On 29 September 1947 in Kraków, member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Municipal Judge Dr. Henryk Gawacki, acting at the written request of the First Prosecutor of the Supreme National Tribunal, this dated 25 April 1947 (Ref. 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), in connection with Articles 254, 107, and 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviewed the former prisoner of the concentration camp in Auschwitz named below as a witness. The witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Janina Frankiewicz, née Majeran |
| Age | 33 years old |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Nationality and citizenship | Polish |
| Place of residence | Kraków, Inwalidów Square 6, flat 9 |
| Occupation | housewife |
| Testifies without let or hindrance |
I was sent to the concentration camp in Auschwitz on 11 October 1942. My detention in the camp as Polish political prisoner no. 22230 continued until 19 January 1945. Then I was transferred to the camps in Ravensbrück and in Neustadt-Glewe.
In Auschwitz I worked at the camp kitchen in Birkenau until January 1944. From 7 December 1942 to 20 January 1943, ill with typhus fever, I was in block 23. Until May 1944 I suffered from pleuritic. Having recovered from this illness, I worked in the old bathhouse in Birkenau. My work there continued until October 1944. From October 1944 until the end of my detention in the camp I served as stubendienst (someone responsible for keeping the barrack clean) in block 23 A in the parent camp.
Right upon my arrival in Birkenau, I came across the defendant Mandl, whom I know by sight and by name and who was referred to by all prisoners as Mistress of Life and Death. During my work in the camp kitchen, almost everyday morning, after the roll-call, I would go to the camp to collect empty coffee cauldrons. On these occasions I saw Mandl select Jewish prisoners in blocks 8 and 13. The prisoners were to be gassed. At that time, Mandl no longer sent “Aryan” prisoners to the gas chambers. I learned from fellow inmates that before my arrival in the camp she also selected “Aryan” prisoners who were sent to the gas chambers because they were no longer able to work.
When, ill with typhus fever, I was in block 23, I saw how a German doctor (his name slipped my mind), accompanied by Mandl, was looking through prisoners’ medical records. Those who were diagnosed with typhus fever were sent to the sickroom from which they never returned. In this way, my fellow-prisoner Jasia Marcówna, coming probably from Tarnów, was killed.
During the morning roll-calls, before labor units set out to work, I saw how Mandl, accompanied by German capos and female guards, by beating, kicking and screaming, made weak and sick prisoners join labor units and go to work. Because of the way in which Mandl and those around her forced prisoners to work, a few of them, beaten, tortured and no longer able to move, died every day.
Mandl clearly forbade us to take coffee to block 25. The block housed prisoners who were to be gassed.
Once, I saw a Jewish prisoner, whose mother was selected to be gassed, kneel and beg Mandl either to send her to the gas chamber too or to save her mother from gassing. Mandl beat and kicked her, laughing.
My companion Marysia Dworczyk from Kraków fell ill with tuberculosis because of the beating she received from Mandl. I wish to add that Dworczyk, suffering from cold or typhus, was already burning with fever as she was being beaten. After the beating, she spent about half a year in the sickroom where she finally died.
I also saw Mandl beating and kicking a Slovakian prisoner known as Mala who escaped from the camp and who was then captured. This happened after Mala had been led out of the bunker, block 11, bleeding, having slashed her wrists with a razor. In beating Mala, Mandl was assisted by Arbeitsdienstführer [head of the labor deployment office] Rittas.
I also saw Mandl beating a young Jewish girl who had jumped out of the car as she was being taken, along with other prisoners, to the gas chamber. In beating the girl, Mandl was assisted by Rapportfürer Taube who was hitting the girl in the face with a rifle butt.
When I worked in the kitchen I came into contact with the defendant Brandl. While in Bekleidungskammer [clothes sorting room], in spite of the clear orders from the doctor supervising the kitchen, she refused to issue clean dresses and underwear, although there were a lot of clean clothes and underclothes in the storeroom. She often issued clothes infested with lice. The kitchen chief often argued with her about this.
Brandl often assisted Mandl in carrying out selections (which I have mentioned above), picking particular prisoners.
I often saw Brandl search and beat male and female prisoners whom she encountered in Lagerstrasse [camp streets]. Once, she searched me too and, having found my children’s photographs and my friend’s dress which I wanted to wash in the bathhouse, she beat and kicked me until my nose started bleeding. After the roll-call, she reported me for punishment. She said to me: “It is a pity your children aren’t here. I would send them to Himmelkommando [lit. heaven unit]”. She didn’t return my children’s photos. Because of the report, I was assigned to the penal company to work in the field. I left the company thanks to the help I received from Aufeseherin [overseer] Lupka. At that time I again fell ill with pleuritic.
Brandl was known for refusing to issue dresses and underwear to those prisoners who were about to be transported to other camps. As far as I know, in 1944, she was promoted to the rank of Rapportführerin.
During my work in the camp kitchen I also met Aufeseherin Monika Miklas. Although she had a good knowledge of Polish, she always spoke German and called for us to use the language. In giving out dinner, she beat and kicked those who didn’t “take their meal the way they should”.
Miklas – as we learned from the second Aufseherin from the kitchen, Luise Schulz, who generally didn’t mistreat and didn’t hurt prisoners in the kitchen – informed on Schultz to the kitchen chief, Aufseherin Franz. As a result Schultz left.
At this the report was concluded, read out and signed.