On 12 September 1947 in Warsaw, a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Appellate Investigating Judge Jan Sehn, acting at the written request of the first prosecutor of the Supreme National Tribunal dated 25 April 1947 (file no. NTN 719/47), 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), pursuant to article 254, 107, 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, heard as a witness the below mentioned former prisoner of the concentration camp in Auschwitz, who testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Antonia Węgierska |
| Age | 38 |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Occupation | clerk |
| Place of residence | Warszawa, Włochy, Łuki Małe Street 8 |
I stayed in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp from 23 August 1942 until 19 January 1945; I had number 18297. I came to this camp on the first transport which was directed to the FKL [Frauenkonzentrationslager, women’s concentration camp] in Birkenau. I was employed, among other places, for a period of five months in the sorting facility for the Jews’ belongings and other things left behind by the gassed prisoners. The sorting facility was called “Canada” and was located adjacent to the main camp near the DAW grounds [Deutsche Ausr üstungswerke, armament factory]. Our kommando, numbering several hundred women, worked in two shifts – day and night for several months.
Our boss was SS man Höcker, whom I recognized in the photographs on public display. He was a very strict superior and used to push us to work beyond our strength, set his dog on us and beat us with a whip. He carried out very meticulous searches with the help of a German kapo woman, and when he found some organized items on one of the prisoners, he made a report, as a result of which the prisoners went to the penal company and to the bunker. There were a lot of foodstuffs in the luggage stored in “Canada”, and although these things were past their best, we were still not given them. Only exceptionally were we thrown a few scraps, and it was only through the intercession of a function prisoner, a Pole named Bernard Czardybon.
From what my friends who worked on the night shift told me, I know that Höcker was supposed to have killed some Jewish woman for organizing some gold. Whether this was really about gold or if this prisoner want to organize food, I don’t know. I also heard that Höcker shot some Jews. He did so not only for organizing, but also for failings at work – for example, when a prisoner fell asleep from exhaustion or hid somewhere to rest. He organized some very taxing “sport” for both the male and female prisoners from Canada, forcing them to do exhaustive runs and other exercises, such as tiresome “frog jumps”.
From my time in the camp, I also remember Oberaufseherin [senior overseer] Maria Mandl. While our kommando was returning from our work in “Canada”, she carried out inspections at the gate and if she ever found some items from “Canada” on a prisoner, she would punish her with a standing punishment, or by making her kneel with her hands held up. I witnessed her beat one prisoner severely for being late for a roll call.
The report was read out. The hearing and the report were concluded.