Gehring quietened me later and gave me cigarettes. By this he only wanted to probe my mind and learn if the others had told me anything, or told me to speak about it. He also said: ‘There is no regret to be had about this lad, he was a great criminal’. I myself witnessed once how SS-SS-Oberscharführer Gehring killed a German who I do not know by name, with one single blow in the stomach or near the heart. A Polish M. D. was busy placing a bandage on me, as I saw this, and saw the man carried away dead. The physician came back then, and just said: ‘Out’.
The injections were mainly carried out by a medical service man from the surgery section, by the name of Heini. Once or twice a month he came to the school. There the prisoners were shown to him. Those had swollen feet, either from running barefoot or from the climate were called out to the row. After the other had gone to work, he gave them injections, whereupon they fell dead. No doctor was present either at the injections or the death. Heini acted quite independently. While I was in the ‘Komm. Arrest’, 2 Czeck girls came temporarily into my cell. Both were called out one day and brought into the next cell. There they received from 2 SS I did not know but from what they said, from the political direction, each an injection. Death followed at once. I had never seen those 2 SS in the camp previous to this. The reasons for this actions are unknown to me. Before I came to the bunker, I was myself a witness to Heini administering injections to 4 women and the 4 babies they carried at arm. Also here, death was immediate. This happened in the women’s hospital.
In September 1942, a riot broke out in ‘Buddy’ (nickname given to the school) between German and Jewish prisoners. All the Jewish women, 93 of them, were killed by the German women. They struck them down sith stools, tables, boards or anything that came handy. Next day they lad dead in the camp alley near ‘Buddy’. The SS guard reported the proceeding to SS-Hauptsturmführer Schwartz who carried out the inquest. The Germans said they feared the Jewesses would kill them, as the previous night the Jewesses had tried to kill the German woman. To the question ‘who killed the Jewesses?’ nobody answered at first. Then the SS said they would not be punished if they reported themselves, as they were only Jews. Also a prospect of liberation was dangled before their eyes if they reported themselves. They went in the ‘Komm. Arrest’. On October 16, I came myself in the ‘Komm. Arrest’. They next day I spoke with the girls. They told me the whole story. They were told they would go to the artificial rubber works. They told me more about the riot; the chief of the Block of the punishment company (I can’t remember his name at the present) had incited them to kill the Jews, and the SS had helped them to do it. They also told me that the night of the riot, the SS guards had thrown tiles on the Jews. A few days later, these girls were fetched suddenly at 0530, and were brought to chief of block 11 of the ‘Komm. Arrest’. There, each of them received an injection, ‘injection Heini’ and two other SS I did not know were present. I cannot say with certainty if SS-Hauptsturmführer Aumeier or SS-Hauptsturmführer Schwarz were also there. One of the 2 was there, which, I am not sure.
I was accidentally in the next room, being bandaged and got knowledge of the case in this way. The block chief was temporarily arrested and then released again. Nothing further happened in this case, ‘injection Heini’ whose name I do not know, has a face like a monkey, he walks with head bent, shoulders high, average stature. The prisoner Aurelia Reichert, No. 501, chief of the Revier can give further information on this case. Also the Jewish chief M. D. whose christian name was Enna. She was a protegee of Dr. Rode. It has been said that Dr. Rode gave the orders for these injections. Various pictures were now presented to me. They were pictures of the prisoner Herbert Roman. (Note of the instructor: Mrs. H. did recognize the prisoner Herbert Roman without doubt, as the various photos were presented to her. This Herbert Roman is the man that died from starvation). The two official books of the ‘KA’ were now presented to me, to help my memory. After long consideration I must declare that these books are not the original books of the ‘KA’. I have seen the originals myself. It was twice as big as the 2 copy books put one against the other and 3 or 4 fingers thick. The covering is black or dark blue. Also the 2 copy books are not complete. The women, who were always in great numbers in the ‘KA’, were not mentioned. Many men were also missing, for instance one Franz Kummel, who was twice in the ‘KA’ towards the end of my detenttion, that is June 1943. He was block chief in the ‘KA’. Further, I remember prisoners of whom I only remember the christian name, and which are not written down, for instance Hugo, Franz and Hannes (calfactor in the ‘KA’). Hannes and Franz were locked up because they had at night opened up the cells of the ‘KA’ to permit to the male prisoners sexual intercourse with the women. As I heard this happened because the 3 SS of the ‘KA’, successors to Gehring (possibly it was Gehring himself) took part in this sexual intercourse.
