Nathan Nothman - November 30, 1982
Punishment in Kraków-Płaszów
He, he could, he could uh, I remember occasion what the German done. I was working. There was a, a big hill and a hall on it. Uh, I would say the hall--1000 feet diameter. Deep, very deep. So way they cooked on Jewish people. Jewish people--they were hiding by the Poles or in the forest or anywhere, they brought 'em to Kraków-Płaszów. They supposed to--they took 'em on that mountain there and they caught them three, four times there to work. So I saw children, women and men undress themselves nice--put their clothes on the side, lay down and they asked the--these Russian soldiers--Russian, Russian soldier, they were in prison, what was captured--they were, they were watching us. And there was a Ukraine and naturally the SS and Gestapo. But I don't think the Russians when they were crying were doing it. And they shot with their machine guns the Jew. And they told us to put white stuff--how can I explain it--in Europe...
Right.
...so they will not bring disease--it was bubble--what you put on a meat, I mean body, it was eating that, uh...
Lime?
...I mean, that would-- disinfection. I mean, that it, I mean, the people are dead so, so they--so I remember once I was working there--right on a place there and they brought Polish commando--underground--maybe about fifteen of them. And they tied 'em so tight, so this was to put 'em section-wise and put a wood on it and human, you know, they're still alive and wood, and we, we stuck maybe about uh, ten feet, eight feet, seven feet. And they were singing, Polish ??? And they put a gas on the top and they were shooting through that tank ignited and they were burned alive. And we supposed to--they will not undress themselves. They said, "You want to kill us, you kill us with, with our clothes. You will not untake..." They, they were chained. That, that we want to take some...no, there was--we, we--nothing we wanted, but the German say, "Take something off." No, nothing, nothing, nothing. And I remember once, I have a friend of mine--I mean, what kind of friend? We were together but can't remember that name. And we were walking to work and some Ger...uh, some uh, Russian soldier--an Russian prisoner--he was prisoner there, now he was a guard told SS that this young boy sunk ???, that's the Russian. So they want to hang him. Now the law--we're talking the law--international law, when hang--when you want to hang somebody and the rope separate, you should be free. But the rope separate once. It was 60 thousand, 70 thousand stood on a pier. I was maybe about twenty next to the hanging uh, ??? So they hanged the rope once. So the Göeth , "Once more, you better--if he don't hang, I'll hang you," to Chilowicz. This was the Chilowicz that was in Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp. So they hanged them once more and they couldn't do it. So the German officer came in and he shot him one at a time. Three or four times he shot him.
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