UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
ANNA SNOPCZYK, individually and :
on behalf of all others similarly :
situated, :
:
Plaintiffs, :
: Civil Action No.
v. :
:
VOLKSWAGEN AG, :
:
Defendant. :
:
CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT
AND JURY DEMAND
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
1. This is a civil action arising under customary international law and the
United States of America on behalf of the parents of approximately 350 to 400 Polish and
Russian children between infancy and 16 months of age who, between 1943 and 1945, were in
the care of defendant Volkswagen AG ("Volkswagen"), and who were intentionally subjected to
treatment so brutal and living conditions so inadequate and inhumane that it ultimately resulted
in their deaths.1 As alleged more fully below, defendant's acts of intentional neglect and
maltreatment were motivated by the children's Polish and Russian ethnicity, which defendant
1 Death List of 365 Infants from Volkswagen Kinderheim compiled by U.S. Army,
attached hereto as Exhibit A (hereinafter, "Allied Death List"). Source: U.S. Army War Crimes
Investigation Report, 6/25/45, Case No. 299, "Death of 350-400 Russian and Polish Infants in the
towns of KdF Stadt and Rühen, Germany," from the records of the National Archives at College
Park, Maryland, Record Group 338, Records of the United States Army Command, Entry 33312,
U.S. Army War Crimes, Box 486, location: 338/290/59/19/02, (hereinafter, "War Crimes
Report").
believed made the children racially inferior and therefore disposable. Under international law,
defendant's actions constitute genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Actions for
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
the care of defendant Volkswagen AG, and who were intentionally subjected to
treatment so brutal and living conditions so inadequate and inhumane that it ultimately
maltreatment were motivated by the children's Polish and Russian ethnicity,
Death List of 365 Infants from Volkswagen Kinderheim compiled by U.S. Army, attached hereto
Source: U.S. Army War Crimes Investigation Report, 6/25/45, Case No. 299, "Death of 350-400
the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitation to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.
With the signing of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, however, the
reparations phase of the Second World War has been deemed to have ended, permitting plaintiff
Wolfsburg) to work in the Volkswagen factory there.
giving birth, Anna tried to care for her child while working at the farm, but she could only
it was known as Volkswagenwerks Co.
"Kinderheim" established to care for the infant children of Polish and Russian forced laborers
workers only.14 And third, maternity hospitals and day nurseries, or "Kinderheim," were
By deliberately providing inadequate care and unsanitary conditions which caused the rampant
18 War Crimes Report at 6; Sworn Statement of Czes»awa Kwiatkowska, 6/3/45 and Sworn
Allied investigators exhumed some of the children's bodies,
31 Confidential letter from H.S. Barrett, Brigadier, Judicial Staff, office of the Judge
Plaintiff's legal right to seek compensation for genocide, war crimes, and crimes
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