POLISH SOURCE INSTITUTE IN LUND Malmö, 5 1946

Testimony received by Institute Assistant Krystyna Karier transcribed

Record of Witness Testimony 206

Here stands Mr Bolesław Pampuch born on 24 March 1909 in Jarząbkowo, Gniezno , occupation butcher religion Roman Catholic , parents’ forenames Kasper, Eleonora last place of residence in Poland Gniezno current place of residence – ″ –

who – having been cautioned as to the importance of truthful testimony as well as to the responsibility for, and consequences of, false testimony – hereby declares as follows: [note] labour [/note] I was interned at the concentration camp in Blechhammer [present-day Blachownia Śląska, Poland] from May 1942 to 23 June 1943 as a political prisoner bearing the number – and wearing a ‘P’ badge -coloured triangle with the letter [not completed] I was later interned in Organisation Todt [a German engineering group] labour camps ( and ) from 16 August 1943 to the German surrender in 1945.

Bolesław Pampuch Asked whether, with regard to my internment and my labour at the concentration camp, I possess any particular knowledge about how the camp was organized, how prisoners were treated, their living and working conditions, medical and pastoral care, the hygienic conditions in the camp, or any particular events concerning any aspect of camp life, I state as follows: The testimony consists of five and a half pages of handwriting and describes the following: 1. Year-long stint at labour camp in Blechhammer – layout of camp, diet, treatment; prisoners in striped uniforms and Jews – treatment. ‘AL’ – that is, the penal column [labour detail, from Ger. Kolonne]. Punishments administered in AL – acts of provocation by the Germans. Discharge from the camp. 2. Return to Gniezno and employment with the same company that ran the camp in Blechhammer. Germans’ treatment of Poles in Gniezno and surrounding area. Being sent away to work a second time. 3. Month-long stint at a camp in Berlin; discipline. 4. Working at a estate in Waldsee, Pomerania. 5. Voyage to Norway and assignment to labour camp in Mørsvik – road-building work. Difference between how Austrians and Reichsdeutschers [ethnic Germans from the Reich] treated Poles. How the Germans treated Russian POWs who were in a neighbouring camp. BLOM’S PRINTING, LUND 1945

6. Poles gathered at a camp in Narvik after the German surrender – approximately 1,000 people.

[stamp] POLISH SOURCE INSTITUTE IN LUND [/stamp]

[stamp] POLISH SOURCE INSTITUTE IN LUND [/stamp]

Testimony of Mr Bolesław Pampuch, born on 24 March 1909 in Jarząbkowo, Gniezno Powiat

In May 1942, the Germans captured me in the street during a round-up. Along with twenty other men, I was transported to a place called Blechhammer in Germany [present-day Blachownia Śląska, Poland], where a war industry factory was being constructed. There were already about 1,000 Poles there when we arrived. In the camp we were placed in, there were approximately 30,000 people of various nationalities. The camp was set in woodland and divided into sections, each of which had its own name: Wiesenlager, Waldlager, Bahnhoflager [lit. ‘Meadow Camp’, ‘Woodland Camp’, ‘Railway Station Camp’, respectively (Ger.)] The Poles were put with the Jews, although the Jews were fenced off from us (we were merely in adjacent areas). We Poles, however, were free to move about the camp, but only until 8 p.m. We got up at 5 a.m. Without any Appell [roll call assembly, Ger.], we would march out to work – six kilometres. The Jews were guarded by the Gestapo, whereas we walked freely, wearing a lilac-coloured ‘P’ against a yellow background with lilac border on our left shoulder. We worked ten to twelve hours per day on the factory building site. At work, we were treated badly; we were beaten and called ‘polnische Bande’ [Polish riff-raff, Ger.]. After returning to the camp, we would have dinner at six, six thirty and then go to bed. A full day’s ration consisted of half a kilogram of bread, twenty grams of margarine or marmalade, and one litre of soup (made from swedes or cabbage – extremely watery). We had to pay ten [pfennigs] for the soup, since we were paid for our work: twenty marks per week. We lived twenty men to a Stube [room, Ger.]. Conditions were very cramped and filthy, and we were plagued by vermin – bedbugs. We slept in separate beds; each bed had a crude stuffed mattress and two blankets. Working alongside us were Polish prisoners who wore striped uniforms. They were kept under guard and treated worse, like Jews. Both the Jews and striped prisoners were bound by regulations prescribing that any man who strayed so much as ten metres from his place of work be shot dead. By then, the striped prisoners were already in a state of utter exhaustion. I saw one man who could hardly walk being held up and guided to work. We weren’t permitted to go near the prisoners. Once, when a Jew died at work, a machine that was excavating sand buried him on the order of one of

