BRONISŁAWA MALAWER

On 29 August 1947 in Katowice, district investigating judge in Katowice, Judge W. Mędlewski, with the participation of a reporter, Stefan Krawczyk, interviewed the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Bronisława Malawer
Age 39 years old
Parents’ names Abraham and Jeti, née Jachcel
Place of residence Katowice, Rynek Street 8
Occupation married woman
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

I was imprisoned in the camp in Płaszów from January 1944 to the end of October or else the beginning of November 1944, and then I was transported to Auschwitz.

In the Płaszów camp I met defendant Alice Orlowski, whose name was already known to me at the time. The defendant was an overseer. I lived in block no. 2 and later no. 3. The overseers, including the defendant, inspected the women’s barracks on a daily basis. The defendant beat prisoners with a whisk for the slightest offence, for instance if the bed was not perfectly made. I myself was hit by the defendant once.

Moreover, the defendant would take away our clothes, underwear, money, etc. She took away my boots. She didn’t issue any receipts, and when she was taking my boots she punched me in the face.

During daily roll calls, the defendant beat prisoners who dared to move and abused them, calling them such names as Misthaufen [shit] etc.

During the roll call on 14 May 1944, the inmates witnessed the deportation of children from the so-called Kinderheim [children’s home], which was located on the camp premises. The defendant was the most brutal among the overseers. The children were aged from three to ten years old; the defendant grabbed them and threw them onto the cars. The children were deported to Auschwitz.

During this roll call, the defendant went down the lines of prisoners and when she noticed anyone crying, she whipped her without mercy. Once, I witnessed the defendant literally pull out the hair from the head of one prisoner after it was discovered that she had some hidden food.

On two occasions the bodies of prisoners who had been executed or hanged on the camp premises were placed on public display, and all inmates of the camp had to march in front of them. The defendant would whip those prisoners who would not look at the corpses. She was a terror of the entire camp.

In January 1945, during a transport of prisoners from Auschwitz to Wodzisław, I witnessed how the defendant set a dog on three women who had passed out.

I would like to add that I myself heard the defendant brag that with her ten fingers, she strangled thousands of children in Majdanek.

I would like to sumbit the following witnesses to the defendant’s behavior:
Ms. Raber, Kraków, Paulińska Street 14, flat 2;
Maryla Kaufman, Katowice, Kochanowskiego Street 12a;
Janina Mehler, Katowice, Gliwicka Street 8, flat 3;
Erna Landau, Wrocław, Ruska Street 63, flat 7.

The report was read out before signing.