In the case of the above-mentioned Gralla, the death mark, a cross, is missing in the copy book. Names of other prisoners have now come back to me: the men killed by Gehring is Walter Walterscheidt, No. 15476. He is recorded as a case of suicide by poison, on March 23, 1943. The case of the suppression of a witness is Gustav Vaupel. The prisoners mentioned in the first copy book under the number from 124549 to 124667, arrival date June 9, 1943, 1830, are the prisoners who on the next day at 1130 were shot as a reprisal. The exit date with 1430 is false. The above-mentioned chimney sweeper is Stanislaus Bialek. The dead cross behind his name is also missing. I remember further that one of the prisoners who in my time died on starvation in the bunker was a German, Erich Klose by name, No. 19860. He belonged to those who were involved in a jewel case. This was said to be a purely SS matter.
Other list which have stuck on the ‘KA’ list are Bruno Brodniewica, a German citizen, camp-chief, brought in on December 30, 1942, liberated on March 25, 1943. He disappeared after he left the bunker. Officially he was gone to Muhlhausen. The rumor was spread in the camp that he was killed because he knew too much. He occupied once a cell next to mine. I talked with him and he told me without giving details that, that he knew all about the terrific goings-on in the camp, and was arrested because he knew too much. His successor (Ludwig, was his christian name) disappeared also. He was brought in, I believe, in June or July 1944 by SS-Hauptsturmführer Schwarz. The disappearance of a Jewish M. D., Samuel Mishki, belongs to the same type; he worked with Prof. Glanberg, thanks to special Berlin recommendations. He appeared one day in the ‘KA’ then was directly taken by ambulance to the crematory and killed there. His name is not in the copy book. As witness against SS-Hauptsturmführer Tauber (captain), the prisoner Richard Faustmann, No. 113666, may be called. He was brought in by Tauber himself. I have not found either in the copy book the names of Heinz, Willy and the ord from the clothes depot Canada who was brought in in April/May 1943 and shot.
SS-Hauptschärführer Gehring, administrator of the arrest place, struck the prisoners with fists and keys. During winter, he would compel prisoners to go naked in the courtyard, to take exercises. When they were well warmed up, he gave them a shower with a hose. I witnessed myself one of these cases, as I by chance was washing at the time. Once in February an M. D. presumably Dr. Kitt, came up and had Gehring immediately arrested. Gehring confessed to me once about those ill-treatments, that for all he did, he had orders from the political section, and mentioned the name of Lachmann. I doubt just now whether it is really Lachmann (a small chap, with a game leg) and not the criminal Secretary Wosnitza, SS Unterscharführer Kurt Mueller could be called as a witness against Gehring. SS-Untersharführer Stiebitz was known as the greatest petticoat hunter in the camp. It was his charge to take the men to the brothel. The prisoners concerned, who were with me in the hospital, such as Hilde Goltz, Anneliese Peter. The above-mentioned Sonja Regenscheidt complained that he would peep at them during the sexual intercourse. SS-Hauptsturmführer Schwarz was also mentioned as equally curious. Stiebetz had an affair with the prisoner Annemarie Goerlitz. They once had a rendezvous in the clothes storeroom and SS-Oberscharführer Tauber told me I must not tell this to anyone. I was present myself when SS-Obersturmführer Grabner warned Annemarie Goerlitz. He added, ‘If it happens again you’ll just see …’.
