ZYGMUNT JANIAK

On 28 August 1947 in Kraków, a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Municipal Judge Dr. Stanisław Żmuda, acting upon written request of the first prosecutor of the Supreme National Tribunal, this dated 25 April 1947 (file no. NTN 719/47), and in accordance with the provisions of and procedure provided for under the Decree of 10 November 1945 (Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland No. 51, item 293), in connection with Article 254, 107 and 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, heard as a witness the former inmate of the Auschwitz concentration camp named below, who testified as follows:


Name and surname Zygmunt Janiak
Date of birth 14 June 1910, Warsaw
Religious affiliation Jewish
Marital status widower
Occupation office worker in the Voivodeship Association of Former Political Prisoners
Place of residence Kraków, Czarnowiejska Street 47
Criminal record none

I was arrested by the Gestapo in Kielce in March 1941 and then incarcerated in the local prison at Zamkowa Street for the period of two months. Next, I was deported to Treblinka, where I was employed at the construction of an extermination camp (Vernichtungslager) some two kilometers away from the above-mentioned death camp. I stayed in that camp more or less until the end of 1942, when I fled. I was arrested again in Kraków in January 1943 in connection with my political activity and incarcerated in the prison at Montelupich Street. In March 1943, I was deported to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where I stayed until 17 April 1944, that is, the day I escaped. I organized this escape together with three other prisoners who went in the direction of Slovakia but were caught in Bielsko and brought back to the camp. I managed to get to Kraków, where I stayed in hiding at the place of Helena Żelazna at Józefa Street 5.

For the period of my incarceration in the Auschwitz camp I worked in the Bekleidungskammer [clothing storeroom] with the exception of the last five days, for which I managed to obtain assignment to Außenkommando Gleisen Anstalt. This kommando was building a railway track from the Auschwitz station to the crematorium in Birkenau. I managed to escape because I worked in that kommando. When I worked in the Beklaidungskammer storerooms, my boss was SS-Unterscharführer Markmann, and the main kammer was headed by SS-Scharführer Reichenbach. I worked as an errand boy (Laufer) and cleaner for the kapos, first Schlesinger and then oberkapo Glaser. Due to the nature of my work, I could move around the FKL [Frauenkonzentrationslager, concentration camp for women], particularly around the premises of the Czech and gypsy camps, and sometimes also in the quarantine. I know Oberaufseherin [senior overseer] Maria Mandl both by name and by sight as Lagerführerin [camp leader] of the women’s camp. I very often saw her roaming about the women’s camp, especially when she would arrive in her car, and I saw that the mere appearance of her struck fear into the prisoners’ hearts. I often saw her beat female prisoners with a whip, and sometimes she also beat the men – prisoners who came to the FKL to perform various kinds of labor. I sometimes saw prisoners kneeling with bare knees on the gravel, with their hands stretched out and weighted down with bricks or stones. It was one of the punishments used by Mandl. She also carried out meticulous searches of prisoners who were entering or leaving the camp, and whenever she found something, she would beat the prisoner in question and report him or her, which often ended in assignment to the punitive unit and the block of death. She was a sadistic type and clearly derived pleasure from tormenting prisoners.

From the period of my stay in the camp I knew by sight and by his activities the Rapportführer [report leader] of the Czech camp, who was nicknamed “Bulldog” by the prisoners. I do not know his surname. He was a sadist and a dog, he tortured the prisoners and has tens of victims from the Czech camp on his conscience. I didn’t recognize him in the photographs placed on public display at the Kraków Rynek, but undoubtedly I would recognize him if I met him in person – by his features, way of speaking, and gestures.

At this point the interview and the report were concluded, read out and signed.