the Gestapo men guarding us. On 24 July 1943, an inspection was carried out in the Jewish section: the weak were directed onto a train, and the stronger ones were left behind to work. Some of those who were herded onto the train were so weak that their comrades had to take them in carts or carry them on their backs. Approximately 200 Jews were taken. They were reportedly transported to Auschwitz. Within the camp was what was called ‘AL’ – the equivalent of a penal column [labour detail, from Ger. Kolonne]. If anyone failed to go to work for two days, the company doing the construction work would report this to Bauleitung [lit. ‘construction management’, Ger.], which administered punishment by assigning the person avoiding work (regardless if due to illness) to AL. This consisted of two or three blocks surrounded by a wire fence. There were usually about 300 people inside. Anyone in excess of 300 would be sent away to complete their punishment at Auschwitz. Stints in AL usually lasted from six to twelve weeks. A punishment that was issued within AL itself was food deprivation. Men who were assigned there would keep their own clothing; they received only a triangle on their back and an armband round their sleeve. The armband was white or yellow. The triangles on prisoners’ backs made it easier to aim at them in the event of escape. The way they were treated in AL was terrible. Prisoners who had been beaten would have to go to work. I myself saw a Russian being helped along to work. He was no longer capable of walking on his own – his face was mutilated. At one point, this Russian threw himself under a factory train and was killed on the spot. In addition to this, from a fellow inmate who slept next to me and who had left AL, I learned the following. A certain Pole once reported that he was ill and unable to go to work. Immediately after this declaration, he was given lashes which he had to count aloud. If he miscounted, the flogging started all over again. After the lashes, water was poured over the sick man and then he was sent to the block. The same punishment was repeated that evening and the following day when he once again declared that he was sick and unable to go to work; that evening, too, he was beaten once more. At every beating, water was poured over him. When he was released, the man, as though unconscious, made his way towards the gate in the hope of escaping. A Gestapo man took hold of his rifle and shot him dead.

The open gate was a provocation used by the Gestapo, who wanted prisoners to attempt escape, thereby providing a pretext to shoot and kill them. Often the Gestapo would throw a prisoner’s cap over the wire fence and then tell him to fetch it. Whenever any of the AL prisoners tried to retrieve their cap from beyond the fence, they would be shot where they stood. The labour camp in Blechhammer was forty kilometres from Katowice – on the German side. At one point, I couldn’t work due to exhaustion, and they sent me to the main medical commission in Cosel [Koźle, Pol.] so that the head doctor might determine whether or not I was feigning. There, I was declared sick and discharged. Here is the certificate discharging me from the camp, issued by Arbeitsamt Ratibor – Aussenstelle Blechhammer [Racibórz Labour Bureau – Blechhammer Branch]:

Arbeitsamt Ratibor Aussenstelle Blechhammer Blechhammer, den 23. Juni 1943 II Blech. 5409/43 Fr./Fr. An die Firma Baugruppe Wartheland in Blechhammer [To the Wartheland Construction Company in Blechhammer] Betrifft: Freigabe des Pampuch Boleslaus, geb. 24.3.09 [Re: Discharge of Bolesław Pampuch, born on 24 March 1909]

Obengennanter ist laut vertrauensärztlichen Gutachten vom 23.6.43 Nr 547 nicht mehr lagerfähig. Er ist daher und die Arbeitspapiere sind ihm auszuhändigen. [The aforenamed is no longer fit for camp, as per medical review board opinion no. 547 of 23 June 1943. He is therefore [discharged] and his work papers are to be handed over to him.] Im Auftrag [By order of] (illegible signature)

I returned to Gniezno and despite being ill, I had to go straight to work for that same company. While living at home, I worked on the railway. After two months, they sent a card to my house summoning me to the company’s office. There, they told us that they were sending us away to work for three months; we would come back when the three months were up. Poles living in Gniezno and the surrounding area were treated badly by the Germans. [illegible crossing-out] All Poles had to bow to any Germans they encountered in the street. If anyone failed to bow, they would be beaten by Germans who would deliberately

