On 16 October 1947 in Tarnów, Investigating Judge of the District Court in Tarnów, Judge J. Piec (PhD), with the participation of a reporter, A. Kucharczyk, interviewed the person specified below as an unsworn witness. 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 | Engineer Tadeusz Sledziński |
| Age | 45 |
| Parents’ names | Ferdynand and Maria |
| Place of residence | Mościce, Kwiatkowskiego Street 11 |
| Occupation | engineer |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Criminal record | none |
During my stay at Auschwitz which lasted from 20 June 1940 to 19 December 1944, I met suspects Hans Aumeier, Johann Becker, Erich Adam Oskar Dinges, Max Grabner, Hainrich Josten, Arthur Liebehenschel, Maria Mandl, Ludwig Plagge.
Suspect Aumeier was the first Lagerführer [camp leader]. He treated prisoners very badly, administering, for instance, the punishment of flogging and the so-called stehbunker [standing bunker]. A prisoner locked in such a bunker had to stand the entire night. Aumeier also sent prisoners to the penal company in which people usually died. He was exceptionally hateful toward Polish prisoners and all of his actions which supposedly served to improve the prisoners’ physical condition were aimed in fact to biologically destroy the Polish nation.
It was commonly known that having communicated with the camp commandant, Aumeier ordered the whole penal company in Birkenau, numbering over 200 people, to be shot as punishment when several of its prisoners had escaped. He even ordered to carry those suffering from typhus who were in the hospital to the execution square, where he allegedly shot them along with the others. This was in the summer of 1942. The suspect personally received the transports of the Jews who were meant for gassing. He was present during selections and even personally conducted them and treated them accordingly.
Aumeier also allegedly took part in suppressing the mutiny in the Russian POW camp, located in a separate camp. I do not know the names of the people who could have more detailed information about his criminal activities. I would like to add that suspect Aumeier always took part in selections of the so-called “Muslims”, prisoners who were meant for gassing, and those detained in the bunkers of the penal company who were meant to be shot. I frequently saw the suspect punching and kicking prisoners.
Johann Becker was an administrative clerk in Bauleitung [construction work administration] and I have nothing negative to say about him. I would like to add that he worked until 1941 [?]. I don’t know whether the Becker listed above was named Johann or not, but I do know that he held the rank of Unterscharführer. Johann Becker from the list of the former members of the SS crew at Auschwitz is most likely not the same as the above-mentioned Becker, for the latter worked in the camp until 1941, as is stated in the list.
Suspect Erich Adam Oskar Dinges, whom I knew from 1942 to 1944, was head of the Zentral Bauleitung, but he had no official dealings with prisoners. He behaved perfectly well with those prisoners with whom he did come into contact. He and his wife even exchanged goods with prisoners, which was never practiced by other SS men.
Suspect Max Grabner was head of the Political Department. He is responsible for subjecting prisoners in the camp to brutal abuse during interrogations and investigations conducted by his department, namely inhumane beatings with up to 150 lashes during interrogation, hanging prisoners on a sawbuck and beating with a whip all over the body, and for the deaths of all those prisoners who after being brutally beaten during interrogation died either in the camp hospital or in the penal company, or they were pre-emptively shot, so that information about the methods of interrogation would not spread to the camp. He is responsible for having about 85,000 prisoners shot by the death wall of the penal company. He participated in selecting prisoners for execution and from 20 June 1941 to 19 December 1944, he probably personally shot prisoners.
Suspect Hainrich Josten, who was head of the sentry company, treated prisoners in a very hostile manner and was a ruthless man. I didn’t witness any specific incidents proving that he committed crimes.
Suspect Arthur Liebehenschel was the camp commandant and as such he introduced a less strict approach to prisoners in the camp. I do not know what lead him to do so.
Suspect Maria Mandl was Lagerführerin in the camp in Birkenau and I heard she was merciless to prisoners, she even beat and kicked them. I don’t know the names of the prisoners who could provide specific information concerning her criminal activities.
Suspect Ludwig Plagge, whom I know personally, was already in the camp when I was detained in the camp on 20 June 1940. He held the function of Blockführer [block leader] in the quarantine [block]. He conducted inhumane exercises with prisoners for eight to ten hours a day, personally beating and kicking prisoners in the process. These exercises caused the elderly and the sick people, for whom he had no pity, to die. For some period of time he was also Blockführer at the penal company. I wasn’t in this company, but I heard that his brutality left its mark there too. He was notorious for his brutality which manifested itself in the form of beating and kicking for most trivial reasons and at every opportunity.
I don’t know the names of people who could have information about the behavior and actions of the suspects.
The report was read out and signed.