Very badly wounded in the stomach I was hospitalized in the Field Hospital Dluga Street 7.

On the 7th September 1944 the Germans ordered the nurses and those of the inmates who were able to walk to abandon the hospital and the heavy wounded. I was in this latter group and we stayed in the ward situated in the cellar. In the whole hospital there were a few hundred sick and heavily wounded who could not abandon the hospital. Shortly after the nurses had left the hospital in the evening the German SS arrived; shooting started; first those were killed who with a superhuman effort left their beds and went to the doors and the staircases waiting for the possibility to get out and save themselves. They were immediately killed by the Germans. Two murderers burst into our ward. One had a candle in his hand (it was already dark). The other was killing, shooting from his pistol the men lying in beds and shouting "bandits". Together with a few of the inmates of our ward, I was saved because the passage to our beds was obstructed by other beds. Our ward consisted of two different parts: I was in the second smaller part the entrance to which was obstructed. In the first part, all were killed, the second ward was saved by a pure miracle (maybe because somebody was calling the murderers away), we heard many shots from the other wards. The execution went on throughout the hospital. One of the other many Germans was passing deciding whether everybody was dead. Then we were simulating death; one of my comrades lying near me, stained himself with blood on his chest and head and was simulating death. One of the Germans, speaking Ukrainian went about among the killed striking them in their faces with his gun. It was a terrible night. During a certain moment a hand grenade, the so-called "stick", was thrown through the window into our ward. One of my comrades had his stomach open. Finally, the building was set on fire.

The fire spread very quickly; those who tried to escape were killed. A woman in our ward tried to push the inflammable stuff away from the exit and to protect the ward from the fire. All other wards, as well as the staircase, were on fire; the smoke, the smell of burning corpses, indescribable thirst; the wounded seized medicine bottles for lack of water, one of my neighbors mad from heat and thirst, seized a bottle with iodine and drank the contents, poisoning himself to death; for myself, together with some other, I moistened my lips with peroxide solution. So we lay until the morning of the following day when, with a superhuman effort, we managed to creep out from the burning ruins. As I was then only three days after a stomach operation, the stitches were torn

as I dragged myself to the Podval, suffering great pain. Here I was arrested by some Tartars in German uniform and directed to the church of the Carmelites. The heroic nurses of the Polish Red Cross, who obtained from the Germans the authorization to transfer the wounded, went to fetch those who were still alive in the Hospital of Dluga Street.

Thus, out of several hundred heavily wounded at the Hospital in Dluga Street No. 7, only a few score were left alive.

E

RECORD No. 247

Deposition by witness Maria Bukowska, 40, resident in Lowicz (after she had left Warsaw), taken by Irena Zgrychowa at Lowicz on 26 September 1944.

On 7th August 1944, by order of the SS, the people of the whole district had to abandon their houses which were immediately set on fire. There were several thousands of us who were driven and pushed about by the SS. All who turned to look back, as well as anyone who tried to help, were beaten. We went through Bednarska street, Krakovsky suburb, up to Trebatska street. On the Marshal Pilsudsky Square men were separated from women there was weeping and shouts of protests.

In the Saski garden shooting is going on. From afar, from the Central Market we hear shots of the partisans. SS detachments begin to make a living barricade by ordering us to lie down, beating and pushing us, and a moment later a wall of live bodies is formed; we hear weeping and cursing; the SS-men start shooting from behind this living barricade.

Suddenly everything is quiet. We are going further on under guard of the SS-men. The "Ukrainians" take away watches, rings and tear bank-notes in small pieces.

On the Iron Port square, near the Central market, there is a pile of stolen suit-cases. All the good suit-cases are taken away from the owners and thrown on top of the pile. We see lorries which are taking away our belongings. We go further on; there is shooting once more; a car full of the SS-men approaches, the officers get out, they inspect us and take away from our ranks three young, pretty girls: two sisters N. and another girl, unknown to me. The car goes away, the girls cry out, trying to defend themselves against the SS-men. An old woman falls down, she can't go on any more. An SS-officer shoots her in the neck and again we hear curses, and the hearts of thousands of people are filled with revolt and a desire for revenge.

In a church at Wola the rest of our belongings is taken away from us. All the young girls, sometimes no more than 12 to 14 years of age, are left behind, whilst we, the older ones, with the children, are led to the Western Station and then, by railway, to Pruszkow * * *

COPY OF DOCUMENT 4043-PS

STATEMENT

I undersigned, Roman Catholic priest of the Diocese of Poznan, arrested by the German Gestapo on 12th December 1939 in Poznan and transferred to the concentration camp at Dachau on 23rd May 1940, give the following statement instead of an oath.

Since the 23rd May 1940 until the liberation of the concentration camp by the American armed forces which took place on 29.4.1945 I remained at the concentration camp at Dachau (with an interruption from 3rd September till 8th December 1940 when I was transferred together with the other Polish priests to the quarries at Gusen (Mauthausen)).

By request of the American authorities I volunteered to work in the office of the Section called "Press and Culture" which was to furnish the American authorities and the foreign press with statistical data concerning the concentration camp at Dachau.

