Holocaust Historical Society

The testimonies by the witnesses from the trial of Amon Göth follow, all come from a report of the trial proceedings, from the Yad Vashen Archives.  

Mieczyslaw Pemper  

Witness Mr. Mieczyslaw Pemper, age 26, university student, was in Plaszow from March 1943, to October 15, 1944, when I have been transported out. A few days after arriving in Plaszow, a friend of mine who worked in the camp office, pointed me out to Göth, stating that I can write short hand in German. In March 1943, I started work in the camp office and my immediate superior was the accused Göth.

Based on the correspondence, written by me, but dictated by the accused and based on secret correspondence, partly dictated by the accused, I had the opportunity of establishing every aspect of the activities of the accused. Partly also obtained from secret correspondence, not written by me, but which I have managed to gain access to by other means.

The accused was transferred to Krakow, from Lublin on February 11, 1943. His file had the date of nomination in Krakow as February 13, 1943. I am specifically referring to this date, as it was exactly one month before the liquidation of the Ghetto in Krakow.

In the course of one month, from the 11/13, February 1943, to March 13, he succeeded to expand the capacity of the camp in Plaszow to such an extent, that the liquidation of the Krakow Ghetto became possible, with the accommodation of a large number of able-bodied people being accommodated in the camp in Plaszow. The camp opened in October / November 1942, accommodating in those few months 2,000, persons, which the accused managed to increase, during his thirty-day presence, several fold, by various means.

The appearance of the accused in Krakow, produced a consternation, also because up till then, the entry into the camp from the Ghetto, or vice versa, was possible without the loss of life. The transfer of inhabitants from the Ghetto into the camp went on in a comparatively slow pace, approximately one hundred persons daily.

The inhabitants of the Ghetto formed an opinion of the camp on information of its present occupants, who were prisoners working on the railways. The life there was tragic and very harsh, but there was no danger of death. From the day Göth arrived there, the conditions were changing for the worse with every minute.

The methods employed by Göth, were headed by his frequent sentencing to death, for any misdemeanor the penalty was death, and at that immediate, without a judgement, without a warning. For any offence, considered by the accused as such, people were being shot whilst working.

Prior to the arrival of the accused in Plaszow, it was frequently possible to visit the Ghetto, as the camp did not have a hospital, and the Ghetto did have one. Göth immediately following his appointment as camp commander, introduced heavy penalties for anyone leaving the camp. In connection with this, between February 11, and March 13, two young girls were hanged.  

Henryk Mandel

Witness Henryk Mandel. In the first half of January 1943, I have been selected and sent, from the Ghetto in Krakow, into the camp in Plaszow. In the camp at that time, were approximately 2,000, persons, the commander was Muller.

Beginning of February, the accused arrived in Plaszow. The camp at that time was comparatively small. A rumor has spread, that the new commander is from Vienna, and that conditions in the camp will improve. Within two days we were made aware, what conditions we can expect. The accused assembled all foremen, works directors, and made a speech. He declared that he is taking over command of the camp in Plaszow, and demands, from all, strict obedience in the execution of orders, and as evidence that he is not joking, all were ordered to be flogged with a certain number of strokes. Several days later, public hanging of two women was organized…..

The accused was inside the barrack, which housed the doctors, I overheard, as he spoke to his men, 'In this barrack, we must conduct a very strict search, as here are Jewish doctors, who were very rich, and most probably they have brought this wealth with them from the Ghetto.'

Watches, and various other small items were being surrendered then, with the accused looking on. A few days later, the 'painting took place,' that is we were painted with yellow and red stripes. Red stripes for those working in the camp, Yellow stripes for all those working outside of the camp. Whilst this painting was taking place, a general Appell was called, we were prepared for something new.

And we were not disappointed. The accused walked with other SS officers along the lines, and picked out various prisoners. After this he ordered tables to be brought out, and there and then flogging was ordered, across bare buttocks on the selected persons, men and women, with varying number of strokes. Göth then announced to all, that he is not joking, we must all work as he orders, and that the work performed so far, was inadequate.

One day, upon returning in the evening, we were assembled again for work, and made to work until twelve at night, and from that day on, the afternoon shift continued until twelve at night. We were told that the road must be finished with the utmost speed.

