He stopped next to one of the arrestees and said, “I told you – now you are finished”. We were taken to block 11, and we knew what this meant. The commandant, Lagerführers [camp leaders] and SS men were all present, armed with automatic weapons. We knew our fate. The Blockführer [block leader] of block 11 was Untersturmführer Groh. He would come to our kommando often, asking that we develop his private photographic films. We did this work on the side, in order to have good relations with him, for you never knew when you would be summoned to block 11. When he saw me, he threw up his arms in dismay and said, “Mate, you are done for, and I will never see my photographs again!” Upon hearing his words, I was convinced that we were as good as dead. We were ordered to walk towards the hall at block 11, to the left. Once there, we were summoned by our surnames and had to provide our date of birth and camp number; we then ran to the shower room, from where you would normally be led to the “penal wall”.
Block elder Jakub, an athlete (I do not know his nationality), who knew a great many languages, albeit each worse than the other, beckoned with his hand – to the bunker, and said: you will be shot dead.
During the night he told us, and this was a Saturday, 25 September, that we would be finished off on Monday morning, and that Boger had forbidden to issue us blankets and food.
If the Esteemed Tribunal intends to visit the scene of the crime, please do have a look at cell 8. There is a hole in its wall which opens onto a small side corridor. A hole made in the wall of another cell, in which German women were incarcerated, also opens onto this corridor. The Germans who were doing time in block 11 had excellent conditions. Cell no. 8 does not have an iron door, but one made of oak. Those who were kept there before us used a nail taken from a shoe to make an opening in this door. We saw how the Blockführers on duty − not only Groh – dragged the German women from their cell or indeed went into the cell to have some fun, or otherwise led them to their room and, please pardon the expression, all sorts of excesses went on in there. The German women learned from the Blockführer what would happen with the group of 40 men who had been taken to block 11.
And when they returned from their merry sojourn, some were laughing, while others cried, for as we know alcohol acts differently on different people. They sang sad songs throughout the day. A few of us stood on the shoulders of our colleagues and, using the upper opening to communicate, we asked the German women why they were singing such sad songs. They gave various reasons, however they did not want to be specific. They said they wanted to cheer us up until Monday. They even advised us not to cry in front of the SS men; such an approach was typical of German women. On Monday there was a search at block 11, and it was attended by Lagerführer Schwarz and Boger. Schwarz asked who was locked up in the cells and whether these people had been interrogated. Boger replied that they had not, but that he had proof of their guilt. Schwarz therefore advised him to contact Berlin, for he did not want to assume responsibility, especially as Berlin could later send in some inquiry concerning the case. They therefore left our cell and took some other inmates for execution. Thus I have explained what it was like to be locked up in the bunker.
I can only state that the political department decided about everything on its own. When he saw us going pale at the very sight of Grabner, Hauptscharführer Walter, the head of the police records department at the camp, asked us why we were afraid of him. We replied that it was because he decided whether we lived or died. Walter responded thus: “You are right, but it is Lachman who makes the selections”. All of the prisoners had a single sheet in their files, and this was used to determine who would be shot. Selectees were transferred to block 11. The words of Höß’ wife underscore the immense power that Grabner had in the camp. Namely, there was once a dispute between commandant Höß and Grabner that was overheard by our people, who were at the time working in Höß’ garden, and Höß stated that he had a lot of trouble because of Grabner. I have read in the papers that Grabner declared that he did not attend the special courts, nor the police courts. But I am in a position to declare that Grabner did take part in their sessions, for I saw, looking through the window of the block in which I worked, an execution being organized and held, and Grabner was present there for a few hours. I can say the same about Aumeier. I recall the following incident: in 1942 the Arbeitsdienst [junior-level labor coordinator] Otto and three Poles – Kuczba, Banaś and another man (Mietek, whose surname I do not remember) – escaped, and the Germans simply could not catch them. But they did find an identity card made out for an SS non-commissioned officer, with Kuczba’s photograph in an SS uniform. This photograph had to have been taken at the records office, for it was the only administrative unit that had cameras. That is when I encountered Grabner – he threatened us that if the culprit was not found, our entire team would be held responsible. It was then that I understood what the term “eyes like a wildcat” really means. He wanted to pressure us into telling him how the photograph was taken.
After each execution, the case records of victims would be duly doctored and “natural causes” entered as the cause of death. I remember how in September 1940, when 40 people out of a group of 50 were shot dead, we – working in the records office – were instructed to make entries in the files after a few days and write down the cause of death provided by the hospital office, for that is where the physicians worked on case records. These records were added to the files to give an official explanation of the cause of death. This is how, for example, they explained away the death of Woźniakowski, a lawyer – namely, it was stated that he had had a heart attack, and all the various methods that were ostensibly used to save him – unsuccessfully, of course – were also listed. In a word, these reports were falsified. The police records department would often be visited by employees of the main camp office, who would discretely request that a file with a specific number be looked up in the register.
