Ninth day of the hearing.
Presiding Judge: Next witness: Adam Panasiewicz.
Witness: Adam Panasiewicz, 49 years old, clerk; religion: Roman Catholic; residing in Warsaw; no relation to the defendants.
Presiding Judge: I remind the witness of the obligation to tell the truth. According to Art. 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, false testimony is punishable by incarceration for up to five years. Do the parties offer any motions regarding the manner of questioning of the witness?
Prosecution and Defense: We do not require the witness to swear an oath.
Presiding Judge: The witness shall testify without taking an oath. Can the witness testify anything about the defendants on the bench?
Witness: I can present testimony about the third one in the top row.
Presiding Judge: That means defendant Mussfeldt. What does the witness know about him?
Witness: I did not have direct contact with the defendant, as the crematorium was isolated from us, but from what I have heard in the Schreibstube [administrative office] and in the field I know that Oberscharführer Mussfeldt – that was his rank at the time – was the terror of the entire field and camp.
Presiding Judge: Which camp?
Witness: The Majdanek camp. I only know him from Majdanek. Moreover, Mussfeldt conducted the liquidation of Jews in November of 1943. He was fully involved in it alongside Thumann, the Lagerführer [head] of the camp.
Presiding Judge: In what circumstances would the witness have seen defendant Mussfeldt?
Witness: I saw him in the crematorium once when I brought in 40 corpses. A transport arrived from the “Dora” kommando. The rail car contained a great number of dead bodies, we were told to load them onto a cart and take them to the crematorium. I went a few steps past the crematorium, then Mussfeldt ran out and started chasing after me.
Presiding Judge: Was Mussfeldt part of the management there?
Witness: Yes, he was the director of the whole crematorium.
Presiding Judge: Can the witness say anything about Mussfeldt’s behavior?
Witness: From what I have heard I know he would beat prisoners, abuse them, and he was the terror of the entire camp.
Presiding Judge: Can the witness say anything specific about the gassing operations in Majdanek and defendant Mussfeldt’s participation in them?
Witness: The SS men said Mussfeldt was actively involved in that operation. I have only heard about it.
Prosecutor Pęchalski: Is the witness aware that Mussfeldt performed the selection of a hundred Poles in block 19 in April of 1943?
Witness: There were exactly 83 or 84 distinguished socialist activists there, I do not remember their names, Mussfeldt took part in that action.
Prosecutor: Did defendant Mussfeldt shoot prisoners?
Witness: I did not see that, but I have heard about it.
Prosecutor: Have you heard that defendant Mussfeldt took part in the shooting of 17,000 or 18,000 Jews?
Witness: 18,000 Jews!
Presiding Judge: The witness is excused.
Presiding Judge: I call a 10-minute recess.