One day I have been given permission for a day off from work. I did not want to stay in the barrack, so I hid in a barrack of a friend of mine, and there, through a window I heard a shout, and saw as the accused shot a young boy, who was laying stones in the road construction. After shooting him, he moved the body about with his boot, to satisfy himself that he was dead…….

When we returned at twelve for the lunch break, we were stopped by the guard commander at the gate, who enquired what we are carrying, and wanted to see if we are not carrying arms or ammunition. He carried out a superficial search, and found that we had bread, sausages and butter on us. At that, he shouted, 'You want to stuff yourselves with bread and sausages, and our soldiers at the front are dying of hunger!'

This happened not far from the house of the accused, and we were ordered to wait on the small parade. We were aware, that if the accused comes, and sees what we have with us, we will all be shot, so we attempted to bury some of these items in the ground. But it was impossible to bury the whole lot.

The accused came, and ordered everything we had with us, to be placed on a table, which happened to be there. When everything was placed on the table, he then asked where did we obtain the money from, as the possession of money in the camp was forbidden. Not one of us replied, he then declared, that if we will not reply, he will have us all shot, and to convince us that this is not a joke, he took a rifle off one of the Ukrainians, and shot one person happening to be near him, from a distance of two to three steps. This person from our group shot at that moment, had most of his head shot away, all that remained was part of his chin…..

He then called Chilowicz, and told him to bring the best whips, which he has in the guard's office, and two tables, he then instructed, that each one of us is to be given one hundred strokes. The two tables were brought, buckets of water as well, and the execution of his order commenced. We had to count ourselves, loud, having been forewarned not to make a mistake, as should anyone miscount, the beating will start from the beginning. And so, everyone did his best to count precisely, and when the one hundred strokes had been reached, as a finale you would receive a few more across the head, if you did not clear off the table promptly.

Immediately after me, a Mr Metlis was beaten, he was an elderly man, weak, who screamed terribly. When he reached the number of thirty strokes, the accused ordered to start afresh, in order to quiet him down, and simultaneously beating him on the head without a count, and then, once again from the beginning. Meitlis screamed even louder, at that, the accused picked up a brick, and hit him with it, on the back of his skull, causing the brick to shatter into small pieces, and ordered another one hundred strokes for him.

At the end of each beating, everyone had to report to Göth, stating what he received, the accused would ask, 'Are you satisfied, and do you know why you were whipped.' Meitlis, when he came off the table, did the same, reporting to Göth, and when he turned, the accused took his revolver out, and fired, into the back of his head, at close range.

He then issued an order, forbidding any one to treat our wounds in any way. There were among us several injured, among others a Mr. Rosenstrauch, who was injured by a shot in his cheek, with the bullet coming out through his neck, and others, somewhat less seriously hurt.

As a result of the beatings, the flesh on everyone, was completely torn, and of course we were all bleeding. And to ensure that we received no treatment or assistance, two Ukrainians were ordered to guard us.

After this, an order came, for all of us to be taken to work. The barracks for the guards were under construction at the time, we were issued with wheel-barrows and shovels, and at a running pace were forced to work at these barracks. The guards however, pitied us, they brought another group of thirty men from somewhere, some were placed to watch that no German approaches, and we were ordered to crouch in a ditch, where we hid, and only thanks to this, we survived this fatal day, without any further tragedy.

Mrs Regina Nelken

Into the courtroom enters witness Mrs Regina Nelken, in her 50^th year, office clerk. I have been sent into the camp on March 13, 1943, on the third or fourth day in the camp, Göth already carried out selections of women. We were ordered to assemble on the parade ground, and he picked out elderly women, weak ones, and young girls up to fourteen years, when the selection had been completed, sixty to seventy persons were so selected, they were handed over to Ukrainians, they immediately marched them over, to the earth moving machine, and there they were shot.

One day, in the evening, all the women were ordered into the barracks. The barracks were surrounded by a strong detachment of Ukrainians; we were very uneasy and worried about the outcome. From the window I have seen Göth in the company of Chilowicz, who was the Jewish camp police commander, Jewish policemen and more Ukrainians, as they went from one barrack, to another.

