TADEUSZ KLEIN

On 3 October 1947 in Kraków, member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Municipal Judge Dr. Stanisław Żmuda, 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, and 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviewed the former prisoner of the concentration camp in Auschwitz named below as a witness. The witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Tadeusz Klein
Date and place of birth 26 November 1910 in Borysław
Parents’ names Marian and Barbara, née Dąbkiewicz
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Marital status married, father of four
Occupation merchant
Nationality and citizenship Polish
Place of residence Kraków, Grodzka Street 33

I was detained in the camp in Auschwitz as a Polish political prisoner (no. 103026) from January 1943 to the autumn of 1944. Initially, I passed through a number of different labor units. For the longest period of time, that is, until the end of my detention in the camp, I worked in Fahrbereitschaft [motor pool] and Praga-Halle. It was through my work in Fahrbereitschaft and especially in Praga-Halle that I met SS-Unterscharführer Eduard Lorenz. He worked as a driver in SS-Fahrbereitschaft. I saw him delivering food almost every day from the main warehouse to the camps in Auschwitz and to the sub-camps.

He also drove those who made up the so-called “Canada” labor unit from the railway ramp in Birkenau to the main warehouse in Bauhof [builder’s yard] and to the temporary warehouses in Praga-Halle. It is in the execution of the last task that he became familiar with the process of unloading transports that arrived at the ramp, and he certainly knew what happened to those who were brought in, that is, he knew that they were gassed to death. In the railway ramp, Lorenz picked up baby-carriages, suitcases and these sorts of things; while in the “Sauna” he got clothes, shoes and underclothes.

I know that he transported prisoners, but because of the veil of secrecy that covered the transports, I can’t provide any detailed information about them.

I also know that Lorenz drove prisoners at night. These night transports were also shrouded in secrecy. However, the different things (clothes, photographs, etc.) that Jews were made to abandon in trucks and which I saw when I turned up for work in the morning allowed me to discover the truth. In addition, some SS drivers told me that they had a particularly tough time working at night. The sickroom and block 11 usually became empty.

Finally, I know that Lorenz took prisoners in his car from the sickroom and Aussenkommando [external work detail] to Birkenau.

I talked with him very often. From these conversations I inferred that he was a real SS man and a staunch supporter of the Nazi regime. As a pet of chief of SS-Fahrbereitschaft, SS-Hauptsturmführer Vigan, he, I believed, must have rendered outstanding services to the camp authorities.

I don’t know how he treated prisoners.

At this the report was concluded, read out and signed.