War Crimes Trials - Vol. II The Belsen Trial. 'The Trial of Josef Kramer and Forty Four Others'

(106) DEPOSITION OF SOFIA ROSENZWEIG (Pole, aged 23)

2. I recognise No 30 on photograph Z/5/4 as a woman whom I knew as "Hanni," but whose name I know to be Johanne Roth. I was also taken to Belsen Detention Cells by 13118612, Corporal H. Aitchison, Pioneer Corps, 21 Army Group Interpreters Pool, on 10th July, 1945, where I identified the said Johanne Roth as being the person I knew as "Hanni."

3. I first met Johanne Roth in Belsen. She was assistant Block Leader in Block No. 199, the block in which I lived.

4. There were about 800 women in Block 199, and it was the duty of Roth to get the women out of bed to attend Appell. On one occasion I was sick with typhus and I felt too ill to get up for Appell. When Roth came round to me to get me out of bed I told her I felt very ill, but Roth insisted that I get up and commenced to beat me with a wooden lath taken from a bed. I had marks on my shoulders for two weeks after the beating. I admit that many of the internees used to feign sickness in order to avoid getting up for roll-call, but in my case it should have been obvious to Roth that I was very ill. It is my opinion, too, that Roth tried to please the S.S. too much, to the detriment of the internees.

5. I saw Roth on one occasion beating an old woman who was lying in bed about three yards from me. It was obvious that the woman was sick and was not able to get up, but Roth continued beating her. I do not know how long the beating lasted because I left the room to attend Appell. When I returned to the block later in the day the old woman had disappeared. It is possible that she was taken to hospital, but I have not seen her since. I estimate the woman’s age as between 40 and 45, but she looked about 60. Premature ageing was caused through the concentration camp conditions. A woman of 40 was considered to be an old woman in a concentration camp.