She was then sent, with her hair cut, to Ravensbruck. It was generally known in the camp that Stiebitz had intimate relations with a Jewish secretary, Iberia Katja. This girl was also involved in the prosecution against SS-Unterscharführer Pallitsch, who celebrated orgies in the gipsy camp and was on this account condemned by the tribunal of Breslau, thanks to Stiebitz. Katja was fetched out of the bunker after she had been 6 hours there. She pretends actually to be Aryan, but she came to the camp of Jews and I have seen myself her Jewish identification papers. I also know her Jewish brothers, who live in Birkenau.
As to other names, I also know SS-Unterscharführer Heueer. He was the man who interrogated and struck Hilde Logauer, Regenscheidt, etc., on the Stalin swing. SS-Oberscharführer Soger called himself with relish ‘the Devil’. Formerly I have called him Porgel. He also had this name in the camp. As I had been released two or three days from ‘KA’, Boger called me. He asked, ‘Do you know me?’ I answered ‘Yes’. ‘What is my name?’, he asked. He then added, ‘I am the devil’. He then asked me why I was interested in the Jewess Zimmerspitz. He struck me with full power under the chin and in the face, so that I tumbled down.
SS-Obersturmführer Hoess. I already met the CO as I was brought in Auschwitz. He or the SS-Hauptsturmführer Schwarz used to ask the newcomers if there were typists amongst them, whatever their profession. I gave mine as a helper of a drugstore. The M. D., Van Brodemann wanted to have me for the hospital. SS-Obersturmführer Hoess then let secretary Langenfels give me a room all to myself in Block 4. A few days later I was ordered by SS-Obersturmführer Mueller to the CO because an artisan was wanted. I was received in the house by the CO’s wife, who in the hall showed me a carpet and asked me if I could mend it. I undertook the job and worked at it for two days. During this time I often saw the CO coming and going. He asked me if I were H, and put no other question to me. He remarked that properly he should not employ a political prisoner in his house, but his wife had various jobs for me. I then prepared two tapestries, a tapestry cushion in silk, a car rug and various blankets. I liked to work in the CO’s house, as far as keeping up of the entrance lists allowed me the time. I still spent the night in camp. As long as I worked in the house, I was fed there. I ate alone in a room and the same food as the CO himself.
The food consisted of soup, entree, meat, vegetables, and pastries or cakes, fruit salad and coffee. It was extremely good and compared favorably with the menu of a big hotel in peace time. The two Jewish tailor girls (whose names I forget) who worked in the house got the same food. One of them is still alive, I talked with her a few days before I was sent to Munich. These two girls worked from 1942 onwards, until 3 or 4 months ago, uninterruptedly in the CO’s house. Where the CO or his wife secured this amazing quantity of material or clothes, I don’t know, as the CO’s wife went very plainly dressed, one could say almost too plainly dressed. The CO soon took a special interest in me. It did not strike me at first, but my fellow prisoners soon drove to my notice to the fact that the CO was strikingly interested in me. The CO had me called to him each time he came in the camp, or he came himself to the place where I worked. He talked of business, but laughed at the same time in a particular way. I answered in the same way because I must confess that I liked him as a man. Apart from the frequent business talks, he did all he could to favor me and make my detention lighter. In the first room I occupied there were three other women. As the CO learned this, he ordered SS-Hauptsturmführer Aumeier to prepare a special room for me on the floor of Block 4. I could decorate this with my own furniture and real carpets. On weekends I got a furlough on parole and could also move about freely in the town of Auschwitz and could stay out the night. In these cases I used to sleep in the buildings of the staff, outside the camp.
