On 1 March 1946 in Chorzów, the Municipal Court in Chorzów, Fifth Branch, in the person of Associate Municipal Judge Wł. Czosnek, with the participation of a reporter, Court Registrar R. Niedurn, heard the person named 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 | Hildegarda Donnerstag, née Wowra |
| Date of birth | 8 February 1915 |
| Parents’ names | Leon, Agnieszka née Glodek |
| Place of residence | Świętochłowice, Biskupa Kubiny Street 17 |
| Occupation | worker in the Florian ironworks |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Criminal record | none |
| Relationship to the parties | Antoni Donnerstag’s wife |
My husband Antoni Donnerstag was born on 4 June 1914 in Świętochłowice, son of Ryszard and Maria née Borczyk. Before the war, he worked in the “Florian” ironworks in Świętochłowice. During the occupation, in 1939, he was sent to forced labor in Hannover. By the beginning of January 1940 he ran away from work and started working in the Sperbar company in Świętochłowice. In 1940 my husband didn’t respond to the conscription orders, as he considered himself a Pole, while the people called to serve were Germans, with Poles only able to volunteer.
In July 1940 my husband was arrested by the Gestapo. First he was kept in the Gestapo jail in Chorzów, and on 30 July he was transported to the concentration camp in Auschwitz. His number was 1491. He wrote me several times from Auschwitz. The content was identical to all letters sent from concentration camps – saying he was healthy and asking for money. Apart from the official letters, I hadn’t received any other letters from the camps.
I found a warrant for Donnerstag’s arrest from 6 October 1940 in his clothes, which were returned to me directly from the Auschwitz camp. A death certificate and a list of personal belongings that had remained with my husband were delivered to me by the Gestapo in Katowice. I didn’t request the ashes of the deceased as I didn’t believe they would be the actual ashes of my husband. My husband had left me to grieve with a son, who was born in 1940, right after the arrest.
Attached to the file are all the documents in my possession regarding the death of my husband, with a request to return them after their use.
The report was read out before signing.
Report closed.