Presiding Judge: The Court calls the next witness, Josek Stern.
Witness: Josek Stern, 33 years old, tailor, Jewish, no relationship to the defendants.
Presiding Judge: I advise the witness to speak the truth. Making false declarations is punishable with a prison term of up to five years. Do the parties wish to submit any requests regarding the mode of hearing of the witness?
Prosecution and Defense: We exempt the witness from taking the oath.
Presiding Judge: The witness shall testify without taking the oath, but he is obliged to tell the whole truth. What does the witness know about the individual defendants?
Witness: On 17 August 1944, I arrived at Gliwice, where defendant Lätsch held the position of Lagerführer [camp leader]. He treated us very brutally. We could never understand a word of what he said. He would just kick and hit us with a reed on the head and face. He stayed in the camp for several weeks and carried out unauthorized selections. He sent several dozen people, including my brother and brother-in-law, to the crematorium. A few days later, the defendant started coming to check on the work. When he came, SS men who were his subordinates would give us a sign to work hard, because otherwise we would be duly punished. One Saturday after work, he told us that the following day we would not go to work, and there would be a roll call instead. It was a roll call devoted to cleanliness. The defendant selected a person whom he considered dirty, took him behind the barbed wire gate, and shot him there. Then, he came back to the square and asked who used to sleep in the same bed with the man who had just been shot. The man’s brother, not having realized what had just happened, came forward, thinking that he must be as dirty as his brother. He was dragged out from the column and the scene repeated. It happened in front of all prisoners. Afterwards, selections were also carried out and each time several dozen people were sent to the crematorium.
At the end of October or at the beginning of November, a different Lagerführer arrived, who was not that cruel. The defendant became Rapportführer [report leader]and one of his tasks was to monitor if prisoners’ feet were clean. He would often carry out such inspections at night. When he decided that a given prisoner had dirty feet, he forced him to get out of the bed and wash his feet, or even his whole body.
Witness: One day, an order was given to shave our heads with a razorblade. They shaved us until we bled. The following day, the defendant came to us and hit us with a cane on the head, saying, “you dogs, your hair is too long”. Finally, I was transported out of the camp.
Presiding Judge: The witness is free to go.