The CO also saw me often smoke, which was forbidden to prisoners, and never said anything. When I wanted to hide the cigarette, he told me not to trouble. I also got permission to have a personal cook and a maid for my personal needs. Witness for this is SS-Hauptsturmführer Aumeier. On my birthday, a special feast was organized forme in the CO’s house. The people in camp believed at first that I was related to the CO and asked me about it. The CO expressed his particular feelings for me for the first time as in May 1942, his wife being out, I was in his villa, sitting by the radio. Without a word, he came to me and gave me a kiss. I was surprised and frightened, escaped him and locked myself up in the toilet. There were too many obstacles between him and me on account of his position and the fact that he was married. From then on, I did not come in the CO’s house anymore. I reported myself as sick and tried to hide from him when he asked for me. Though he succeeded time and again in finding me, on this occasions, he did not talk of the kiss. I was only twice more in his house before my birthday, by order. Then once on my birthday. Then he sent the SS-Hauptsturmführer Mueller to tell me that I was free on Sunday and I should bathe, have my hair dressed, put on my best clothes and call on his wife on Sundays. At the end of September his wife told me I need not come anymore for the time being, as the CO was sick in Bielitz and she was with him. Two or three days later, the Supervisor Drechsel took the work away from me. A fortnight later, I was sent to the S.L. As reason, I was told I had committed some infraction in the CO’s house.
Thereupon I wrote a letter to the CO, another to his wife and another to his cook, the prisoner Sophie Stippl. In these, I explained the facts and asked them to take no account of rumors and to do something for me. As an answer the next day at 1330, I was transferred to the ‘Kommandantur Arrest’. This was on October 16, 1942. On this day, I should have entered the hospital as Chemist, because a month before the deputy SS head M. D. had come in the camp and had hinted at my liberation and removal to a hospital on the East Front. I pointed out that on account of my long detention, my nerves wouldn’t stand it. Then the M. D. said that I must work in the SS Hospital in Auschwitz. I was to train at once in the prisoners’ hospital before I went into quarantine. Still on the same day, about 2030, Injection Heini came to fetch me. I refused to work with Jewesses and remarked that I needed no training. Then came the SS-Obersturmführer Kraetzer and said I could spend my quarantine in camp, as I was quite healthy anyhow. During this four weeks quarantine in camp, I should train nurse, prisoner, Gertrud Malorny. This I did. I was brought to the ‘KA’ by supervisor Hasse. As we passed by the sentry, she told him: ‘this one shall not come back’. No one could or would give me the reasons for my arrest.
Until January 1943, I was quite well in ‘KA’. Usually I had a one person cell, provided with a good bed and mattress. I had a table and a stool, could read, write and smoke. I wrote 2 or 3 times to the CO, through the political direction (SS-Obersturmführer Grabner) and asked for the reason of my detention. I never got an answer. During this time, SS-Hauptsturmführer Aumeier, SS-Hauptsturmführer Schwarz and SS-Obersturmführer Grabner came occasionally to see me. They told me my case depended directly upon the CO. I was all right. And then they would laugh. According to my recollection, on December 16, 1942, about 2300, I was already asleep, suddenly the CO appeared before me. I had not heard the opening of my cell and was such frightened. It was dark in the cell. I believed at first it was an SS man or a prisoner and said, ‘What is this tomfoolery, I forbid you’. Then I heard ‘Pst’ and a pocket lamp was lighted and lit the face of the CO. I broke out, ‘Herr Komnjandant’. Then we were both silent a long time. As I had composed myself, I thought something evil was afoot and asked: ‘What is wrong?’ Then Hoess spoke his first words, ‘You are coming out?’ I asked, ‘Now, at once?’ He answered once more, ‘Pst’. Be very quiet, ‘we’ll talk it over’ and sat at the foot of my bed. I reminded him I had written to him and why didn’t I get an answer, and why was I under arrest. He didn’t answer this, but asked if I wasn’t all right, he had done everything to improve my condition, and did I need anything. Then he moved up slowly from the end of the bed and tried once more to kiss me. I defended myself and made some noise. He then warned me to be quiet, nobody knew he was there. I asked him how he had come in and if no one had seen him. He told me he had come through the garden door and had unlocked the door himself. I was again very irritated and told him that my liberation from prison had been arranged for October 16 and that I should have been working for a long time in the SS hospital. He answered that my liberation was approved, but he did not now that I was supposed to work in the SS hospital. He answered that he would first have to look in the Acts because he had been ill and this was his first time back in the camp and he came directly to me. I asked him then why he came at night, I told him that he could see me during the day in the Kommandantur. I did not lose the idea of being executed.
