A report of testimony given before the Voivodeship Jewish Historical Commission on 22 February 1947 in Kraków.
The testimony was heard by: Maria Holender, MA
The testimony was made by:
| Name and surname | Anna Lermer |
| Date and place of birth | 10 January 1913 in Kraków |
| Place of residence before the war | Kraków, Berka Joselewicza Street 20 |
| Present place of residence | Kraków, Smoleńsk Street 22, flat 7 |
In the case of Luise Helene Elisabeth Danz, Aufseherin [overseer] from the Kraków- Płaszów camp:
At the beginning of 1944, an Aufseherin from Płaszów, Luise Danz, was assigned to our camp. Our camp was situated in the Zabłocie district of Kraków, by the DEF (Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik) factory, and 1,100 people of both sexes were imprisoned in it. The post of Lagerführer [camp leader] was then occupied by Hujar.
It so happened that at the time of Danz’s arrival at the camp we received striped clothes. The garments were enormous and long-sleeved, so it was very difficult to work in them on the factory floor where the temperature would rise to 70 degrees Celsius. Before we had even put them on, Luise Danz came to our barracks for inspection. She happened to come when we were shortening the garments. We explained to her that we had to adjust these clothes because otherwise it would be very difficult to work in them. She agreed to that and said that we were right.
A few days later, early in the morning, Danz stormed into our barracks with another Aufseherin from Gerätelager (another camp in Zabłocie) and, yelling, began to drive us out. She told us to put on the striped clothes immediately, flung her riding crop left and right, and yelled at us furiously that we had no right to adjust the clothes on our own. We rushed out, although we were incompletely dressed – some of us wore the striped clothes but no underwear, and some still had their slippers on. She took us to the field and ordered us to form groups of five, after which she and the other Aufseherin whose surname I don’t know entered the barracks and carried out a search. The search ended in her taking away everything that they had found in the barracks: underwear, shoes, bags with all their contents – literally everything. She made us stand outside in the cold, incompletely dressed, from 7.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. We didn’t go to work that day. After the search, she went out to us and conducted another inspection: she personally checked whether we didn’t wear two pairs of underwear and again beat us in the face with her hands.
Danz tormented us for the whole period of her stay. She didn’t let the Poles bring us food, she frisked us upon entering the camp to ensure that we weren’t smuggling anything in, and of course if she discovered something, she beat us without mercy.
Although no Aufseherin was tasked with supervision of prisoners in the factory, Danz paid no heed to that. She often came to the factory to observe whether we came into any contact with the Poles who worked with us in the same workshops. Once, two of my friends, Frieda Kiwetz and Rutka Steinhart, washed their striped clothes and hung them in a drying room on the factory floor so that they would promptly dry up. Luise Danz noticed that, took down the numbers of their clothes and went to the OD [?], where the two were shortly summoned. There she beat them in a horrific manner: she punched them in the faces and flogged them with her riding crop. She battered them for not having taken the striped clothes to the laundry. There was a laundry in the camp, but washing and drying clothes took so very long, and we couldn’t wait: each of us had but one striped uniform, and we were forbidden to wear our civilian dresses (besides, she took all of them away).
We worked three shifts. Once at 3.00 p.m., I was coming back to the barrack from work. The whole shift gathered together and then we were walked back to the camp by a kapo. It usually took from ten to fifteen minutes for all of us to gather. At the time I carried with me a small pot of boiled potatoes, which I wanted to take to the barrack. All of a sudden I learned that Luise Danz was conducting body searches. Since I didn’t want the Aufseherin to take away my potatoes and beat me, I stayed in the factory for a little longer with a friend. A few minutes later we went out. In the courtyard, however, we met Luise Danz; she neither searched us nor asked us any questions, but hit us several times in the faces so hard that the mark of her fingers remained on our faces for quite a long time.
When our camp in Zabłocie was liquidated and we were transferred to Płaszów, I met her there several times more. She diligently performed the duties of an Aufseherin, searching us when we were leaving for work and beating us during roll calls.