The "Section Press and Culture" got its information directly from the so called "Lagerschreibstube" (camp office) directed by a Polish man M. Domagala whose secretary was the abbot Pelewodzinski, priest of the Diocese of Gniezno.

According to the records of the concentration camp that had fallen complete into the hands of the American armed forces, 846 priests and monks, members of the Polish clergy, had perished in the camp of Dachau, out of this number-305 abbots were sent to the gas chambers (called "Invalidentransporte") and 84 priests were transferred to other concentration camps where they perished without leaving any traces. The list of dead priests was brought to Paris by the members of the section "Press and Culture," where it was published in the catholic weekly "Polska Wierna", in Nos. 9, 10 and 11 in 1945.

The Administration, staff and guards of the camp at Dachau consisted exclusively of members of the SS.

Paris, 1.7.1946.

263-bis, Rue St. Horore

Paris (1-er)

Rs. Mizgalski Gerard.

AFFIDAVIT OF OSWALD POHL

I, Oswald Pohl, after being duly sworn, state the following: 1. My name is Oswald Pohl. I was born in Duisburg, Germany, on the 30th July 1892. Since 1st February 1934 I was Chief of the Economic and Administration Main Office of the Elite Guard [Schutzstaffel] (WVHA). I occupied this position permanently until Germany's capitulation.

2. Through my activity as Chief of the WVHA I remember clearly two large business deals between my office and the Reich Ministry of Economics and the Reich Bank of Mr. Walter Funk. One deal concerned textiles from persons killed in concentration camps. In this connection Himmler endeavored to procure through Reich Economics Minister, Walter Funk, a higher allotment for the SS in the uniform material distribution. The other business deal concerned the business connection of my office with the Reich Bank President, Walter Funk, and the Reich Bank with regard to jewelry, rings, gold teeth, foreign exchange and other articles of value from the possessions of people, particularly Jews, who had been killed in concentration camps.

3. The connection of my office with the Reich Bank with regard to textiles of persons who had been killed in concentration camps, was instituted in the year 1941 or 1942. At that time I received the order from the Reich Fuehrer-SS and the German Police, Heinrich Himmler, who was my chief, to get in touch with the Reich Economics Minister, Walter Funk, to obtain a higher allotment of textiles for SS uniforms. Himmler instructed me to demand from Funk that we receive privileged treatment. The Ministry of Economics was receiving from the concentration camps a large amount of textiles delivered. These textiles had been collected in the extermination camp, Auschwitz, and other extermination camps, and then delivered to the proper office for used textiles.

4. As a result of this order received from my superior, Himmler, I visited the Reich Economics Minister, Funk, in his offices. I waited only a short while in his ante-room and then met him alone in his office. I informed Funk of my instructions that I was to ask him for more textiles for Waffen-SS uniforms, as we could deliver so many old textiles from the actions against Jews. I told him that we required these textiles for the Waffen-SS. The meeting lasted around ten minutes. It was openly discussed that we earned perhaps privileged treatment on account of the delivery of old clothes of dead Jews. It was a friendly conversation between Funk and myself and he said to me that he would settle

the matter favorable with the gentleman concerned. How the subsequent settlement between Funk and his subordinates and my subordinates was handled in detail I do not know.

5. The second business deal between Walter Funk and the SS concerned the delivery of articles of value of dead Jews to the Reich Bank. It was in the year 1941 or 1942 after larger quantities of articles of value, such as jewelry, gold rings, gold fillings, spectacles, gold watches and such, had been collected in the extermination camps. These articles of value came in packed crates to Berlin to the WVHA. Himmler had ordered us to deliver these things to the Reichsbank. I remember that Himmler explained to me that negotiations concerning this matter had been conducted with the Reichsbank and Mr. Funk. As a result of an agreement which my Chief had made, I discussed with Reichsbank Director Emil Puhl the manner of delivery. In this conversation no doubt remained that the objects to be delivered were the jewelry and valuables of concentration camp inmates, especially of Jews, who had been killed in extermination camps. The objects in question were rings, watches, eye glasses, gold bars, wedding rings, brooches, pins, frames of glasses, foreign currency, and other valuables. Further discussions concerning the delivery of these objects took place between my subordinates and Puhl and other gentlemen of the Reichsbank. It was a giant quantity of valuables, since the delivery continued for months and years.

6. A part of these valuables of people killed in death camps I saw myself when Reichsbank President Funk and Vice-President Puhl invited us to an inspection of the Reichsbank vaults and subsequently to dinner. I don't remember exactly whether this was in 1941 or in 1942, but I do remember that I already knew Funk personally at that time from the textile industry, as I have described above. Vice-President Puhl and several other gentlemen of my staff went to the vaults of the Reichsbank. Puhl himself led us on this occasion and showed us gold bars and other valuable possessions of the Reichsbank. I remember exactly, that various trunks of objects from concentration camps were opened. At this time Puhl or Waldhecker, who accompanied him, stated in my presence and in the presence of the gentlemen of my staff that a part of these valuables had been delivered by our office.

7. After we had inspected the various valuables in the vaults of the Reichsbank, we went upstairs to a room in order to have dinner with Reichsbank President Funk; this had been arranged for the time following the inspection. Besides Funk and Puhl the gentlemen of my staff were present; we were about 10 to 12