The sixteenth day of trial, 11 December 1947
Witness Vogler Tauba, 44 years old, Jewish, housekeeper, no relationship to the defendants.
Presiding Judge: I advise the witness to speak the truth and not to make false declarations. Are there any requests regarding the mode of hearing of the witness?
Prosecutor: We exempt [the witness from taking the oath].
Defense Attorney: We do, too.
Presiding Judge: Since the witness has been summoned upon the request of the Prosecutor, will the Prosecutor please ask the questions?
Prosecutor Szewczyk: Will the witness please say something about Orlowski’s behavior in the Płaszów camp?
Witness: I stayed in the Płaszów camp from 1943 to the end of 1944. Prisoners were panic- stricken with fear of Orlowski when they saw her. I myself was beaten by her several times. She would walk around at the roll call square with a whip, and with a carpet beater in the camp. She never missed the opportunity to beat somebody. One day when I was doing the so-called donkey work in the Barackenbau [barrack hut], I wanted to hide from the rain, so I burst into one of the barracks. Orlowski saw me, asked me where I was running to, and called me over. I started explaining that a guard had allowed me to go to the latrine. In spite of that, Orlowski started beating me with a whip, and having hit me several times in the head and in the eyes, she told me to go away.
A few weeks later, I was assigned to clean a barrack. The guards would check the barracks every day to see if everything was all right, if the sick were not lying in beds. To be considered sick, a prisoner had to have fever of over 38 degrees, but they were still not allowed to lie in beds during an inspection. They had to get dressed and walk around in the barrack. Orlowski would come to the barracks, and since she was tall, she would climb the beds like a goat and remove the bedding. While I was cleaning there, she found a small sick girl, about 12–13 years old, in the highest bunk. When Orlowski removed the blanket, the child jumped – the girl looked fragile and weak. In spite of that, Orlowski started beating her really hard with a carpet beater, battering her terribly. Although I had already witnessed various scenes there, that event shook me to the core. I thought then that I would like to make her pay for that. Afterwards, Orlowski called the commandant over and told her off for letting the girl stay in bed, and she went away.
I can also say something about defendant Danz, because in April 1944 I was transferred from Płaszów to the Deutsche Emalienfabrik [Schindler’s enamel dish factory], where I stayed for four months. Danz was a guard there. In the factory, we were given striped clothes. Some women were trying to make those clothes look better and shortened them. When Danz noticed that a dress had been tampered with, she ruthlessly beat the prisoner. Danz couldn’t treat us as she wanted, because the director was a good person. Only when she was assigned to Płaszów, where I also returned in August 1944, did she become militant and beat us with a whip while we were going to roll calls. At that time, we had to cover our heads with white scarfs – if Danz saw a prisoner without a scarf, she would beat her. What is more, Danz particularly kept an eye on one of our colleagues, and she would hit her whenever she passed by her. If that woman had not been transferred to Auschwitz, Danz would have finished her off for sure.
Presiding Judge: Are there any questions?
Defense Attorney Wolska-Walas: Had the girl been sick long?
Witness: I do not know that.
Defense Attorney Wolska-Walas: Did the witness see her only getting beaten up?
Witness: Yes.
Defense Attorney Wolska-Walas: Thank you.
Defendant Danz: Your Honor, I would like to ask the witness how long she worked in the German enamel dish factory.
Witness: Four months.
Defendant Danz: Did the witness stay in that factory until the end?
Witness: No.
Presiding Judge: The witness is excused.