When asked what should be written down in the file, they would say thus: “Write that so- and-so has been transferred” – “Where to?” (you would always have to enter the name of the facility to which prisoners were transferred in order to know where to find them). – “Do not inquire about this, it is a special transfer”. There were many such instances, but the majority were handled by the hospital.
All these executions and sentences, which resulted in such enormous numbers, were paid. I remember a conversation between Hoffman and Walter, two of my chiefs, and Schilg, who told them one afternoon: “I had a lot of work today”, “how much did you earn?”, “as usual, five marks for each”. A visit to the scene of the crime will clearly show that I could have overheard them talking, for the wall that divided me from them was thin, and we were only a few meters apart.
One more thing should be noted in connection with the falsification of statistical data. In July 1942, a transport of more than one thousand Frenchmen arrived at Auschwitz. Since I know French, I was ordered to conduct official interviews with these people while taking their photographs – to determine their names and surnames, dates of birth, and to check whether this data tallied with the transport numbers and lists. I soon engaged in a discussion with one of the Frenchmen, for he seemed a bit more confident and bore himself well. I asked him why and when these people had been arrested. He said that they had been detained only recently. This surprised me, for – as I told him – they wore the triangles normally given to professional criminals. A hubbub then started amongst the Frenchmen and they started inquiring what all this meant; I confirmed that the badge was given to professional criminals, and asked them to quieten down, for there were SS men nearby. They then told me that they had been arrested for a completely different reason, namely for being members of a Communist party that had been uncovered in Paris. At the time, I myself had been in the camp for only a month, and my perception of what went on there was rather naive. I therefore went to my chief and said, “Sir, there must have been some mistake. These Frenchmen received the wrong tabs at the Bekleidungstelle [clothing unit]”. Luckily, he did not knock off my jaw for making such a statement.
Selections also took place, and – as I remember – they were participated in personally by Aumeier and Grabner, both of whom are present here today. This was in 1942. In the summer, the selections took place before the kitchen. We were all ordered to arrange ourselves by blocks and run in front of this “SS court”. The SS men observed us closely, trying to determine who was physically stronger and more fit for work, etc. Those whom they judged unfit were ordered aside to a different group, which was then sent to Birkenau for “convalescence”. When I and the others came to block 11, we were asked whether any of us felt unwell, and told that if we wanted to be given sitting work, we could report to Birkenau, for there was still some room there for the sick and the weak. I felt extremely exhausted, but I noticed one of my friends signaling to me not to step forward. He later explained that being sent to Birkenau meant going to the gas chamber. The group who had been sent from in front of the kitchen to “convalesce” at Birkenau did not return.
I remember how in January and April 1943 the chief camp doctor, Entress, carried out selections in the presence of the camp’s then ruler, Aumeier, at hospital blocks 19 and 20. The people taken from these blocks to be gassed had to undress and underwent detailed examinations, whereafter they were loaded onto trucks. While this was going on, all the other prisoners were locked up in their blocks. But even though the blocks were closed shut, I was able to observe the selection through my window, which opened onto blocks 19 and 20. I used the very same window to observe the children brought in from the Zamość region, who have already been mentioned by witness Kieta. They entered block 20, and a short while later they were being loaded onto trucks. I remember Klehr, when he came over and boasted: “I had 200 today. It was tough work”.
On a great many occasions I saw Aumeier, drunk (this was the norm for him), barge in through the main camp gate and, wherever he saw a group of prisoners, near or far, take out his pistol and start shooting at them.
One of the men who should definitely stand trial before a Polish court – Dr. Mengele – is not present here today. He worked at the selections that took place in Auschwitz. For the purpose of these selections, the prisoners were forced to undress. Then, they had their legs and abdomens inspected, whereafter they would be ordered to go either to the right or to the left, that is to work or to the gas chamber.
The SS men’s approach to the camp command told its own story. They respected Höß and had nothing to say about him. Aumeier was laughed at by everybody, and they said that he was crazy. But of Grabner they were terrified. Even the SS men would stand ramrod straight in his presence, not knowing whether his piercing look was perhaps intended for them. There was one other man who states that he was just a pawn. And it is most characteristic that the SS men both feared him and held him in the highest respect. I am speaking of Nebbe. Nebbe was treated like a king. They called Woźnica a “swine” – I do not know why. Hofmann and Schwarz were considered as the dumbest SS officers, while Palitzsch was treated like a hero – with respect and awe, as the man who had killed thousands. Grabner’s concentration camp career had an uninspiring conclusion. The Auschwitz Resistance Group regularly informed the outside world of what went on in the camp and, following Mohl’s declarations that the camp must be obliterated with bombs, immediately broadcast this information over the radio, whereupon England and the United States made declarations concerning the matter. This political intervention led to the removal of Höß, while Grabner was accused of abusing power and appropriating Jewish assets that rightfully belonged to the Reich. Indeed, something must have been going on, for during the period when Grabner was in really deep water, the building of the political department – which contained evidence – burned down. A farce of a trial was held in Weimar, with Boger and Lachman appearing as Grabner’s witnesses. The case of Palitzsch surfaced at around the same time. Palitzsch’s career also came to an end, and the position of political chief was taken over by Schulz, a man who was probably appointed along with Liebehenschel. When our current Prime Minister intervened, Liebehenschel sent all the informers to other camps, however a new network of spies was set up soon after. I think that the Jews who arrived from Slovakia were right in saying that Liebehenschel was no angel and had no intention of setting up a “sanatorium”, for they had known him from Slovakia and stated that he was just the same as the others. When Liebehenschel became commandant of the camp, the system was altered somewhat in the other camps, too. When I came to Gross-Rosen in 1944, I learned that the system had been changed there as well. All this shows that the gentlemen seated in the front row ensured that the conditions for the thousands of prisoners incarcerated at Auschwitz were such that we did not feel like political prisoners or internees, but like people who already had one foot in the grave, who were intended to go up in smoke. We started to join together, and this led to the creation of the resistance movement, with which the political department tried to fight, however ineptly.
