The ninth day of the trial.
Witness: Hieronim Franaszewski, 43 years of age, dyer, Roman Catholic, no relationship to the parties.
Presiding Judge: I am reminding the witness about the obligation to state the truth in accordance with art. 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Making false declarations is punishable by conviction with a maximum of 5-year imprisonment. Do the parties wish to file motions as regards the procedure of interviewing the witness?
Prosecution and Defense: We are exempting the witness from taking the oath.
Presiding Judge: I will now ask the witness to state which of the defendants he met and under what circumstances.
Witness: I met defendant Mussfeldt .
Presiding Judge: What were the circumstances?
Witness: When I was at Majdanek, as a Stubendienst [a prisoner on barrack duty], I saw as Mussfeldt and two SS men came to the block to carry out a selection. There were around one hundred prisoners there. All of them were taken to a crematorium.
Presiding Judge: Did you hear about any cases whereby the defendant committed any atrocities?
Witness: Yes, I did.
Presiding Judge: Were you beaten by Aumeier?
Witness: Not by him personally.
Presiding Judge: Will you present these facts to us?
Witness: There was a case where Jewish boys at field 3 learned that they were to be taken to the gas chamber. So they dispersed and went into hiding in the blocks. After a few hours of searching, they were taken to the crematorium in the evening and I heard that Mussfeldt tortured them there personally.
Presiding Judge: Are there any questions for the witness?
Prosecutor Pęchalski: What was the nationality of those selected by Mussfeldt at block 19?
Witness: 99% of them were Poles.
Prosecutor: Were you in this group?
Witness: I was, and so was prisoner Malinowski. We made a narrow escape.
Prosecutor: How?
Witness: When Mussfeldt came, we fled the block.
Prosecutor: Thank you.