Kudlik Testimony
An archive of the Central Jewish History Commission in Poland
Lódź 1945
Kps 425/45
10 of October 45 (in) Lódź
Regional Investigating Judge (in) Siedlce
Regional Investigating Judge Z. Lukaszkiewicz
Prosecutor J. Maciejewski
Aleksandr Kudlik
36 Dawida
Lódź
A carpenter
(Religion, M.CH.) Jewish
Without any criminal past
On the 12th of October I was brought in a Jewish transport from Czestochowa to the camp Treblinka. The transport consisted of 60 wagons, each of them held approximately 120 men, women and children. After arrival at the Treblinka station a part - 20 wagons were taken to the camp’s ramp. After the opening of the wagons on the ramp, a group of Germans and Ukrainians pushed out the Jews from the wagons, beating them with butts and whips, yelling. Concurrently the Jewish workers with blue belts were cleaning the wagons taking out the mess and the corpses of those who died on the way.
After that all were drove to the place between the barracks where they were told to undress after the separation of women and children from the men. The small children and the infants were basically separated from mothers. It was very usual that the infants were killed on that very place in the way of catching their little legs and banging their heads against a fence. I myself saw this a few times / lately working as a worker - how Scharführer SS, Sepp from the camp garrison used to kill children in that way. Before the men undressed, a commander of the camp chose 30 workers. I was then already half naked, but I took advantage of inattention by the Germans and I got to the group of selected ones and I succeeded to stay there. I was taken to sorting clothes at the very moment. The clothes were at the place left by men, who were undressed and naked whilst running carrying the heaps of clothes behind the barrack. Meanwhile the women in the barrack on the left their hair was cut by barbers. In the same barrack was placed in the so- called cashbox, where the workers, the so- called ’Goldjuden,’ took over the valuables and money from the women. The same things were taken from the men on the spot; anyway there were only few who gave over his property. The paper money was usually torn to pieces, and the gold and valuables were not handed over as well, so the workers working at sorting should take these things out of the clothes later.
After a certain time I was transferred from the clothes sorting to the sorting of ballpoint pens, where I worked circa 6 months. In the second part of the camp, where we had no access to, were located gas chambers and pits. Some of carpenter-plumber workers, especially Wiernik, had the right to pass from one place to another. I know from their stories that in the chambers people were liquidated by a way of pumping out the air and consequently pumping in engine exhausts gas. There were 10 chambers they could absorb at once circa 5000 persons. About the Lazarett, it was appointed for liquidation of the ill ones, weak ones and small children without mothers from each transport as well as for ill workers. I can remember that one moment I was asked to lead the ill ones, from a Czech Jewish transport, to the Lazarett. The ill ones were convinced that they will be placed in a hospital and they did not want to believe that they are being led to their death. In the Lazarett, which was fenced off by a high fence, was a pit, above which there were killed the victims by shooting in their neck.
Regarding the number of transports, since the day of my arrival till December 1942 there were coming approx. three transports a day, every one consisting of 60 wagons in one transport. On holidays there were certain 2-3 weeks break without the transports, later on transports were coming, on the other hand, more or less every second day new transports. The last transport arrived to the end of April or May 1943 from the Warsaw ghetto. On March 1943 there arrived three transports from Bulgaria and Greece, with circa 30 thousand persons. In the previous transport were also brought Jews from Czechoslovakia and Germany.
When I arrived at the camp the corpses were mainly buried in pits, lately they started to burn them on the grates, taking them out by excavators. There were around 1000 Jewish workers in the first part of the camp, in the second part consisting the chambers,there were some 500. The workers were terribly ill-treated. I can remember, how a buyer from Czestochowa Langer, was undressed naked because they discovered he was in possession of money and he was tortured by the SS-men. When he was fainting, he was splashed with water and he was beaten again. At the end he was hung by the legs on the gallows, where he was hanging circa 2 hours, yelling to the others workers to organize an uprising. He was finally shot to death by an SS-man. Such events happened there day by day. In the camp there happened frequent visitations, and it is absolutely sure, that also Himmler has visited the camp, when he was recognized by Jewish workers they knew him from newspaper photos. In the time of first holiday break with no transports, the workers were busy by loading of the wagons with clothes, shoes and other property. The wagons were sent to Germany. The gold and valuables were transferred via cars at certain times to Lublin. I liberated myself from the camp at the time of the uprising on the day of 2nd of August 1943.
The protocol was read, afterwards it was signed by a witness on each page.
Investigating Judge in Siedlce For correctness
/ Signature unreadable /
23 of October 1945 Regional Investigating Judge
Prosecutor of Regional Court in Siedlce
Source
Yad Vashem - YVA 03- 550
Translation by Michal Chocholaty
© Holocaust Historical Society 2015
