On 3 Sptember 1947 in Kraków, member of the Kraków District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Municipal Judge Dr. Henryk Gawacki, acting upon written request of the first prosecutor of the Supreme National Tribunal, this dated 25 April 1947 (file no. NTN 719/47), and 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 Articles 254, 107, 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviewed the former Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner specified below as a witness, who testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Józef Paczyński |
| Date and place of birth | 29 January 1920, Wadowice |
| Parents’ names | Wojciech and Anna, née Stawowa |
| Citizenship and nationality | Polish |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Marital status | bachelor |
| Occupation | office worker |
| Place of residence | Kraków, [...] |
| Testifies freely |
I was detained in the Auschwitz camp with the first transport of prisoners from Tarnów on 14 June 1940 and was given the prisoner identification number 121. Due to the evacuation of the camp, I was transported to Mauthausen on 18 January 1945, then to the camp in Melk near Vienna, and in mid-April 1945 to Ebensee, where I remained until 6 May 1945.
In the Auschwitz camp, I first went through a three-week quarantine, and then I was assigned to SS-Rasierstube [barbershop for the SS], where I worked until the end of my stay in the camp. 10 prisoners worked there on average, supervised by a kapo – this function was performed at first by Germans and later by Poles. Michał Mysiński was one of them (Kraków, św. Marka Street 21 – a shop).
During quarantine, I met Ludwig Plagge who, being Unterscharführer at the time, subjected us to the so-called “sport” and “singing lessons”. These exercises were conducted until the prisoners got weak and completely exhausted, and many of them fainted. During the exercises, Plagge and German kapos recruited from the first thirty prisoners who had been incarcerated in the camp beat and kicked the prisoners. Plagge would barge into the block at night, herd tired prisoners into a room and order them to exercise for hours. When the exercises occurred in the day, he would frequently fire from a pistol above the prisoners’ heads.
One Saturday following a prisoner’s escape, Lagerführer [head of the camp] Fritzsch made all prisoners stand at attention from 6.00 p.m. until 4.00 p.m. on the next day (Sunday). Plagge supervised the punishment and hit those who staggered or were not standing straight enough with his hand or a baton. From the total number of over a thousand prisoners, over 80 fainted from exhaustion. Buckets of cold water were poured over their faces, and they were left on the ground. Plagge took part in the investigations concerning that prisoner’s escape; he searched for his suspected companions and took them to the Political Department.
Later on, when he was promoted to Oberscharführer, Plagge was Blockführer at block 11 and other blocks. Holding this post, he showed the same kind of cruelty to prisoners. He conducted searches and either took or threw away the items that he had found, additionally reporting the guilty prisoner.
Working for such a long time in SS-Rasierstube, I had the opportunity to encounter almost all members of the SS armed crew. I knew all of their names and functions. As I walked through the gate on my way to work, I often saw as Lagerführer Aumeier, nicknamed by the prisoners “Łokietek” [Elbow-high] or “Bumbo”, kicked and hit prisoners in the face. After roll call, I would often see Aumeier supervising the selection of the prisoners to the gas chamber conducted by Kaduk. Aumeier himself frequently chose which prisoners were to be gassed.
When Aumeier held the post of Lagerführer, the closest relatives, most frequently parents of the escaped prisoner, would be detained in the camp. The following two events are stuck in my memory: one time, five prisoners who had escaped the camp were caught, taken or dragged back. They were battered and showed almost no sign of life. They were laid down on the tables outside block 24, and all prisoners had to march next to these tables. Another time, two prisoners were caught stealing bread from a warehouse at night, and, in the morning, they were laid down in the roll call square, shot but still alive. Prisoners had to march next to them too. Other prisoners told me that Aumeier would go to crematoria in Birkenau when the prisoners were being gassed and burnt.
The head of the political department Grabner came to the barbershop almost every day, so I knew him quite well. He always promised that I would be released. Grabner often came to the barbershop in the morning, tired out. This happened when large transports came to Birkenau and were immediately eliminated. He also organized a network of spies among the prisoners in the camp and had his own informers. It was common knowledge in the camp that when Grabner conducted interrogations, prisoners who were beaten by SS men (Grabner himself never beat prisoners) died. If not, they came back severely battered. Grabner was notorious for adhering the so-called German Paragraph 175 with regard to homosexuals. Polish prisoners were executed, Germans – castrated.
Blockführer Kurt Müller had a reputation for beating and kicking prisoners – I saw him doing that – and for conducting searches by the camp gate and in the blocks. On top of that, when he organized a “raid”, that is an inspection of the work details, he informed on them. Like other Blockführers, Müller was involved in Sonderkommandos [special work details] in Birkenau.
August Bogusch, at first Blockführer, later clerk under the Lagerführer and in the Political Department, beat and kicked prisoners who had neglected to salute him. As a clerk, he had an opportunity to destroy the reports denouncing prisoners and protect them from severe punishments, but he did not do so.
Another Blockführer, Herbert Ludwig, was notorious for not only beating prisoners, but also kicking those who were lying on the ground in the chest. He tormented prisoners with searches conducted by the gate and in the blocks, yet he drank with them and forced them to get him alcohol.
I remember as well that in 1941 Obersturmführer Josten, an older man, brought in firing squads to the execution spot in the ditches formed as a result of mining gravel or sand. At that time, block 11 was not extended yet and executions took place elsewhere.
At this the report was concluded, read out and signed.