At last, they entered our barrack. Chilowicz announced, 'Surrender all gold, silver, diamonds, money, as should anything be found on you afterwards, you will be punished by death.' Göth, intervened, at that point, saying, 'Do you know a Mrs Bernstein, tomorrow she will hang for this reason, because she concealed her gold.' Very frightened, we surrendered everything we possessed. In this manner, Göth went from one barrack to another, taking everything, we had…….

He once entered the camp administration office, and smelled the aroma of something being fried. He then began a search of all desks, after a little while, he found a piece of sausage in the head-office of the camp.

He ordered everyone to leave the office, one hour later this whole group, was ordered up to the hill, and killed by shooting. At this point the witness reads out the names of persons involved, then in the evening the following were called as well, Mrs Streimer, Bachner with a eleven-year-old child, the father of Miss Balsam together with her brother. They were held locked up for three days in a barrack, on the fourth day, Göth ordered all these persons to be shot.

I have also witnessed the hanging of Mr. Krautwirth and Haubenstock. Everyone was assembled on the camp parade ground, and in the presence of the accused, they were hanged. The rope used to hang Haubenstock snapped, someone whispered to him to beg Göth for mercy, Göth ignored this, and ordered the hanging to be repeated. Whilst this was happening, Krautwirth managed to cut his arteries with a razor blade. Already unconscious, he was taken to the gallows and hung, at one-point Göth walked towards them, and fired his pistol into their heads.

A lot of people, were brought into the camp in Plaszow, from the prison in Montelupich, Jews caught with false Christian papers, also Poles, who were all, always taken straight up the hill, to be murdered.

Rosa Grunberg

The court summons the witness Miss Rosa Grunberg, aged nineteen, office clerk.

I have been in Plaszow from March 13, 1943, to the end, that is January 14, 1945. Göth all the time tortured my father. He was a structural engineer in the camp. He performed the function of a Bauleieter (Works Director), and as such, directed the various building works. I do not know what were his intentions. My father begged him, he should shoot him, but Göth did not want to do this, as he needed my father.

It was reported once to the accused, that the workers are not working correctly, Göth had my father called to him, and asked him, if he is satisfied with his workers, my father replied, 'Yes,' whereupon Göth replied, 'You are defending your workers again, and again you will receive a beating for them.' Göth attacked and beat up my father at that time terribly, and asked for my mother, and myself to be detained.

We did not know what for, we were held a whole night and then ordered to be released. These facts were being repeated all the time, we were living in constant fear. Morally we were living through hell, not once, but dozens of times. Once, on the occasion of a hanging of someone, the accused turned to my father, and said, 'Grunberg, next Saturday, I will hang you, together with your wife and daughter.' We did not go to the Appell, we went into hiding, waiting for them to come to fetch us, but they did not come. There was an accident, when one of the guard barracks collapsed. Göth shot the engineer concerned, Mrs Reiter.  

Maurice Perlman

Into the court room enters witness Maurice Perlman, aged twenty-one, student.

Witness Perlman: I have been in the camp in Plaszow from March 13. On March 14, our group assembled on the Appellplatz. Through the whole length of the Appellplatz we were passing bricks from the old Jewish cemetery, up to the carpentry workshops. I have been standing next to a very large grave. Very often, a wagon loaded with people arrived. Some were already dead, but most were still alive. Ukrainians stood nearby, they were men of the unit of Janec, and with a series of automatic shots, these people were being finished there.

Next – during an Appell, I do not remember the exact date, Göth, he was on the Appellplatz, around 7 a.m. approached a Mr Spillman, and started beating him. He asked him, if there was something he does not like, following this, he pulled out his revolver and shot him.

[1] under a window of the next barrack, which housed the brush factory. The accused took out his revolver, and fired through the window. I later learned that a Mr Keller had been shot dead.

Henryk Bloch

Next witness, Henryk Bloch, age 46. Businessman. I will start my evidence from a time point a few days before the liquidation of the Ghetto, which is connected to the meeting I had a few days later with the accused. In the Ghetto I had a workshop producing glass products. Two days before the liquidation of the Ghetto on March 11, the accused appeared for the first time in my workshop, in the Ghetto. On the Saturday, the Ghetto was liquidated, I have been transferred into the camp. The Sunday passed, and on the Monday, all the directors of so-called 'gemeinschafts' (small workshops) were summoned by the accused, in order together with him, to inspect the barracks, and find suitable accommodation to install the varying types of equipment within the camp.

