The sixteenth day of trial, 11 December, 1947
Presiding Judge: The next witness: Ilza Filipowska.
Witness Ilza Filipowska, 45 years old, doctor, Jewish, no relationship to the defendants.
I advise the witness to speak the truth, because making false declarations is punishable by law. Do the parties submit any requests regarding the mode of hearing of the witness?
Prosecutor: We exempt the witness from taking the oath.
Defense Attorney: We do, too.
Presiding Judge: The witness has been summoned to testify concerning the situation in the Płaszów camp.
Prosecutor Szewczyk: Will the witness please tell us what she knows about the behavior of women in the camps, especially in Płaszów.
Witness: I met Orlowski and Danz in the camps. I met Orlowski in Płaszów, where I stayed from 13 March to July 1943, that is four months. After four months, I was transferred to the “Kabel” camp, which was intended for 300 people. On 15 May 1944 at 8.00 a.m., defendant Orlowski arrived as an inspector, because the “Kabel” camp was subordinate to the Płaszów camp. I was busy cleaning the laboratory. Defendant Orlowski burst into the room in fury and shouted, “How does it look like?!” I told her I was cleaning. She asked, “Why now?” I was on duty from 6.00 to 8.00 a.m. I served those who returned from work and those who set off to work at 7.00 a.m. She did not accept any explanation. She only claimed that the laboratory was messy, because there was some packing material in the corner. She lunged at me and started to beat me. She had a carpet beater in her right hand. She gave me a black left eye, which then swelled up, and she added: “I’ll be back in half an hour; I want to see it clean”. She went to the next room separated by a wooden barrier. I heard what happened there. Women were screaming and they were beaten. At one point, I heard her say to a Ukrainian, “Hand me a whip, immediately”. I closed the laboratory and went to director Benny. However, he was not there, so I went to deputy Dilli, asking for intervention. I told his secretary that Orlowski was mercilessly beating women, and in the evening I would have to exempt all the night shift from work, because they would not be able to do anything. Director Dilli said he could not intervene, because that was an SS order. Defendant Orlowski found out that I went to the director’s office and started shouting at me, “You’ll be transferred, you’ll have to work in the quarries, and there I’ll finish you off”. I told my husband that it would be better to die than to experience that.
I always had some poison with me – luminal – but I never used it, because I hoped I would survive the camp. However, as a result of defendant Orlowski’s threats, I came to the conclusion that it was better to take that poison, which I did. When my husband found out about it, he wanted to come to me, but Orlowski did not let him. So he asked the doctor in “Kabel” to save me. It was only after defendant Orlowski had left that my husband was able to see me, but I was unconscious. On 12 May, I was transferred to Płaszów. When I was in hospital, Orlowski visited me almost every day, constantly threatening me. However, I did not hear much of it, because I was unconscious. I regained consciousness once, but I do not remember what Orlowski said. After a few days, I was assigned to the laundry that Orlowski was in charge of. I was very weak and yet I had to wash underwear. When other SS women came to visit her, she said that I was the female doctor from “Kabel” who had complained about her and now had to wash underwear. After a few days, her attitude towards me changed, but I do not know why.
Prosecutor Szewczyk: Did the witness hear anything about Orlowski committing murders in the Płaszów camp?
Witness: I do not know that. However, I can say that Orlowski was the epitome of horror. When she appeared in the block, she caused great fear and she always acted like a fury, not a woman.
Prosecutor Szewczyk: Can the witness say anything about other female defendants?
Witness: Yes, I can say something about defendant Danz. After three weeks in the laundry, I was assigned to a transport headed for Wieliczka. I asked the camp authorities to exempt me from that transport, because I did not want to leave my husband and I was still weak. Since I asked them to let me stay in the camp, they told me to stand in the last row, next to a pregnant woman. On the left, there were SS women who were supposed to guard that transport. Suddenly, defendant Danz jumped out of the line with a rubber truncheon and she started to pummel the pregnant woman first, and then she hit me in the head several times. I was covered in blood and fell to the ground, but I heard defendant Danz talking to other SS women, “This is the doctor from Berlin who had complained about Orlowski”.
We arrived in Wieliczka around 8.00 p.m. Around 9.00 p.m., the pregnant woman got birth pains and she gave birth in the morning. After two days, she was taken to hospital with the child, but I do not know what happened to her. I stayed in Wieliczka for two weeks. Then, I returned to Płaszów, and was transported to Germany, where I got a high temperature. In the hospital in Germany, I was examined by a doctor who diagnosed me with a broken skull and ear damage. From then on, I cannot hear anything in my right ear.
Presiding Judge: Are there any questions?
Defense Attorney Wolska-Walas: The witness has said that because of defendant Orlowski’s threats, the witness tried to kill herself.
Witness: Yes, I did.
Defense Attorney Wolska-Walas: Did Orlowski have the right to send the witness to the quarries? After all, she was just a guard.
Witness: Yes, she did. She had the power to transfer prisoners from one outpost to another.
Defense Attorney Wolska-Walas: Did the fact that the witness always had poison with her mean that she suffered from depression?
Witness: Each of us carried poison, because during those moments that we could not avoid in any different way, people would poison themselves. However, it was only after defendant Orlowski’s threats that I decided to poison myself. I thought that was the worst time that could come.
Defense Attorney Wolska-Walas: During the investigation, the witness testified that it was caused by false reports made by a certain Łukasik.
Witness: Later on I found out that there was a Volksdeutscher who knew that I had seen him raping Jewish girls, and who had supposedly reported me.
Defense Attorney Wolska-Walas: Was defendant Orlowski sober or drunk when she threatened the witness?
Witness: At first I thought she was drunk, but later I saw that she always acted like that.
Defense Attorney Wolska-Walas: How did she behave towards women in the laundry?
Witness: She treated them well. It is unwise to slaughter a cow that you can milk – those women bribed defendant Orlowski. That is why she treated female prisoners in the laundry well, and she beat all other women in the camp. I often saw her burst onto the camp street and beat women in a fury. However, I did not see her beat the women in the laundry.
Defense Attorney Wolska-Walas: How does the witness know that witness Biberstein paid money to [defendant] Orlowski?
Witness: Witness Biberstein herself did not work in the laundry, but her daughter did. She could not have told her everything for sure. I know that defendant Orlowski was bribed, because once someone asked me to give her something, but I did not have any money at that time.