CECYLIA ZELEK

On 1 October 1947 in Toruń, the Municipal Court in Toruń, Third Branch, with Judge Jan Erdmann presiding and with the participation of reporter Aleksander Siałkowski, interviewed the person specified below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the significance of the oath, the Judge administered the oath pursuant to the provisions of Article 111 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The witness then testified as follows:


Name and surname Cecylia Zelek
Age 25
Parents’ names Ignacy and Helena
Place of residence Toruń
Occupation student
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

I know Mandl well. From July 1940 I was a prisoner in the camp in Ravensbrück. Mandl was already there, working as an overseer of the camp prison. Her name was Maria Mandl. I didn’t personally meet her, but my colleagues who were detained in the camp prison said that she was brutal towards the detainees. Firstly, she beat prisoners for trivial things, for instance when a detainee cried uncontrollably. Secondly, she abused prisoners by pulling their hair out, kicking them or denying them food for several days.

In 1942 she was promoted to senior overseer of the camp. She held this post for three to four months and during that time she made our lives a misery. If she thought that prisoners were being too loud during the morning roll call, she ordered them to stand for several hours without food, while she walked in front of the lines, making sure that prisoners stood still. If someone moved, she would immediately torture that person. She beat, kicked and hurled abuse at us.

In the spring our shoes were taken away and we walked barefoot the whole summer. Our shoes were returned to us when the cold weather began. When Mandl was in command, however, we did not get our shoes despite the fact that hoar frost appeared. Prisoners stood in the frost with their bare feet, and if Mandl noticed that they put something underneath their feet, she brutally beat them right away.

In October 1942 Mandl was transferred to Auschwitz.

In Ravensbrück, Mandl was the so-called Oberaufseherin [senior overseer].

Since so much time has passed, I have forgotten the names of other prisoners who could testify on this subject.

The report was read out, signed, and concluded.