Dr. Paul Heller, Physician, b. August 8, 1914 in Komotau, Č.S.R.

Jaworzno.:/Subcamp of K.L. Auschwitz.

June 1943 to January 1945: 3,000 mostly Jewish inmates /Poles, Greeks, French, Belgians, Czechs/ have to work in disused coal mines under unbelievable conditions in civilized countries. Weekly 5-7 fatal accidents, at least another 6 to 8 accidents resulting in permanent disability. Daily severe mistreatment by German Steiger and Nauer, with weekly 2-3 cases fatal. Starvation rations. After exhaustion of the inmates, which leads to total inability to work after about three months, these people are brought to Birkenau for gassing, in their place new Jews made to hell during the day. Only in the last half year you had to deal with the inmates a little more considerate, since the human reservoir was empty. The responsible men are called:

SS Obersturmführer Bruno Pfütze from Leipzig

SS Unterscharführer Hans Olejek from Bielitz, O.S.

SS Unterscharführer Paul Krauss from Chemnitz

SS Rottenführer Ewald Tausegrau 1Note 1: Tausgrau from O.S.

SS Unterscharführer Otto Habelsreiter 2Note 2: Hablesreiter from Hohenelbe, Bohemia.

Special occurrences of this camp:

November 1943: By 2 reichsdeutsche inmates /Werner from Berlin, Bruno Brodniewicz from Poznań, living Berlin/ 52 Polish and Czech inmates were reported, they had begun to dig out a ditch below the fence, in which they wanted to escape. Then all 52 were immediately brought into the bunker and the occurrence reported to the Reichsführer Himmler. This determined for the half of the inmates, i.e. 26, the immediate execution of the death penalty in the presence of the entire camp staff. The rest are taken to other camps for slow destruction. In the camp, the inmates had to erect the gallows immediately. From Auschwitz came the responsible man, /Haupsturmführer Schwarz from Munich/ and staged a sadistic spectacle in a terrible way. Detainees should carry out the execution. Since all except the said Bruno Brodniewicz refused to carry out this action, they were forced to do so with whips and rifle strokes. All 26 inmates, of whom I remember only the name of Pfleger from Prague, died worthily calling for Polish and Czechoslovak freedom. July 1943: 1,000 Greek Jews from Salonika arrive at the camp on 2 July. At the end of the month, there are only 400 and only 64 in September. All the others have died, half of them suffering from fatigue, the rest beaten to death, some shot on the run, or taken to the gas chamber as incapacitated for work in Birkenau.

June 1943 - January 1945. The average stock is 3000-3500 inmates, but within 18 months 13,574 inmates went through the camp Jaworzno. Thus, 90% have died.

October 1943: A drunken post shoots into the camp at night. 2 inmates are injured. The camp leader is uncomfortable with such incidents as he has orders to avoid such incidents in the interest of labor. The cheapest way out is to let the two inmates die, as the cause of death is registered shot on the run. The then Sanitätsscharführer refuses to carry out the order. He is placed in a worse service and the same SS U.Scharfuhrer orders the injured inmates to bring in

the ambulance room, where he does not shoot them, but strangles. The inmates are Polish Jews aged 22-25 years. The names are no longer remembered. During the evacuation of Jaworzno all files were destroyed.

January 1945. Evacuation of the camp because of the rapid approach of the Russian front. Only the sick inmates are left alone and without a nurse. Whether it was possible to carry out the plan of extermination of the camp together with the detained inmates there is beyond my knowledge. 3,200 inmates are on the march, 400 remain behind. The inmates receive 400g bread, 25g margarine and 50g sausage. The strength of the accompanying team is 300 men, so for every 10 inmates one SS post. Three days and nights are marched without any stay. Who can not continue, is shot. Some inmates try to escape, but only two lucky ones succeed. All others were shot while trying to escape. About 1,000 inmates were left behind within three days. The further march to the camp Gross-Rosen near Striegau demands within 10 days another 1,200 victims. The inmates line the streets of Upper Silesia. The pace of the march has now slowed somewhat, but as the SS only cares for themselves and provides no food for the inmates, many, many are left exhausted and die by the bullets of the SS. In Gross-Rosen, the inmates remain crammed together in horse stables for 4 days. Lice, diseases, hunger - another 700 dead. From Gross-Rosen rail transport to Buchenwald. Of the 300 here, 235 have come down so much that they died until February 11th. Only 65 experienced the liberation by the American army. Among these, many are in such poor condition that their return home is unlikely.

For the Documentation Campaign from Mr. Max Munk, Uherské Hradiště.

Transcribed according to the original.

For the Documentation Campaign:

Weinberger

Transcribed by:

For the archive:

Tressler