seek out such opportunities, especially as people were returning from work. There were deportations of Poles from Gniezno. The first took place in December 1939. When the Germans ordered them to leave their homes, Poles would hardly be able to take anything with them – this depended on the Gestapo men conducting the deportation. Within ten minutes, they had to make themselves ready for the journey. When they had been assembled at a tannery in Gniezno, these people would be transported to the General Government. Once, when I failed to bow to an officer, I was given a punishment that involved my having to spend half a Sunday cleaning bicycles. In Gniezno, the Germans viewed me as dangerous and tracked my every move. On these grounds, they meant to send me away from Gniezno a second time. When I received the order to leave, I was allowed to return home and collect certain items to take with me to the labour assignment before reporting to the railway station at two o’clock. Including myself, sixty men reported. We were transported to Poznań, where we were placed behind wire (a three-metre-high fence). It was a transit camp. There were already around two hundred men and fifty women in the camp at that time. There, we were bathed; our things were steam-treated; and we were assigned to blocks. We spent a week there. From there, we were taken on a large transport (that included Poles who had arrived after us) to Berlin. After spending the night in what was called the Tennishalle [indoor tennis centre, Ger.], we were taken to a camp with an Arbeitseinsatz [labour deployment office, Ger.] and doctor. Although I showed the doctor the work exemption I had received from the previous labour camp and told him that I had been wounded in September 1939, he disregarded this and assigned me to work. We remained in that camp for a month and worked the entire time. I went to a winery where I washed bottles. Other Poles did demolition work, taking down bomb-damaged buildings; after night-time alerts, we would be led out to clean up. There was strict discipline in the camp; we had to doff our caps and stand to attention before the Gestapo men who held authority over that camp. On Sundays, to keep us from sitting around the blocks, we would be herded out to the woods; then, back in camp, the Gestapo commandant would review us as we marched past. We often used to be doused with water or beaten during wake-up. Headcounts were taken only as labour columns were marching off to work. A month later, we were transported to a country estate [stamp] POLISH SOURCE INSTITUTE IN LUND [/stamp]

[stamp] POLISH SOURCE INSTITUTE IN LUND [/stamp]

Testimony of Mr Bolesław Pampuch, born on 24 March 1909 in Jarząbkowo, Gniezno Powiat, cont’d in Pomerania to harvest potatoes. We were placed in a camp that was surrounded by a wire fence, and from there we would walk to the estate. When the Germans noticed that the potatoes had not been thoroughly harvested, they beat us. By then, we were under the authority of Organisation Todt – the Gestapo would come only to carry out inspections. There were only Poles working on that estate – approximately 180 of us. The camp was situated in a place called Waldsee. The diet was paltry: some watery soup and half a kilogram of bread per day. After a week, we were taken to , loaded aboard ships a ship – the SS Donau – and told that we were going to Norway. The crossing to took forty-eight hours. As we were setting sail, we received so- called Marschverpflegung [lit. ‘marching rations’, Ger.], which lasted us only two days. From Oslo, a train took us onward to a place called Mørsvik, 180 kilometres north [sic, south?] of Narvik. The Organisation Todt camp belonged to the Mayreder-Kraus company. There were Austrians there. Eighteen Poles remained at that camp, myself among them. We were placed in a wooden hut; we never had any contact with Germans. We weren’t fenced in, but were under constant monitoring and they performed headcounts even at night. Besides, escape was difficult to contemplate – the mountains and snow made it impossible. At that camp, we did road-building work. We would cart stone on sledges and build the roadway. The Austrians supervising us treated us well, but Germans from the Reich used to insult us constantly, calling us ‘polnische Schweine’ [‘Polish swine’ (Ger.)], and pressing us to work harder and faster. If anyone was sick and reported to the medic (a German), the medic would hustle him off to work. Only near the end, when it had become apparent that the Germans were losing, did the German medic, fearing reprisals, have himself transferred to another camp; in his place came a Frenchman who allowed sick men to remain in the block. Instead of full pay, we were given fifty-two and a half kroner once a month. It wasn’t possible to buy anything with this money, apart from fish sold by a Norwegian. One kilometre away from the camp was a Russian POW camp – 1,000 people. [The Germans] would beat and kick anyone who refused to work; they stabbed them with bayo-

nets and made them stand to attention in front of the gate, sometimes even half the day. Once, two men tried to escape and the Germans killed them on the spot. We weren’t allowed to have any contact with them – the Gestapo would take us away immediately. Escapes from our camp did occur. Thre Two men escaped successfully. Three others from a neighbouring camp got lost along the way and returned to the camp three weeks later with frostbitten feet; they were transported to Narvik and then a ship was supposed to take them onward to , but it was bombed and sank en route. Before the German surrender, I was working in the camp kitchen because of my illness (rheumatism) and I overheard Truppführer Preuss, an SS man, say of the late President Roosevelt that one bandit had died and now it was the next ones’ turn. After the surrender, I reported this to the English, who arrested that German. After the Germans surrendered and the English came, the Poles were assembled in Narvik – approximately 1,000 people. The Poles erected a monument in honour of their fallen compatriots. I arrived in Sweden on 18 December 1945.

Read and signed by Bolesław Pampuch Received by Krystyna Karier

The witness is completely and utterly reliable. Having shared the fate of thousands of Poles who were transported ‘voluntarily’ to work in Germany, he provides a picture of how they lived and how they were treated by the Germans. To the record, I have appended a copy of the Gestellungsbefehl [conscription order, Ger.] issued by Organisation Todt’s Einsatzgruppe Wiking – Oberleitung Tömmernes [Viking Task Force – Tømmernes Division (Ger.)], as well as a copy of the letter the witness submitted to the English authorities regarding the insult to the deceased US president. Krystyna Karier Lund, 7 March 1946 [stamp] POLISH SOURCE INSTITUTE IN LUND [/stamp]

Copy.

