KAZIMIERA KOZŁOWSKA

On 25 August 1947 in Kraków, a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Appelate Investigative Judge Jan Sehn, acting upon written request of the first prosecutor of the Supreme National Tribunal, this dated 24 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 254, 107 and 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviewed the inmate of the Majdanek concentration camp named below as a witness, who testified as follows:


Name and surname Kazimiera Kozłowska
Age 24 years old
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Occupation office worker in the “Polonia” company
Place of residence Kraków, Berka Joselewicza Street 9, flat 10

I was imprisoned in the concentration camp in Majdanek near Lublin on 1 May 1943 and stayed there until 15 August 1943. From the period of my stay there I recall among others Aufseherin [overseer] Lächert, whom I recognized beyond any doubt in the photographs exhibited to the public in Kraków. She is the same woman whose photograph has just been presented to me. (The photograph of defendant Lächert was presented to the witness).

In the camp I knew Lächert as “Brygida”, as all the inmates referred to her by that name. Lächert’s behavior was marked with cruelty and severity towards the prisoners. She always walked with a whip in hand, and in a fit of rage brought about by intoxication with drugs or stimulants or else the lack thereof, she would blindly beat the prisoners till they bled, leaving them with cut heads and lacerated bodies. She carried out very taxing searches in the blocks during which she would take away everything that we managed to “organize” to improve our living conditions. She was corruptible and accepted bribes.

Lächert’s drunken feats were known to the SS men, who often locked her up for a few days so that she would sober up. Her evil and inhumane treatment of prisoners made her stand out even from other SS women, so her figure remains etched in the memory of the majority of former inmates of the camp in Majdanek.

When in Majdanek, I met Czesława Banat (Poznań, Dąbrowskiego Street 49, flat 24, at Perylewicz’s place), Zofia Als (Krupski Młyn, Śląsk Opolski, Strzelce district), Stefania Rożek (Kraków, Hotel Warszawski), who had spent more time in that camp and could provide more information pertaining both to defendant Lächert herself and her activities.

The report was read out. At this the hearing and the report were concluded.