M. DUBOST: Did they skin people?
BALACHOWSKY: They removed the skin and then tanned it.
M. DUBOST: Will you continue your testimony on that point?
BALACHOWSKY: I saw SS men come out of Block 2, the Pathological Block, carrying tanned skins under their arms. I know, from my comrades who worked in Pathological Block 2, that there were orders for skins; and these tanned skins were given as gifts to certain guards and to certain visitors, who used them to bind books.
M. DUBOST: We were told that Koch, who was the head at that time, was sentenced for this practice.
BALACHOWSKY: I was not a witness of the Koch affair, which happened before I came to the camp.
M. DUBOST: So that even after he left there were still tanned and tattooed skins?
BALACHOWSKY: Yes, there were constantly tanned and tattooed skins, and when the camp was liberated by the Americans, they found in the camp, in Block 2, tattooed and tanned skins on 11 April 1945.
M. DUBOST: Where were these skins tanned?
BALACHOWSKY: These skins were tanned in Block 2, and perhaps also in the crematorium buildings, which were not far from Block 2.