On 14 August 1947, the Municipal Court in Rybnik, with Municipal Judge A. Grzybek presiding and with the participation of a reporter, court clerk L. Brachman, interviewed the person specified below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the significance of the oath, the Judge administered the oath. The witness then testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Ludwik Słodczyk |
| Date of birth | 13 August 1907 |
| Parents’ names | Szczepan and Augustyna, née Ledwoń |
| Place of residence | Rybnik, Listopadowa Street 8a |
| Occupation | white-collar worker |
| Criminal record | none |
| Relationship to the parties | none |
Testifies:
I was imprisoned in the concentration camp in Auschwitz from 4 March 1941 until the evacuation of the camp which started, if I’m correct, on 17 December 1944.
In July 1941 I was assigned to the construction office (Baubüro). At first I worked with the machines, then I became a clerk at the administrative office. I held this function until the end, that is until the evacuation of the camp.
In the presented photographs I recognize Hugon Becker, Fritz Taddiken, Herbert Paul Ludwig and Theodor Baingo.
Hugo Becker was at first the so-called Kommandoführer [squad leader] of the measuring squad (Bodenwirtschaftsdienst). Today I don’t remember whether he was an SS-man or an SS-Sturmmann. His task was to supervise the prisoners who worked in Bodenwirtschaftsdienst, especially the surveyors. Becker received prisoners every day (surveyors), divided work among them, used guards to supervise the prisoners, and when the work was over, he returned the prisoners to the camp. I had a direct contact with Becker because he often replaced our Kommandoführer in Baubüro, and he often marched us from the camp to the construction office, which was located outside the camp. He often took us together with his prisoners from Bodenwirtschaftsleitung.
Becker was indifferent in his approach to prisoners. I don’t recall Becker beating a prisoner, but he also never helped any of them. He was a cold SS man, indifferent to the prisoners’ suffering. Prisoners were wary of him, because it was known that he liked to investigate prisoner’s attitudes, as evident from the fact that he frequently searched our desks in Baubüro. If I recall correctly, Becker started working in the camp in 1943, and stayed there until the evacuation.
As for Taddiken, he became SS-Unterscharführer at the end of the camp’s existence in 1944. At first he held the function of overseer at the construction office, in the department of painters. He was later assigned to the workshops at the construction office and held the function of Kommandoführer in the section of painters. I came into direct contact with Taddiken in the construction office, where he took care of issues connected with various supplies for the section of painters. Taddiken was considered to be an exception among all the SS men. He was friendly and polite to prisoners, especially to us in Baubüro. When addressing prisoners, he would start by saying "Verzeihen Sie" [Excuse me], risking being made fun of by other SS men. He frequently brought bread in his pocket and distributed it among the prisoners in the construction office. Prisoners from the section of painters said that he treated them kindly, and they emphasized that he made efforts to secure some food for them. I never heard that he caused harm to people. As I said earlier, Taddiken was an exception among the SS men, for his character did not fit well with how other SS men treated prisoners. In my presence Taddiken expressed regret about the behavior of the SS men who abused prisoners. He mentioned that he was dragged into the SS against his will, because of his profession, for he was a painter. Taddiken started working in the camp in 1942, if I’m not mistaken, and stayed there until the evacuation. I don’t know what he did later.
I knew Baingo personally from the time before the war, from Lubliniec. I would see him in the Employment Exchange Office in Lubliniec, where I was an office worker, and where Baingo would come for unemployment benefits. This is how we knew each other personally. Baingo lived in Lubecko near Lubliniec, and I lived in Kochcice located three kilometers from Lubecko. One reason why Baingo knew me personally was that he filed some complaint against me to the deputy governor of Lubliniec. It was to do with some files that allegedly vanished in the Employment Exchange Office, which turned out not to be true.
On the camp premises I first saw Theodor Baingo in 1943. At that point he was SS-Unterscharführer in I SS-Totenkopf-Sturmbann. I didn’t have a direct contact with him, but Baingo frequently saw me leaving or returning to the camp. I noticed that he always looked at me, but also pretended that he didn’t know me.
I don’t know how Baingo treated other prisoners, because – as I have testified earlier – I had no direct contact with him. I din’t hear anything about him from other prisoners either. Baingo recognized me in the camp, it is evident from the fact that some people told my mother that he had told them with satisfaction that I was detained in the camp.
Herbert [Paul] Ludwig was Blockführer [block leader] at the camp, holding the rank of Unterscharführer. He had a reputation as an informer and for that reason every prisoner was wary of him. His daughter worked with us in Baubüro as a civilian (I don’t remember her name), and we also considered her to be an informer. She definitely contacted her father, because Ludwig often searched our desks and all hiding places in Baubüro, searching not only for suspicious items, but also for food, which he would then take away from us. Ludwig was a typical SS man, eager martinet, completely unapproachable to a prisoner. I was not a member of the block supervised by Ludwig as Blockführer, so I don’t know how he treated prisoners in the course of everyday life in the camp. Ludwig started working in the camp at the end of 1943 or at the beginning of 1944, if I’m not mistaken.
I don’t know Georg Bayer from the camp premises, but I did know an SS man, Unterscharführer Ferdinand Baier from Vienna.
I have read the report before signing it.
The report was concluded.