Organisation Todt Einsatzgruppe Wiking Oberleitung Tömmernes

An Boleslaw Pampuch [To Bolesław Pampuch]

Sie haben sich bei Auslösung der Alarmstufe “Vollalarm” oder Küstenalarmstufe III” auf dem Bereitsstellungsplatz [Upon triggering of ‘full alert’ or ‘coastal alert level III’, you must take up the following ready position:] Komando E = Werk [Unit E = Factory] als Koch [cook] bei Hauptmasch Benatus Groos, Kommando E=Werk zu melden. [Report to head machinist Benatus Groos, Unit E = Factory.] Bei Aufenthalt ausserhalb des Büros oder Unterkunft, haben [illegible crossing-out] Sie sich nach Kenntnissnahme von der Auslösung “Alarm” oder “Küstenalarmstufe III” sofort nach der obengennanten Meldesstelle zu begeben. [Should you be away from offices or accommodation, you must immediately report to the aforementioned muster point upon receiving notification that ‘alert’ or ‘coastal alert level III’ has been triggered.]

Bekleidung und Ausrüstung: [Clothing and equipment:] Kochsgeschirr [mess kit] O.T. Rock [OT Jacket] Essbesteck [cutlery] Kurze oder lange Hose in den Stiefeln [shorts or long trousers in Gefäss f. Brotaufstrich [edible spread container] boots] Mantel [overcoat] 1 Garnitur Leibwäsche /Res/ [one set of underwear (conditional)] Dienstbuch u. Erkennungsmarke [service log book and Handtuch [towel] identification tag] Stahlhelm [steel helmet] 1 Paar Schuhe /Reserve/ [one pair of shoes (conditional)] Feldmütze [forage cap] 2 Paar Socken /Reserve/ [two pairs of socks (conditional)] Brotbeutel [bread bag] Nähzeug, Kopfschützer, Handschuhe [sewing kit, head protector, gloves] Feldflasche [canteen] Waschzeug, Rasierzeug [washing kit, shaving kit] Koppel [belt] Putzzeug [cleaning kit] Rücksack /Name/ [backpack (name)] Verbandpäckchen [bandage packet] Zeltbahn [multipurpose tarpaulin] Wolldecke [wool blanket]

Vorstehende Bekleidung und Ausrüstung muss in kürzester Frist nach Erhalt dieses Gestellungsbefehles beschafft und jederzeit marschfertig im Rücksack verpackt sein. Dieses Marschgepäck ist gleichzeitig Luftschutz gepäck. Bei Versetzung, vor Antritt eines Urlaubs oder Dienstreise Abmeldung beim Truppführer, nach Rückkehr daselbst Neuanmeldung. [The clothing and equipment listed above must be procured as quickly as possible after receipt of this conscription order and stowed in the backpack in preparation to march at any time. This marching gear is also air-raid gear. In the event of redeployment – before commencing leave or travel, report departure to Truppführer and reregister upon return.]

Nichtbefolgung dieses Gestellungsbefehls wird den Kriegsgesetzen entsprechend geahndet. Alle vorhergenenden Gestellungsbefehle sind ungültig. [Failure to comply with this conscription order will be punished in accordance with war law. All previous conscription orders are invalid.]

Der Oberbauleiter [Senior Director of Construction]

(illegible signature) [stamp] POLISH SOURCE INSTITUTE IN LUND

[/stamp] Faithfulness to the original attested by Krystyna Karier Lund, 5 March 1946

Copy

Polish Camp Narvik – Hill Narvik, 15 August 1945

Report of insult to the honour and dignity of the late President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The day following the death of President Roosevelt, the SS man Truppführer Preuss (I do not know his given name, but there was only one man with this surname among the Germans working for the Mayreder-Krauss company in Mørsvik) said that one bandit had died; then he said that it would now be Churchill and Stalin’s turn and that then things would be better for us. In addition to this, he abused Russian slaves as follows (I witnessed one such incident personally): holding a stick with both hands, he shoved the slave in the teeth so hard that the man fell to the ground. (Boleslaw [sic] Pampuch)

Boleslaw Pampuch Gniezno, ulica Warszawska 16 [lit. ‘16 Warszawska Street’] Reg. no. W 00121092

‘Hoch’ Polish Camp Narvik

Faithfulness to the original attested by

Krystyna Karier Lund, 5 March 1946 [stamp] POLISH SOURCE INSTITUTE IN LUND [/stamp]