Ninth day of the hearing.
Presiding Judge: Next witness: Stanisław Wolniak.
Presiding Judge: I advise the witness that per Art. 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure he is obliged to tell the truth. False testimony is punishable by incarceration for up to five years. Do the parties offer any motions regarding the manner of questioning?
Prosecutors: We do not require the witness to swear an oath.
Defense: Nor do we.
Witness: Stanisław Wolniak, 29 years old, farmer; religion: Roman Catholic; no relation to the defendants.
Presiding Judge: Please tell us if and in what circumstances the witness encountered the defendants, or which of them in particular, and what does he know about them?
Witness: I was not in Majdanek as a prisoner. Mussfeldt, the chief of the crematorium, would come to me at home in Majdanek and tell me to harness my horses and go to Majdanek in five minutes. When we arrived at Majdanek, there were dead bodies in field 1. They were piled up on the cart and taken to the field, where there were ditches. I would go to Majdanek twice a week, sometimes even every day.
Later on I would not go there myself, just send my horses. Subsequently I worked in Karczmar’s company and at Majdanek as a cart driver and I knew Mussfeldt well. One time I saw a prisoner and a group of officers standing near a barrack, and Mussfeldt was with them. He took a spade and hit the prisoner in the head so hard that the man fell and the handle broke. Mussfeldt forced the broken handle deep into the prisoner’s throat. Later I saw him dump Zyklon[-B] into a gas chamber.
Also in 1940 there was a mass execution by shooting. Some 18,000 prisoners were shot then. My house was quite close to Majdanek. I went into the attic and I could then see various Germans, including Mussfeldt. Naked people would go into pits and one of the sentries shot them.
Presiding Judge: Any questions for the witness?
Prosecutor Pęchalski: Did the witness see sick people from the hospital being brought to the pits and shot?
Witness: Yes, indeed.
Prosecutor Pęchalski: Would the witness go to Majdanek often?
Witness: I was there almost every day.
Prosecutor Pęchalski: Were the shootings involving Mussfeldt isolated incidents or constant?
Witness: They were performed every day, and as for Mussfeldt, the entire camp feared him.
Prosecutor Pęchalski: Has the witness met his wife and child?
Witness: Yes, I have, as I carted wood and beer from the canteen for them.
Prosecutor Pęchalski: Was Mussfeldt as horrible at home as well?
Witness: He was very calm at home.
Prosecutor Pęchalski: Is it true that the witness was called to [kill] a hen?
Witness: Yes, I met Mussfeldt in the camp and he told me to bring two hens to his house. I brought them, and he told me to come back in the evening. When I arrived, Mussfeldt and his wife led me to the basement and ordered me to kill those hens. I grabbed an ax to kill them and they told me to wait until they had left the room, because they could not stand to watch a hen being killed.
Prosecutor Pęchalski: Would Mussfeldt arrive in the camp with his wife and child?
Witness: Yes, indeed. He would often bring his son on a bicycle and even bring him into the crematorium.
Prosecutor: Would he take his son to where the bodies were?
Witness: Yes, indeed. He often gave his wife and child tours of the crematorium.
Prosecutor Pęchalski: Does the witness know how the wife of Thumann, the commandant of the Majdanek camp, interacted with the prisoners?
Witness: When the kommandos went to work, Thumann’s wife would go out to the balcony with a rifle and shoot at whomever she pleased. People would often warn me against her, saying: “Watch out, Mrs. Thumann is hunting”.
Presiding Judge: Are there any questions for the witness?
Prosecution: No.
Defense: No.
Presiding Judge: Therefore the witness is excused. I call a 20-minute recess.