I was in this group passing through the various barracks, we entered one, where painters were working. The Kapo in charge was not there, and no one reported to the accused on his entry into the barracks. This was on the second day of my entry into the camp. The accused asked for the Kapo, and why no one came to attention on his entry? A Mr. Faerber approached the accused, and began to report, the accused was not satisfied with this effort. He then asked Faerber, who was painting tin buckets red, how many such buckets can be painted in one hour? Faeber could not answer this question. The accused took out his revolver, fired, and laid him dead on the spot.

I stood right there. Also, there was the Lageraltester Chilowicz, who was ordered to have the remainder of that group flogged, with twenty-five lashes. The barrack selection was then interrupted.

Two days later, following the arrival of all selected for the camp from the Ghetto, groups of people were being sent out to various work assignments in the town, in fact to clean up the Ghetto in Krakow. The priority was given to those, who had to close the workshops in the Ghetto, such as tailors, brush makers, shoemakers and glaziers. I was among these, in a group of ten, in order to close my workshop.

One day, returning from work in the Ghetto, we were stopped from proceeding out, near the baths in Josefinska Street, as a very heavily escorted group of people, was being marched out, ahead of us, who were caught hiding during the various Aktions, and managed to survive so far. There were many incidents, where people, especially with children, would hide, as it was forbidden to bring children into the camp. And it was on that day, that such a transport of people was being marched out, our group followed a few minutes later. As we reached the camp, and approached the hill towards our accommodation barracks, we saw, or rather heard, as these people were being executed.

A few days later, being in the Ghetto in connection with the transfer of my workshop to the camp, I was arrested whilst working, and taken to the Ghetto police station of the Ordnungs Dienst (O.D.). There I was interrogated by Kunde, from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. and was beaten terribly in the process. Finally, I was tied up with springs, and so taken into the camp.

In the camp, I spent fifteen days in detention as a result. Whilst there, I was together with Mr. Olmer, who was torn about by dogs. We were approximately seventy persons in that detention cell, men, women and children, all together. One Saturday, in the morning, we were all chased out of that cell, into a yard, as the cell was supposed to be cleaned.

Being in the yard, and in front of the cell, we noticed the dog of the accused, this was a sign that the camp commander was approaching, as the dogs never wandered alone in the camp. The dogs emerged from underneath of the barrack that contained our detention cell.

Göth himself approached from the direction of the Appellplatz. Immediately we were ordered to attention in groups and the interrogation of all, by the accused began. In the course of this interrogation, everyone was beaten by him, in a most brutal and sadistic manner. He was accusing people of being in possession of Christian documents, American documents, intention of escape and so on…..

He started the interrogation with Mr. Olmer, demanding that he divulges from where he obtained documents giving him the nationality of Peru. He pleaded innocence, claiming he had no knowledge of any Peruvian documents. After beating Mr. Olmer, he was left there. The rest of the group was then ordered back into the cell, whilst I have been left outside of the cell, at that moment, the accused told Mr Olmer to run, and as he started to do this, the dogs went after him, one of the dogs caught him by the back. The dogs began to tear at him. Ripping the flesh, Mr Olmer was screaming with pain. It was a question of a few steps, he fell, the accused then approached him, and fired into his head.

Helena Horowitz

Witness Helena Horowitz, age 30, seamstress. I arrived in the camp on February 13. I managed to obtain work in the camp kitchen, where I worked as a potato peeler. Right at the beginning I received ten strokes on my back, for allegedly not working hard enough. A short while after, I was selected by the Kitchen Kapo, to work in the kitchen for the Germans.

I enjoyed the work there, and I was promised, that if I continue to work, as at present, I will be retained there permanently. At that moment I was there in place of a maid who was taken ill with Typhus. At a later stage I was retained to work there permanently. At the beginning, I believed this to be tremendously lucky, but at that time, I was not aware of the terrible behaviour of the accused.

My first encounter with him was as follows: After a dinner, I threw out the bones remaining on a plate. In the evening the accused appears in the kitchen, and demands to know where are the bones? I replied, 'I threw them out'. He struck me in the face with such a force, that I fell over, and he tells me, that if I will not obey his orders, he will shoot me.

