ROMAN ZIELIŃSKI

On 30 September 1947 in Tarnów, Dr J. Piec, an Investigative Judge at the District Court in Tarnów, with the participation of a reporter, A. Kucharczyk, interviewed the person mentioned hereunder as a witness, without taking an oath. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the provisions of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Roman Zieliński
Age 38 years old
Parents’ names Piotr and Julia
Place of residence Tarnów, Szujskiego Street 3
Occupation shopkeeper
Religion Roman Catholic
Criminal record none

Amongst the accused former members of the SS garrison of the concentration camp in Auschwitz mentioned in the list presented to me, I recognize the following: Hans Aumeier, Max Grabner and Arthur Liebehenschel, whom I encountered during my incarceration at Auschwitz between 28 February 1942 and 11 December 1944. I know these of the accused by their surnames. Aumeier was the Lagerführer [camp leader], whereas Max Grabner was the head of the Political Department, and Arthur Liebehenschel was the Lagerführer following the dismissal of Hans Aumeier.

Hans Aumeier was hostilely inclined towards all prisoners, and he was also a ruthless man, to the extent that he even shot his sidearm at inmates on the grounds of the camp for no apparent reason. I once witnessed him shooting at prisoners standing near the gate, at which time he wounded inmate Władysław Czupta from Rabka in the hand. This occurred in 1943. The accused Aumeier tormented prisoners to such a degree that during roll call, in order to prolong it, he deliberately walked out of the camp through the gate, and returned in the same way considerably later. He would keep the prisoners standing in the rain and inclement weather for even up to two hours. Such behavior was his specialty. All the prisoners considered him as the worst scoundrel in the camp.

I did not encounter the accused Grabner, for he lived outside the camp, however all the prisoners considered him as ruthless, and it was he who signed the death sentences for no reason whatsoever. He was particularly hostile towards Poles.

When Liebehenschel assumed the position of camp commandant, conditions in the camp improved, and I have no complaints regarding this man. For during his tenure prisoners were not tormented.

The following persons may possess information regarding the behavior of the accused mentioned in the list: Kazimierz Jarenkiewicz, Tarnów, Zielona Street; Jan Tokarzewski, Tarnów, Brodzińskiego Street; Dionizy Kwiatkowski, a shopkeeker, Tarnów, Wałowa Street (the kiosk), and Józef Jagiełło, Tarnów, railroad workshops [?].

I would also like to add that from March 1941 until more or less the end of April 1942 the kapos used gruesome methods to murder Soviet POWs and French Jews, this by crushing them with wheels, to which acts I was an eyewitness on many occasions. Without seeing the photographs of the murderers, I am unable to recall their surnames. I do not know who was the camp commandant at the time. From this period I remember SS man Emmerich, the Arbeitsdienstführer [labor coordinator], who organized kommandos and chose German bandits as kapos, who occupied themselves with murdering the abovementioned POWs and Jews.

The report was read out and signed.