Witness:
| Name and surname | Józef Kulisz |
| Age | 30 |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Occupation | clerk at Społem [a cooperative] |
| Place of residence | Chorzów-Batory, Zawiszy Czarnego Street 10, flat 10 |
Testified as follows:
From April 1943 until 1 October 1944 I was imprisoned in the Auschwitz camp. From the list of crew members [SS] I recall only the names of Hans Aumeier (number 1), Max Grabner (number 28), Heinrich Josten (number 37) and Arthur Liebehenschel (number 53). I would like to emphasize that we generally didn’t know the names of the crew. Perhaps if I saw the people on the list, I would recognize them. I would recall the camp crew as soon as I saw their photographs.
1) Hans Aumeier was the Lagerführer [head of the camp] before secretary Hössler. When I arrived at the camp, Aumeier was already Lagerführer. I don’t remember when he held this function till.
I remember that Aumeier used to beat the prisoners without any reason, with his fists and other objects he happened to be holding at the time. Mostly, however, he just punched. He also kicked the prisoners. I myself witnessed the beating and kicking of inmates several times. He didn’t beat me personally.
I saw, sometime in the summer, maybe in 1943, that Aumeier noticed one of the prisoners carrying a head of cabbage under his shirt. Aumeier came up to him, checked what he had under his shirt, then beat and kicked him, and then ordered the Blockführer to come and thrash him even more.
Aumeier placed great emphasis on presenting the camp to foreign visitors in the best possible light. For example, they were welcomed by the camp orchestra. Visitors only visited block 16a, which was the representative block. That’s where I was held. The facilities there were comfortable. Floors painted red, walls clean. Just like somewhere in a hotel.
Currently, I don’t remember specific facts about any crimes.
28) Max Grabner was the head of the Political Department. He struck terror into the prisoners. There is probably no Auschwitz prisoner who would not have known him. He was a beast.
He took in a dozen or so people at a time for interrogation. After the interrogation, they were so tortured that they had no strength to return to the camp and dragged themselves, one after the other, creating a snake-like trail of people of about 100 m in length. Some had to prop up the others under their shoulders while others were so beaten that they had to be carried.
Whenever [Grabner] appeared at the roll call, some numbers were selected from the ranks and these prisoners were killed. I remember [that] more or less in the autumn of 1943, on his orders during the roll call, an elderly man standing next to me was called out, who was then moved to block 11. After two days he was shot. In general, without the participation of Max Grabner, there were no executions of the prisoners. Grabner gave all the orders in this respect.
Sometime towards the end of 1943, I saw some torturers beat three women hanging upside down from the ceiling. These women were all soaked with water and beaten in this way. I heard Grabner passing by and telling the torturers to carry on beating them in the same way.
It was his custom that when he took one of the prisoners with him, he rode his bike and the prisoner had to run after him.
37) Heinrich Josten was the head of the Arbeitseinsatz [labor deployment office]. He was never happy with the prisoners. He kept yelling at them. One time I was driving a truck with some other prisoners. Josten caught up with us on his motorcycle, stopped the car, pointed his revolver at us and shouted at us in German: “Duck because I’m going to shoot you”. We hit the deck of the car and there it ended.
Many times I saw Josten standing at the camp gate, watching the columns returning from work and any weak ones whom he didn’t like, he would beat and kick.
Josten took part in the executions that happened at block 11. I didn’t see him shoot the prisoners himself. He was an officer, and only the Rapportführers did the shooting.
53) Arthur Liebehenschel was the commandant of the whole camp – i.e. all the complexes. He was responsible for all the Lagerführers of all the camps in Auschwitz and Birkenau. He succeeded Rudolf Höß. He took up office in the period when the Germans were already retreating on the fronts.
During his time, relations improved in the following ways. He limited the scope of the feared Political Department, so that this unit could not take prisoners directly from the block, but only through the Schreibstube [administrative office]. During his time we stood at the roll calls wearing caps, and it was only necessary to take them off if we had to report to a superior.
He was present at the executions, although he didn’t participate in the murdering of the prisoners himself. At least I didn’t see him do so.
The criminal acts committed by the suspects may be described in more detail by Roman Taul (employed at Ruda Coal Union in Ruda Śląska, tel. 523-03, extension 63), who worked in the Political Department in the Auschwitz camp.
The report was read out before signing.