Once in the Red House, entering a room, I noticed a rifle, or another type of weapon. The Red House, was the private residence of the accused. That is where I noticed how he held a rifle, and congratulating himself on its ability, or his expertise, in front of other Germans, also present in the room, he was firing at a group of people working, at a distance of maybe 200, metres from the apartment window.

Next another fact; following the liquidation of the Ghetto in Krakow, Jews were brought into the camp and onto the hill, only to be shot there. After the executions, a party took place there, at which I was subjected to abuse and torment. There were women in the party as well, and despite the fact that they were of low morals, frequently they came to my defence. He would tell them, that I am a Jewish criminal, who must be treated without pity.

Another fact; In the Red House, he drunk round the clock. Still drunk, he would come to me asking, if I have prepared a dinner party, which he intended to give, in honour of a president called Brauling. I believe that was his name. I replied clearly to this, that I am not aware of this at all, as I have not received any instructions to this effect.

At that point, he grabbed me with both of his hands by my throat, choking me, as a result of which, I fell unconscious to the ground. After regaining my consciousness, I asked why he did this? He replied; First of all because you ask questions, and, secondly, because you did not carry out my order, which in reality he never gave, because he was drinking that day round the clock.

He then told me at the time, that if the dinner party would not be a success, in the evening, I would be shot. Naturally, following such a threat, I did what I could, so that the dinner party was prepared in an exemplary way. All the food used to prepare this dinner, came from the camp prisoner's kitchen. Luckily for me, the party turned out to be a success, and to my surprise, the following day he was furious again.

I did not know that an additional person would turn up for the party. Göth summoned me to him, asking, why was the table laid short for one person? Without waiting for my reply, he threw a sharp knife at me, which penetrated my leg.

Another fact; In the camp there was one German called Biegel, who worked in the camp commercial buying and selling administration office. At one dinner party, this officer Biegel gave an order to a boy, who worked there as well, he should fetch a carriage from the stables. The boy froze when told by Biegel, he will be whipped twenty-five times, if he fails to carry out his order. Naturally the boy brought the carriage, as ordered. Which Göth learned later. Göth summoned the boy to him, and asked him who gave him the order to bring that carriage there. The boy replied, explaining the circumstances and how it arose. Göth without listening to the boy, killed him on the spot. The boy was twenty years old.

Berenhaupt

Witness Berenhaupt, age 46. I have been in Plaszow from March 13, 1943, until October 15, 1944. During the time of the liquidation of the Ghetto, on instruction of Striebitz, I had to return into the Ghetto to collect clothing, for which purpose three horse drawn wagons were allocated. That same day, after the departure of transports, I could not find anyone in the Ghetto, but eight bodies lay in an area of approximately 200, metres in Wegierska Street.

On the second day, on a Sunday, we had the first Appell, in the afternoon. Because of an incorrect number of people in the group employed at Madritch, I have been beaten with a whip several times across my face.

On the Monday I was assigned to bury bodies brought into the camp, on horse-drawn flat carriages, from the Ghetto in Krakow. On March 27 /28, a general search was carried out in the barracks. At 9, pm all barracks were closed, and surrounded by Ukrainians. At 4:30 a.m. the accused appeared in our barrack, accompanied by the Ukrainian guard called Janec, and also others, demanding that all gold, silver, fountain pens, valuables and postage stamps to be handed over.

At that moment Janec walked over to the accused, reporting to him that he found five silver coins in the oven. The accused assured us, that whoever did this, will not come to greater harm than to receive fifty lashes across his bare back. As no one came forward, he ordered the man in charge of our block, Mr Solewiczow to remove his trousers, seeing marks of a previous beating, he marched him outside. The man begged him, saying that he has a family, this was a mistake, as the accused did not like any begging or questions, he then shot the man.

He then returned into the barrack, approached me and asks, 'Don't you like it?' He marched me out, stood me against a wall, I do not know why, maybe because I did not beg him for mercy, or maybe because I worked for Madritch, but he let me go. Warning, that he will return, and if such a thing is repeated, he will shoot me and ten others as well.

