SWORN STATEMENT.

I, the undersigned, Dr. Apolinary Gotowicki, a doctor in the Polish Army, was taken prisoner by the Germans on 3 Jan 1941 and remained as such until the entry of the Americans. I gave medical attention to the Russian, Polish and French P.Ws., who were forced to work in various places of Krupps factories. I personally visited the Russian P.W. camp in the Raumastrasse in Essen, which contained about 1800 men. There was a big hall in the camp which could house about 200 men comfortably in which 300-400 men were thrown together in such a catastrophic manner that no medical treatment was possible. The floor was cement and the paillasses on which the people slept were full of lice and bugs. Even on cold days, the room was never heated and it seemed to me as a doctor, unworthy of human beings that people should find themselves in such a position. It was impossible to keep the place clean because of the overcrowding of these men who had hardly room to move about normally. Every day, at least 10 people were brought to me whose bodies were covered with bruises on account of the continual beatings with rubber tubes, steel switches or sticks. The people were often writhing with agony and it was impossible for me to give them even a little medical aid. In spite of the fact that I protested, made complaints and was often interviewed, it was impossible for me to protect the people or see that they got a day off from work. It was difficult for me to watch how such suffering people could be dragged to do heavy work. I visited personally, and myself in danger, gentlemen of the Krupp Administration as well as gentlemen from the Krupp Directorate to try to get help. It was strictly forbidden as the camp was under the direction of the SS and Gestapo, and according to the well known directives, I had to keep silent, otherwise I could have been sent to a concentration camp. I have brought my own bread innumerable times to the camp in order to give it to the prisoners as far as it was possible, although bread was scarce enough for me. From the beginning in 1941 conditions did not get better but worse. The food consisted of a watery soup which was dirty and sandy and often the P.Ws. had to eat cabbage which was bad and stank. I could notice people daily who on account of hunger or ill-treatment, were slowly dying. Dead people often lay for 2 or 3 days on the paillasses until their bodies stank so badly that fellow prisoners took them outside and buried them somewhere. The dishes out of which they ate were also used as toilets because they were too tired or too weak from hunger to get up and go outside. At 3 o'clock, they were awakened. The same dishes were then used to wash in and later for eating out of. This manner was generally known. In spite of this it was impossible for me to get even elementary help or facilities, in order to get rid of these epidemics, illnesses or cases of starvation. There can be no mention of medical aid for the prisoners; I never received any medical supplies myself. In 1941, I alone had to look after these people from a medical point of view but it is quite understandable that it was impossible for me as, the only one, to look after all these people and apart from that, I had scarcely any medical supplies. I could not think what to do with a number of 1800 people who came to me daily, crying and complaining. I myself often collapsed daily and in spite of this I had to take everything upon myself and watch how people perished and died. A report was never made as to how the P.Ws. died. I have seen with my own eyes, the prisoners coming back from Krupps and how they collapsed on the march and had to be wheeled back on barrows or carried by their comrades. It was in such a manner that the people came back to the camp. The work which they had to perform was very heavy and dangerous and many cases happened where people had cut their fingers, hands or legs. These accidents were very serious and the people came to me and asked me for medical help. But it wasn't even possible for me to keep them from work for a day or two, although I had been to the Krupp directorate and for permission to do so. At the end of 1941, 2 people died daily and in 1942 the deaths increased to 3-4 per day. I was under Dr. May and I was often successful in getting him to come to the camp to see the terrible conditions and listen to the complaints, but it was not even possible for him to get medical aid from the Medical Department of the Wehrmacht or Krupps, or to get better conditions, treatment or food. I was a witness during a conversation with some Russian women who told me personally that they were employed in Krupps factory and that they were beaten daily in a most bestial manner. The food consisted of a watery soup which was dirty and unedible and its terrible smell could be noticed from a distance. The clothing was ragged and torn and on their feet they had rags and wooden shoes. Their treatment, as far as I could make out, was the same as that of the P.Ws. Beating was the order of the day. The conditions lasted for years, from the very beginning until the day the American troops entered. The people lived in great anxiety and it was dangerous for them to describe to anyone anywhere these conditions which reigned in their camps. The directions were such that they could have been murdered by anyone of the guards, the SS or Gestapo if they noticed it. It was possible for me as a doctor to talk to these people; they trusted me and knew that I as a Pole, would never betray them to anyone.

[signed ] Dr. APOLINARY GOTOWICKI
residing Essen -Steele, Bochumerstr. 55.