On 30 September 1947 in Kraków, acting judge, Associate Judge Franciszek Wesely, delegated to the Kraków District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, acting upon written request of the first prosecutor of the Supreme National Tribunal, this dated 25 April 1947 (file no. NTN 719/47) and in accordance with the provisions of and procedure provided for under the Decree of 10 November 1945 (Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland No. 51, item 293) in connection with Article 255, 106, 107 and 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviewed the person named below as a witness, who testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Stanisław Korecki |
| Date and place of birth | 6 March 1914 in Wola Gręboszowska |
| Parents’ names | Izydor and Agnieszka |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Education | graduate in philosophy, the Jagiellonian University |
| Place of residence | Kraków, Długa Street 82, flat 6 |
| Testifies freely |
I arrived in the camp in Auschwitz in a transport from the Tarnów prison on 14 June 1940 as a political prisoner. The camp number I received was 743.
Immediately after my arrival in the camp, I was sent to what was known as a quarantine where the defendant Ludwig Plagge served as Blockführer. Sturmmann Krischner, whose name I don’t remember, was his deputy. Krischner was called a “duck” because of his duck- like waddle. I recognized both men without any doubt during the confrontation which took place in the Central Prison in Kraków on 25 September 1947.
Ludwik Plagge was among the most cruel and sadistic SS men with whom I came into contact with during my detention in Auschwitz (the detention lasted until 30 September 1944). For no reason at all he would harass and mistreat prisoners. They were beaten and kicked all over their bodies. He often used a long wooden spoon for torturing his victims. Plagge was a tall and strong-built man. People fell down to the ground from every blow he dealt. His victims often lost consciousness. He beat me many times, causing grievous bodily harm, most often head injuries. I often saw him pouring water over the prisoners whom he had beaten to unconsciousness. As they didn’t get up, they received blows from his stick and his boots. Then other prisoners carried his victims away, I don’t know to where, probably to the sickroom. I don’t know what happened to those whom he had beaten. I never saw them again. It is likely then that they were “finished off”.
Prisoners also suffered because of the “singing” and “sport” that Plagge organized. They were ordered to fall down to the ground, crawl, roll and do the so-called bear and duck walks (prisoners had to walk while gripping their ankles with their hands). This activity was referred to as a sport. Doing squats with one’s hands on one’s neck was the hardest part of it. Many prisoners didn’t endure this “sport”. After passing out, they were carried “upstairs”, to a makeshift infirmary from where they didn’t return.
In torturing prisoners, Plagge was assisted by Krischner, whom we called a frog. During the “sport”, Krischner pulled older men out of the lines of prisoners and, making them do squats, kicked them in their backs and bottoms until they lost consciousness. Just like Plagge, he never missed an opportunity to torture his victims, beating them sadistically about their whole bodies. He kicked and beat me too until I passed out. Because of the beating I received, my nose was broken and I suffered an internal hemorrhage. He beat me because of the tiles that fell from the roof which we were dismantling. (The tiles fell down through no fault of my own).
After I was released from my quarantine, which lasted a month, the defendant Plagge often came to block 2 where I lived and beat those who didn’t speak German, since prisoners were required to speak only German.
The defendant Plagge carried out flogging imposed on prisoners by Lagerführer [head of the camp] Fritzsch. This type of punishment was carried out publicly, in the roll-call square, on what was known as a horse. Plagge and another SS man whipped prisoners together, and those who were being whipped were required to count out the number of times they were hit. Apart from this public flogging, Plagge whipped prisoners, usually on Sundays, during the so-called lustrations. If he wasn’t satisfied with the way the lustration was carried out, then he organized “sport”.
I stayed in the camp in Auschwitz until 8 December 1941. Then I was transferred to Außenkommandos [external work details] Harmęże and Budy. During my detention in the main camp in Auschwitz, I met Blockführer Kurt Müller, who I also recognized during the confrontation on 25 September 1947. A tall, strongly built man, Müller was very cruel. He was particularly into punching prisoners with his fist in the teeth or in the stomach. He used boxing blows. He also liked kicking prisoners with his knee in their stomachs. After such a blow, every prisoner without exception fell down to the ground. Once, during the roll-call, it was about 1941, he beat and kicked me until I passed out. He convinced himself that I didn’t stand perfectly in line with the rest of the prisoners during the roll-call. Because of the beating I suffered bodily harm. My lips were cut and I had bruises about my eyes and all over the body.
While working in Harmęże, I came to the parent camp in Auschwitz as a coachman to take food supply and that is how I had the opportunity to meet Lagerführer Hans Aumeier. He treated prisoners in an inhumane way. Fortunately, I never got in touch with him personally – except once when he threatened me with a gun. But I saw him beating and torturing other prisoners.
At this the report was concluded. It was read out and signed.