On 8 September 1947 in Maków Podhalański, the Municipal Court in Maków Podhalański, in the person of the Judge Józef Feill (MA), with the participation of a reporter, senior registrar Dolny, interviewed the person specified below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the wording of Art. 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:
Name and surname | Mieczysław Bohosiewicz |
Age | 50 |
Parents’ names | Piotr and Maria |
Place of residence | [...] |
Occupation | dentist |
Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
Criminal record | none |
Relationship to the parties | none |
I was detained in the Auschwitz camp from 1 April 1942 until 25 October 1944. During that time I came across the following people in this order: Lagerführer [camp leader] Hans Aumeier, Maks Grabner – the head of the Political Department, Arthur Liebehenschel – the camp commandant, Dr. Hans Wilhelm Münch – a physician, and Dr. Karl Heinz Joachim Teuber – the head of the dentist ambulance for prisoners and the SS crew.
1) Hans Aumeier, Lagerführer at Auschwitz I, instructed his crew to treat prisoners with brutality. He personally beat prisoners or gave orders to beat them while they were working, especially during the potato harvest in the autumn of 1942, when dozens of prisoners were brought back from work beaten to death. I saw this with my own eyes, as I worked harvesting potatoes at that time. He was a sadist – in the autumn of 1942 he had the massacred corpses of the prisoners who had been caught while attempting to escape placed by the gate to the camp. He enjoyed watching them. Prisoners from the entire camp who were on their way to work had to march in front of these corpses to the sound of music played by an orchestra.
2) Max Grabner, head of the Political Department, was the terror of all prisoners. He led to the deaths of millions of people. Dr. Woźniakowski from Kraków, and colonel of the Polish Army, pilot Gilewicz, and many other fellow prisoners whom I did not know died because of him.
I learned from Max Grabner’s cook, a German woman whose name I don’t know, that during my stay at the camp Max Grabner’s supervisors apparently investigated him for being overzealous in fulfilling his duties, and chiefly for causing millions of people to die.
The aforementioned Max Grabner personally participated in executions of prisoners (small crematorium, the summer of 1943).
3) Arthur Liebehenschel, camp commandant, had a reputation as a just and lenient man. I know nothing about his criminal activities.
4) Hans Wilhelm Münch, a physician who worked at the SS Institute of Hygiene in Rajsko but also visited block 10 where Jewish women were held for experimental purposes. I do not know what he did there.
5) Karl Heinz Joachim Teuber, a dentist and the head of the dentist’s office for prisoners and the SS crew. He was a demanding but fair boss. He looked after us, frequently standing up for us to Hans Aumeier. Our colleague, prisoner Feliks Wojtek, a Czech from Morawska Ostrawa, got drunk on denatured alcohol and was caught by the head physician Dr. Wirths, who sent him to be punished by Aumeier. Suspect Teuber was the one who defended him from Aumeier, who could have punished Wojtek for this stunt with a four-week detention in the bunker and a corporal punishment of about 25 lashes or even more. Suspect Karl Teuber saw to it that we had proper clothes and underwear. Thanks to him, 22 dental clinics for prisoners were established in the subcamps, where we were able to help many prisoners by protecting them from having to work hard in the rain and frost, which Teuber knew and tolerated. This occurred especially in the Jewish camps such as Goleszów, Fuster [Fürstengrube?] and others.
As for Herbert Paul Ludwig, I have to say that in 1944 he was not a Blockführer at block 9. I stayed in that block – if he says he was, then his testimony is false. I don’t know anything about the other suspects from the submitted list or do not remember ever encountering them during my detention in the camp. I have no other information to share in this case.
Finally, I would like to point out that on 6 September of this year I appeared in person before the Appellate Judge Jan Sehn in Kraków and provided a list of prisoners who could give more detailed testimonies. None of these prisoners live within the district of this court. These are their names:
1) Stanisław Kaliniewicz, Częstochowa, I do not know the exact address, 2) Zdzisław Mikołajski, dentist, Kraków, [...],
3) Stanisław Szczęsnowicz, dentist, Jelenia Góra, [...],
4) Edmund Janiszewski, Warszawa, [...],
5) Wanda Błachowska (married name Tarasiewicz), Nowy Targ, Co-operative “Podhale” (in suspect Mandl’s case).