Adolf Berlinski

Adolf Berlinski, age 38, painter. On January 23, 1943, together with a whole group of people working for the Feldzeugdienststelle (Field Motor Service Unit), we were brought into the camp of Plaszow. The first time I have seen the accused was in February of that year, when he burst into our barrack, pistol in hand, and ordered all to a roll-call. We had to line up to attention, and after establishing the count, the accused asked each one for his surname. When he reached one man called Schwed, he took him out of the line, and asked where he worked. He answered in Bonarka, he took that man with him, all trace of that person thereafter has been lost.

I had a four-year-old little daughter. She was brought to me into the camp, in a basket, as my wife and I were already in the camp working, and the child was very frightened. My wife worked in the same place as my sister, whom the accused later on, ordered to be shot.

One of our friends smuggled my daughter in that basket, under his coat. The child became ill, and she was sent into the isolation unit of the ghetto hospital, in Zgoda place. I could not reach our child again. On March 13, the liquidation of the ghetto took place. What happened to my child, in that hospital, is not known to me. Maybe this tribunal would wish to ask the accused, if he knows the fate of the children that found themselves in the isolation unit of the ghetto hospital on that fatal day?

Following the liquidation of the ghetto, our works unit continued to go out to work as usual, until June 11. At one time we were prevented from re-entering the camp after work. That was about 4, or 5, in the afternoon. We witnessed, as a group of about seventy persons from the ghetto, was marched through, among them women and children. They were undressed next to the baths, and naked each one, including the children, had to run towards their grave, and there, on the precipice stood the Ukrainian Janec, who shot each and everyone with a shot into the skull.

[2], was ordered to take that woman away from us, and again, she was shot, like the others, on that precipice. By that time, a whole pool of blood was there.

On June 11, our works unit was dispersed, and I was assigned for work in the garage. There I worked as a car painter. The work was very hard, and difficult, as we had to complete work, which normally should take one week, in two days. But one knew, always, the danger of imminent death, we had to do everything, in order to hold on to our lives.

Once the commander arrived suddenly in his car, stopping in front of the garage, and calling our Kapo, whose name was Warenhaupt. The German who was in charge of us, whose name was Neuschel, did not come out, as he was frightened of the consequences. His Jewish deputy, Warenhaupt, was there on his own, and immediately he was set upon by the commander.

A sister-in-law of Warenhaupt was assigned to work in the garage, her name was Wasserman, she was there to polish the cars, and clean-up generally. When the accused appeared, she ran out, and started to polish a car's windows with a rag. I feel I have to repeat the words used by the accused, in the direction of that woman, 'What does that whore want near my car?' Ivan – who was his driver – put her down.' He grabbed her by the arm, led her outside, and with one shot into the head, killed her.

I had a sister, who worked in the camp administration office, with a Dr. Streimer, also a prisoner. He was aware that she was my sister, and that is why he asked her to work there. On one occasion, when he called on this office, the commander found some white bread on Dr. Streimer. He ordered five persons to line up, my sister, Dr. Streimer, a man called Bachner, a girl called Balsam, and another boy whose name I do not remember.

An SS guard escorting the accused, whose name was Glaser, was ordered to shoot them. A Jewish camp policeman came to me, and asked me to come with him, as I have to collect something from my sister. I went with him to the camp police station, where I was told to be taken to the death cells within a prison compound there. When I arrived, the wife of Dr. Streimer was already sitting there, at midnight the father of the girl called Balsam, and a cousin of that boy, were also brought in. At that time, I was in the middle of work, on the car of the SS man called John, whose car was being painted. He came into that prison in the morning, and asked why am I being detained there? I answered, 'because of what happened yesterday.'

His answer to that was, that taking people out to shoot from there, was his sole right, and no one else, and that he will go to the accused, to have me released. After four days of being detained there, at 2 p.m. I was released, at 4 p.m. of that day, all others were shot. Also detained there at that time with us, was a Dr. Stenzel, who was found in possession of some letter, taken there, and also shot.

That is how I worked in that garage, until the garage was moved, from the old, to the new part of the camp, on top of the hill. We were given a new German supervisor of the garage, named Hahnert, whose deputy then was Krupatz.

