Statement sworn at the Consulate General of the Federal German Republic in New York on 12 August 1968

At the end of 1941 or the beginning of 1942 I went from Krasnik to KZ Budzyn. When I am told that the Budzyn camp was, at the beginning a Zwangsarbeitslager and then later a KZ, when I think that I came there at the time it was a labour camp.

That was at the time when the Jews were taken out of Krasnik. We wore civilian clothing. Only later did we get the striped clothing. The time of the change-over I can no longer remember exactly. It was either 1942 or 1943.

As the Russians approached the camp was disbanded. We went next to Wieliczka, then to Gross Rosen via Plaszow and finally to Brunnlitz in Czechoslovakia, where we were liberated.

I worked in Budzyn – as in all the camps I was in – as a joiner. During the construction of the factory I made for example, tables and doors, everything expected of a joiner. The head of the joinery workshop was an ethnic German by the name of Karl, he was a civilian.

Of the guard detachment I remember especially well Feix and Hantke. There was also one with a name which sounded like Acker or Ackermann. When the name Axmann is mentioned to me, then I am sure this is the man I am thinking of.

When the name Josef Leipold is mentioned to me, then I can now remember him very clearly. He was, I believe, an SS- Quartermaster Sgt. He was the last Commandant of the camp. He went with us to Brunnlitz.

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The Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team

www.HolocaustResearchProject.org


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