Presiding Judge: Does the accused Grabner wish to make a statement regarding the testimony given by the witness?
The accused Grabner: I would like to ask the witness when this whole business at block 11 took place?
Witness: On 25 September 1943, while the shooting execution was carried out on 11 October 1943, after an investigation lasting 16 days was carried out by assorted Lachmans and Bogers.
Prosecutor Pęchalski: I would ask the witness to explain this. The witness’ testimony would seem to indicate that when in September 1943 the Germans arrested 40 people from the political organization, the activity of the movement in the camp died down. How did this look in reality, at what stage of development was the organization in the camp?
Witness: Should you gentlemen require details, I have them available. I can present the organization of the resistance movement in a few minutes. In 1940, one of those working in the measurement kommando – this was the so-called Messungskommando – was Colonel Surmacki, a former member of the Union for Armed Struggle. One of his collaborators was Kazimierz Jarzębowski. These men were the first to establish contacts with people outside the camp, they organized the first radio broadcasts, deliveries of drugs and food, etc. But first and foremost, they were concerned with saving human health and life, with gaining information and boosting the prisoners’ morale, and also – thirdly – with getting into touch with resistance organizations, both national and those active in the part of Silesia that had been incorporated into the Reich, so as to make it possible to inform the world of what was going on in the camp.
From humble beginnings, the movement grew and expanded its activities. Slowly, the first of its members, military men – and it is understandable that its organizers were military men – were joined by others: politicians, peasant activists and socialists: Sapiński, Barlicki, Kuryłowicz and so forth. They all worked to improve the organization, which initially was exclusively Polish. Having secured our immediate surroundings, we proceeded to reconnoiter further afield. Slowly, we gained contacts – in the political department, in the camp command, amongst the Blockführers and elsewhere. This counterintelligence was necessary both in order to inform the world, and also for our self-defense. By 1942, the organization had strong foundations.
In the autumn of 1942, a member of the Representation of the Émigré Government for National Affairs, the present-day Prime Minister, Cyrankiewicz, arrived in Auschwitz. We entered into discussions with him, although initially he distanced himself from our activities, using the help of his own people – who had been sent to Auschwitz earlier – to get a better understanding of camp life. Already in the beginning of 1943, a separate group was functioning – such were the seeds of the “international division”, which comprised left-wingers from around Europe. Since it was obvious that the pursuit of divergent goals by these circles – one military and the other political – would be advantageous for the political department, it became necessary to join forces, for such was the wish of the Government and the command of the underground army (since they started receiving contradictory reports). We then engaged in discussions and the two groups reached an understanding that allowed them to establish cooperation. The political grouping at Auschwitz, which submitted information, and the special military group, which engaged in typically martial operations.
In 1942 a chance event – the loss of a smuggled note by a person who had been instructed to take it outside the camp – led to the arrest of a few people from the military group. 42 other people were arrested on 25 September. On 11 October, 40 [people] from the military circle were executed. The rest were freed from the bunker, for the Germans were unable to prove that they were active military men, whereupon these inmates became members of a clandestine military organization which soon reached a comprehensive understanding with the [political] Auschwitz Group. In 1944, these groupings organized a transfer of power.
Prosecutor Pęchalski: On a few occasions the witness mentioned the surname Hoffmann, saying that he held officer rank. Hans Hoffman is present here. Does the witness know him?
Witness: He is not the one, I was referring to Lagerführer Hofmann.
Prosecutor: Does the witness know this man?
Witness: No.
Judge Kutzner: Since the witness has mentioned a member of Nebbe’s crew, please state what his relations were with the SS men?
Witness: I did not occupy myself with the issue of his relations with the SS, and therefore I am unable to say.
Presiding Judge: Do the Prosecutors have any questions?
Prosecutors: No.
Presiding Judge: Defense attorneys?
Defense counsel: No.
Presiding Judge: I order a recess of a few minutes.