On 1 September 1947 in Kraków, a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, municipal judge Dr Stanisław Żmuda, acting at the 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 articles 254, 107, and 115 of the Code of Criminal Proceudre, heard as a witness the below mentioned former prisoner of the Auschwitz concentration camp, who testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Marian Toliński |
| Date and place of birth | 23 March 1915 in Kraków |
| Parents’ names | Jan and Karolina, née Domagała |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Marital status | single |
| Occupation | journalist |
| Citizenship and nationality | Polish |
| Place of residence | Kraków, Czarnowiejska Street 32, flat 5 |
| Criminal record | none |
I was arrested by the Gestapo on 3 May 3 1940 in Kraków and incarcerated for one day in the prison on Montelupich Street, from where I was taken to the prison in Tarnów, where I stayed until 14 June 1940 and then via the first railway transport from Tarnów I was taken to the newly established Auschwitz concentration camp. In Auschwitz I received number 49 and stayed there until 27 October 1944. Then I was transferred to the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen, where on 2 May 1945 I was freed by American troops.
At the Auschwitz camp, I went through quarantine for three or four weeks, after which I was assigned to the Haftlings-Krankenbau, hospital for prisoners in the parent camp, where I worked as a nurse, in an ambulance, but mostly in the pharmacy until the end of my stay at Auschwitz. In the meantime, however, I was briefly referred to various kommandos where I did physical work.
During the quarantine period I had direct contact with SS man Plagge, whom I knew well by sight and by name and would recognize today. What Plagge’s rank was at that time, I don’t remember, in any case, he was a non-commissioned officer. He led the so-called “sport” with all the newly arrived prisoners at the camp. During the quarantine period, we were kept in buildings that used to belong to the tobacco company, and after about three weeks we were transferred to the camp itself and kept in two blocks next to the then hospital block no. 16 and later no. 21. The quarantine area was surrounded by wires and within this area Plagge was one of those who did “sport” with the prisoners, while also guarding the entire quarantine. From morning till late evening, with a brief lunch break, he organized exercises with hungry prisoners suffering physically and morally such as running barefooted on terrain covered with sharp gravel and slag, jumps, squats, rolling around the ground, spinning around with raised hands, climbing thin trees or poles under the threat of a revolver that he often held in his hands and used to frighten prisoners that he would shoot them. Along with these exercises and on a daily basis, he would beat the prisoners, mainly with a stick, kicked sand into the eyes of the prisoners as they rolled on the ground, all of which he did in a cold manner, with a smile, with great sadism. Plagge kept a pipe in his mouth during the exercises and while smoking it, issued orders, so he was later known among the prisoners as “Little Pipe”. During this “sport”, the prisoners would pass out onto the ground, either from exhaustion, or from the heat, or as a result of Plagge’s beatings and they lay there sometimes for up to several hours, and no one knew whether they were alive or dead, because only late in the evening could they be brought to the hospital. During the day, no prisoners were allowed to give any help to those lying on the ground. Whether and which of the prisoners brought to the hospital died, it was difficult to find out. But there were many cases that such prisoners didn’t return to their kommando, so it was assumed that they had died. Today I don’t remember the names of the men beaten by Plagge in the prisoners’ quarantine. Plagge was later promoted and served as a Blockführer in the parent camp and as Rapportführer in the gypsy camp, but at that time I no longer had any direct contact with him, but on several occasions I saw him beat prisoners at any opportunity. He was one of the most prominent SS men at the Auschwitz concentration camp and was the nemesis of the prisoners, not dissimilar to Palitzsch or Boger.
From my time in the Auschwitz camp, I am also familiar by name and by sight with the first Schatzhaftlagerführer [head] of the Auschwitz camp – Aumeier, who took over from his predecessor Fritsch. He was a small man, so among the prisoners he was known as “Łokietek” [“Elbow”], and was a stocky man in good physical shape. During the day, he could be seen constantly in the camp, and wherever he showed up, he wouldn’t leave without beating, kicking or scaring the prisoners with his revolver. During my work at the hospital for prisoners, I often saw Aumeier visit the hospital, asking how long the prisoner had been ill and with what, and it was evident that he didn’t want to keep the prisoners in the hospital longer than necessary. On such occasions he would often beat a sick prisoner or a paramedic, as I witnessed myself. I worked on block no. 28, located opposite block no. 11, and therefore I was able to observe block no. 11 and so I saw Aumeier coming in and out of block no. 11 whenever there was an execution and once I saw with my own eyes Aumeier shoot prisoners in block 11 himself. I was assigned to the Leichenträgerkommando [corpse bearers kommando] on this day and cleared out the prisoners’ bodies from block no. 11 immediately after the execution. Aumeier was drunk at that time, as was the case with other SS men taking part in this execution. Aumeier was always present and actively involved in all selections for gassing, loading the prisoners into cars and transporting them to the gas chambers, as well as in public executions by hanging (which were very common during his rule), as well as publicly executed floggings, etc.
I remember one of the major executions during Aumeier’s time: the shooting of more than 200 prisoners, in whose execution Aumeier took an active part. This was carried out in the courtyard of block 11. During Aumeier’s rule, informing on people was rife as well as punitive reports for the slightest misdemeanors, and the punishments were meted out on the spot. For example, as a result of being informed on by an SS man from the SDG [Sanitätsdienstgrade, SS medical orderlies], who had found a few bits of straw under my bed, I received a punishment from Aumeier: assignment to the Kiesgrube [gravel pit] punitive kommando for an unlimited period of time and hard labor (Strafarbeit) for 15 Sundays in a row. For catching a prisoner with a potato, Aumeier usually imposed a three month penalty in the SK [Strafkompanie, punitive unit].
At this the hearing and the report were concluded. The report was read out and signed.