On 30 August 1947 in Kraków, Municipal Judge Dr. Stanisław Żmuda, member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, acting at the written request of the First Prosecutor of the Supreme National Tribunal, this dated 25 April 1947 (Ref. no. NTN 719/47), in accordance with the provisions of and procedure provided for under the Decree of 10 November 1945 (Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland No. 51, item 293), in connection with art. 254, 107, and 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviewed as a witness the person specified below, a former prisoner of the Auschwitz concentration camp, who testified as follows:
Name and surname | Aleksander Kołodziejczyk |
Date and place of birth | 21 January 1914, Kraków |
Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
Parents’ names | Feliks and Stanisława, née Woźniakowska |
Marital status | bachelor |
Citizenship and nationality | Polish |
Occupation | revenue officer |
Place of residence | Kraków, [...] |
Criminal record | none |
I was arrested by the Gestapo in Kraków on 4 May 1940. I was interned at the prison on Montelupich Street, and transported to the Tarnów prison after six days, from where I was moved to the Auschwitz concentration camp six weeks later. I arrived at Auschwitz on 14 June 1940 and was assigned prison number 112. I remained at said camp until 29 October 1944. From Auschwitz, I was transported to the Sachsenhausen camp, where I worked at the Heinkel factory, and then I was moved to Porta Westfalica, a Neuengamme sub-camp. On 2 May 1945, I was freed by American troops.
Until October 1941, at the Auschwitz camp, I was assigned to various kommandos or work units, mostly dealing with ground works or transportation, and then – for the remainder of my imprisonment at the camp – I was assigned to the Bauleitung-Malerei as a painter.
Almost at the very beginning of my time at Auschwitz, sometime during the first days of July 1940, I came across Plagge, an SS man I knew by sight as well as by his name, whom the prisoners called “Fajeczka” [little pipe]. I do not remember Plagge’s rank at that time, but in any case, he was a non-commissioned officer. He was the sadistic type, who beat prisoners with his hand or a stick and kicked them indiscriminately, for no reason, calmly and with a smile on his face. I remember one of the prisoners’ baths which Plagge supervised and in which I also participated. The bath took place in the trough by the well opposite block 11. Each prisoner had to immerse himself in this trough, after which Plagge ordered him to wallow on the ground covered with gravel, and then back to the trough, while he had some of the prisoners splashed with entire buckets of water. Let me add that this was on a cold day.
Plagge was one of the Sportführers [sport leaders], who was known for his cruelty and for hitting with his left arm so hard that the victim could not but fall to the ground.
I remember the admission of the first direct transport of prisoners from Kraków and the reception that the Auschwitz SS crew’s cream of the crop gave them. Each prisoner, for no reason whatsoever, was issued 25 lashes with a rod, and then they had iodine poured on their buttocks. Plagge was one of the SS men beating the prisoners on that occasion, and was more violent at that than the other perpetrators.
Later, I had no more direct contact with Plagge. All I know is that he was promoted and was one of the most distinguished Auschwitz SS men, served for some time at block 11, and finally, was the Rapportführer [report leader] at the gypsy camp, and he must have participated in the gassings of prisoners, since I saw him myself from a block 22 window in the vicinity of the old crematorium during a gassing.
Plagge – as far as I remember – speaks Polish, but he kept this fact secret. During exchanges between prisoners, I saw that Plagge had a good idea of what they were talking about, and sometimes dropped a Polish word.
Other than that, I have no direct information concerning Plagge’s activities at the Auschwitz camp.
At this point the procedure and the report were concluded. The report was signed after it was read out.