The accused had his own BMW, and also a sport BMW model, which was completely assembled in the camp. In addition to these, the accused also had at his disposal, an eight-cylinder Ford Car. I am not an expert on cars, all I had to do was to polish these cars every day, and ensure that three vehicles were at his disposal, at all times. At one time, following a cars use at night, I found underneath the cars leather seat, a surgeon's knife, a scalpel, and other surgical implements. I do not know for what purpose they were used, all I know, that the accused was not a surgeon (laughter in the hall).

As the Russian Army approached the area of Krakow, the dismantling of the garage began, we worked for two days and nights without a stop. The commander, now the accused, ordered a goods van to be parked in front of his home, where various crates were loaded onto that lorry, and taken to the railway station.

In September, when the commander was due to depart, I worked through the night on his car. He was due to depart in the morning, but did not appear, and then I learned that he was arrested. 

Regina Tempelhof

Regina Tempelhof, age 41, seamstress

I was employed in the camp, as a cook for Göth. I was there for a few weeks, together with my small daughter. She was ten. I worked from six in the morning, to one at night. Göth came there very often, with his dog Rolf. I cooked, my child was very frightened of Göth and his dog. The cooks there, for the smallest offence were whipped with fifty or twenty-five strokes across their backs. The work was exhausting, as we had to be at all times very careful not to make a mistake, which would result in being shot.

Next, I remember, when working in another part of the kitchen, one of the girl prisoners looked out of the window. She was seen doing this by a German, as a result Göth came along, and asked who was looking out of the window? And when none of us volunteered to admit to identify her, he shot one of us, the sixteen-year-old named Gemeiner.

On May 14, when a new transport was being put together, my little daughter was taken, two brothers, and a sister-in-law. All the mothers were in despair, having had their children taken away, they were crying, they were literally tearing their hair out, they were ripping their flesh with finger nails.

Göth at that point, walked among them, and pulling his revolver out, vowed, that if he sees tears on the face of any mother, she will be shot instantly. At that time he even ordered the loudspeakers to play nursery music. She was selected on May 14, sent with that transport to Auschwitz and I have not heard from her any more.

I also know, that when inspections were taking place in the camp to check the rationing of food for the prisoners, Göth walked with these officials, they entered the bakery. The baker was asked how much bread a prisoner received. When he wanted to say the truth, one loaf of bread per week, Göth turned and gesticulated with his fingers, indicating he should say two loaves of bread.

Josef Nieckarski

Witness Josef Nieckarski, age 56, Master Builder

I was arrested on July 10, 1943. After arrest we were taken to Franciszkanska Street, and from there in cars to Plaszow. No one in Krakow had any idea that in Plaszow existed a camp for Poles. At that time, Poles were detained there, under temporary or permanent detention, 150, persons.

After a week or two, an officer came to us, and asked, if the Poles wanted to go to work. Naturally the Poles agreed. At that time, we were assigned to construct a cellar for the storage of potatoes. For this work, 300/400, persons were assigned. The work was very hard; we were digging into rock. We were given a time limit for this work, to be finished by the 1^st of September, if this was not achieved, all those working on this project would be shot.

Such was the order from the construction office, controlling us. We tried very hard to achieve this, but we did not have any experienced men, at that type of work. The men were very hungry, as we received only coffee in the morning, beetroot soup for lunch, and in the evening a slice of bread. One loaf of bread was divided into seven or eight slices, for seven or eight persons. The men were exhausting themselves from hunger and swelling. The legs, arms, joints, eyes, hands, all would swell, many died from hunger.

One girl, who as one says seemed to have 'lost her screws' in the process, became ill, no one could take care of her, tired of living she tried to walk out through the barbed wire fence. A guard shot her instantly.

In September we had a hot dry period, there was a complete shortage of water in the camp, so we did not even have the coffee in the mornings. We were given a barrel of raw cabbage, half of which was rotten. And we lived on that cabbage, without water, all suffered a terrible thirst.

I asked a Mr. Rutkowski to try and organize from somewhere, some coffee, water, something to drink. He said he would try. He went to the kitchens, which catered for the whole camp, that is for the Jewish and Polish prisoners, and tried to obtain some. He was promised some, and later came back with a bucket of coffee, the men drunk it, and for us nothing was left. I sent him a second time, Göth was informed, came over, and called, 'Who gave that coffee? A Jewish girl that worked there stepped forward, and he shot her on the spot.