Lubliniec, 29 November 1947
Stanisław Szumański
Żwirki i Wigury Street 3, Lubliniec
To the Supreme National Tribunal
in Kraków
From 9 December 1940 to February 1943, I was held in the concentration camp in Flossenbürg. From the beginning of my stay in that camp to around the middle of 1942, the position of Lagerführer [camp leader] was held by one of the defendants in the Auschwitz trial – Aumeier (Hauptsturmführer) – who was particularly hostile towards Poles.
Some of the most severe cases of abuse against Polish prisoners are the following.
One morning of June 1941, the day before Pentecost, two Poles escaped from the camp. The rest of the camp was immediately gathered for forced standing, which lasted from 4.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. On a personal order of Aumeier, SS men beat the Poles to death. The forced standing was repeated the following day and all seriously ill Poles were thrown out of the hospital. Both escapees were brought back dead to the camp the day following their escape.
Two months later, another Polish prisoner escaped from the camp. Forced standing was again ordered for the rest of the Poles. This time it lasted 44 hours without a break. Many Poles were killed at that time and were horribly abused in the presence of all other prisoners. SS men beat all Poles, one by one. Those who lost consciousness were poured with water and beaten again. The SS men filled prisoners’ stomachs with water, using a rubber hose, and jumped on them, watching how the water – together with the prisoners’ entrails – gushed out of their mouths. The amused tormentors were laughing and verbally insulting their victims. Forty people were executed by shooting, and as many again were tortured to death. Many of the Poles died in the following weeks due to the beating or cold they caught. By night, they poured water on us to – as they laughed – wake us up. By day, we were ordered to say prayers, Our Father and Hail Mary, for five hours without a break. That praying was an idea of Aumeier himself, who was very interested in us. Only the prisoners who participated in the praying know how exhausting it was. For those two days, we were given nothing to eat or drink; we were not allowed to answer the calls of nature there or anywhere else. All the crimes were committed by SS men, usually on Aumeier’s personal order, often in his presence. The Polish escapee was caught and publicly hanged after he received 50 lashes (he must have also been beaten before that, because he was so weak during the flogging that he did not react).
In September 1941, another Polish prisoner escaped. We were again gathered for forced standing, but this time it was short. However, for the following three months our food portions were cut in half, but we were forced to work harder, as a result of which all Poles were exhausted, less resistant to diseases, and more mentally broken. Due to the persecution, Poles died more often than people of other nationalities (Germans and Czechs).
Aumeier particularly enjoyed beating and kicking Polish prisoners, screaming at the top of his lungs, “damn Polish pigs”, etc. Under Aumeier’s term in the Flossenbürg camp, it was strictly prohibited to help Polish prisoners. A German who gave a spoon of soup to a Pole, would be immediately sent to the penal company. All German prisoners were turned against Poles, and encouraged to beat, persecute and push them, constantly insult them, send them to do the worst jobs, and to never miss an opportunity to punish them.
In the autumn of 1941, a transport of 2,100 Russian prisoners of war was brought to Flossenbürg. They were placed in three barracks intended for 248 prisoners each. Already after a few days, there was a typhoid outbreak in the barracks and after three months only a thousand of the POWs were still alive. I guess that they were infected with typhoid fever on purpose, because since the first day of their stay, they were kept in strict isolation from the rest of the camp, and after a few days we found out about the typhoid outbreak. They were healthy when they arrived, because not one of the prisoners and SS men who had contact with them on the first day fell sick. In the months following the outbreak, those who were sick, weak, unable to work hard or who required medical treatment were executed by shooting. I heard from an SS orderly who was present at those executions that Aumeier shot the prisoners at the back of the head with a small-caliber gun.
It is impossible to enumerate all crimes committed by Aumeier. I would only like to inform the Supreme National Tribunal that Aumeier, apart from the fact that, as an SS officer holding the position of concentration camp Lagerführer, he caused the deaths of many individuals, as a German he persecuted especially Polish prisoners.
I am ready to testify under oath at any time in order to confirm the truthfulness of the above-mentioned data.