The SS-Obersturmbannführer Hoess told me I could be quite unconcerned. I was under his protection and he only came to talk alone without disturbing me. He asked me then why I was always so reserved with him, I told him that as Kommandant, he was for me a respectful personality and that he was married. He said then I should not worry, that he knew what he was doing. He requested me to be his friend. Then he tried again to kiss me and was somewhat sweeter. During all that time I was very anxious, listening and looking at the door that was open, because I could not forget that somebody was staying outside. The Kommandant was not allowed to go alone in the camp. Therefore I could not believe that he came alone to me. I insisted again that he should go away. Finally he went away and told me that I should think about it and that he would come back. I said then ‘But please not during the night’. He closed the door very quietly and one could hear the noise of boots from cell 26 where I was. I did not hear the outer gate close or the front door. These doors were always shut during the night. Two nights later, again a few minutes after 2300 as he had told me, he came again. He asked me if I had made a decision. I said ‘No, I didn’t want to’ and I told him ‘All I wanted was to be released’. He said then that he had prepared everything. He had arranged a nice room in a very beautiful house. To my question as to when I would finally be released, he answered that I would see it very soon. Then we had a very long talk for two hours on personal questions. He did not say anything about himself. He asked me about my life and my family situation which were not in my records. At the end he tried again to be friendly. I resisted and made him wait saying that the door was open and that somebody could always come. He said that I should not worry that nobody would come. I didn’t let that influence me and he went away in a nasty temper.
The following day was Sunday, In the morning he made a Bunker inspection. Then I had to go in another cell that one could open and shut from the inside. It was, if I remember correctly, Cell #6. Some days later, he came again during the night. He asked then if he should go away. I said ‘no’. He asked me what I had to say. I told him he knew what I had to say. Then he came to me in bed and we had sexual intercourse. Some days later he came again. This time he undressed himself completely. At midnight there was alarm. I think something was on fire somewhere in camp. Outside in the hall the light was turned on. One could hear the steps of Gehring. Hoess hid himself naked in the corner behind the door and I hid the uniform in bed. During these moments the light went on a short time. Gehring looked through the spy hole and put the light out immediately. When everything was quiet, Hoess put his clothes on and went outside but came back soon and said he could not go out of the camp because there was too much movement. He stayed then with me until after 0100. The following times he did not undress again. He just made himself comfortable. All in all we had 4 or 5 nights of sexual intercourse. His interest in me did not seem to lag. We had later still some conversations together. I brought up the subject of my liberation once again. He said I had to have patience. He had started an inquiry against the Superintendent, Miss Hartman. When he came to me the following time, I asked occasionally what would happen to me if he was discovered. He said I ought to deny it and asked me if I would do it. I swore silence. He gave me then the advice if more was asked to say that a prisoner had come to me. I replied that I did not know any prisoners. He thought he knew that more SS men and nice looking capos had interest for me. Then he asked what I had with Flichtinger. I told him that he had written me and that I had answered him telling him not to annoy me. Then he asked if it was an affair of a nice capo. I described him as being small and not completely to my taste. His advice was then that I should indicate Fichtinger. I did not like to indicate Fichtinger but he thought I could do it quietly. For me nothing would happen if I had relations with a prisoner. He took a sheet of paper out of his notebook and I had to give him, in the light of his flashlight, a written declaration that I had acquaintance with the prisoner Frans Fichtinger. This paper he put in a small leather book. Hoess did not give me anything but he lost once by me the strap of his gloves. A strap with a button where the Nappa is. This strap I keep in my luggage.
