On 12 September 1947 in Warsaw, Appellate Investigative Judge Jan Sehn, member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, acting at the written request of the First Prosecutor of the Supreme National Tribunal, this dated 25 April 1947 (Ref. no. NTN 719/47), in accordance with the provisions of and procedure provided for under the Decree of 10 November 1945 (Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland No. 51, item 293), and in connection with art. 254, 107 and 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviewed as a witness the person specified below, a prisoner of the Majdanek concentration camp, who testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Engineer Stanisław Zelent |
| Age | 41 |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Citizenship and nationality | Polish |
| Occupation | Chief administrative director of the “Czytelnik” publishing house |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Daszyńskiego Street 16 |
I was interned at the Majdanek concentration camp as a Polish political prisoner and I stayed there between 16 January 1943 and 22 July 1944. For the duration of my internment, I was at Field III.
Personally, I came across Musfeldt, head of the crematoria, twice. Already during my stay at the camp, I knew him by name, which was commonly known among prisoners. Presently, I recognize him in the photograph (a photograph of suspect Erich Muhsfeldt was shown).
In late spring 1944, on orders of the Lagerkapo [camp’s head kapo], together with Warzyniak, a comrade of mine, we were carrying the corpse of a dead prisoner to the crematorium. A conversation developed between us and Muhsfeldt. He was particularly interested in me and interrogated me as to the reasons behind my imprisonment. When I told him I was a political prisoner, Muhsfeld said, “Careful, birdy. If I lay my hands on you, you’ll be going out the chimney”, adding, “If you, Poles, weren’t such fools like you are, we wouldn’t have to burn you in crematoria”. I do not remember this conversation verbatim; in any case, the gist was as I presented.
More or less at that time, sometime in late spring 1944, when Musfeldt was no longer in charge of the crematory kommando, but was deputy Schutchaftlagerführer [camp leader], I had direct contact with him while transporting the sick from one block to another at Field I, where whatever Majdanek prisoners were left were concentrated at that time. As we were transporting a sick man, the blanket slid off him. Having spotted this, Muhsfeldt came up to us and rebuked us for not taking good care of the sick, and then he hit me on the back with a whip.
After the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, Jewish boys, separated from their parents, were interned at Field III. There were about twenty or so of them. They were summoned for a roll-call. Once they were gathered, a commotion broke out among them and the children dispersed. Blockspere [curfew] was declared and a search was launched. Eventually, the boys were found and then escorted to the gas chamber at gunpoint. It is in connection with this situation that I saw Muhsfeldt at Field III at that time.
Finally, I recall as Muhsfeldt, together with his kommando (we called people from his kommando “bellhops”) made preparations to incinerate corpses in a small shooting trench. After the incineration, assisted by a group of people assigned for this purpose, I cleaned this trench, covering it with a fresh sod to hide the traces. We removed the burned soil, which was soaked with grease. Before they started to incinerate the corpses in this trench, Muhsfeldt, together with his kommando, brought some old furniture from Lublin there. Afterwards, for the next fortnight or so we would see smoke rising from the trench.
Whenever he appeared at the camp, Muhsfeld caused fear among prisoners because he was surrounded by the aura of terror because of his actions in the crematorium. Many prisoners believed that in his crematorium Muhsfeld not only burned corpses but also murdered people. Gabriel, a comrade of mine, a doctor from Kwidzyn (deceased), told me that he saw it himself as members of Muhsfeldt’s kommando battered some women to death with rods in the old crematorium. It took place during the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, when displaced Jews were brought there.
The report was read out. At this the interview and the report were concluded.