On 15 September 1947 in Leszno, the Municipal Court in Leszno in the person of Judge Wł. Długiewicz, with the participation of a reporter, articled clerk S. Karlik, interviewed the person specified below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the wording of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Renata Matuszewska |
| Age | 30 |
| Parents’ names | Józef and Michalina, née Dykiert |
| Place of residence | Leszno, Nowy Rynek Street 3 |
| Occupation | office worker |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Relationship to the parties | none |
I know the suspect, Maria Mandl, because I was a prisoner at Ravensbrück from 12 August 1940 until 25 April 1945. From 12 August 1940 until October 1942, Mandl was an Aufseherin [overseer] at first, and then an Oberaufseherin [senior overseer] at the bunker – the dark cell. Her treatment of prisoners was profoundly terrible and she especially hated Poles, whom she beat up at every opportunity. Mandl always walked around with a whip, looking for victims to beat up. I saw many times how, having encountered a prisoner on a camp road, the suspect beat her, knocked her down and repeatedly kicked her in the chest and stomach.
I got hit in the face by the suspect several times during roll call. Mandl always walked around with an Alsatian which she set on prisoners. During my detention in Ravensbrück, she was Aufseherin of the dark room, a place where prisoners were detained for transgressing the camp regulations. I was never detained in the dark room but I have heard from others who were that they got badly beaten up by the suspect. With my own eyes I saw the marks on the prisoners returning from the dark cell where they had received 25 to 100 lashes with a rubber baton or a whip.
These punishments took place on Tuesdays and Fridays every week. To drown out the groans of the prisoners who were being beaten up, the suspect brought two dogs to the dark room and while Mandl carried out the punishments, the dogs barked, drowning out the groans of the victims who were being beaten up. From the prisoners beaten up by Mandl, I remember only the name of Kazimiera Hytra, currently residing in Szamotuły, Wroniecka Street 10.
In 1941, I do not recall a more exact date, the suspect became Oberaufseherin at the camp in Ravensbrück, and together with camp commandant Koegel, she organized transports “into the unknown”. These were transports of all the physically and mentally ill, unfit for work, who were conveyed in trucks in an unknown direction. After some time, the families received a message from the camp, saying that the prisoners had died from tuberculosis or heart disease.
Mandl also exercised her power over the camp by depriving prisoners of food for two or three days, forcing them to stand on the camp square for a dozen or so hours, in the rain or cold, wearing light clothing. What is more, a smallest offence was punished by cutting the prisoner’s hair off and shaving their heads. Upon every encounter she showered Polish women with insults such as Sauhunde, PolnischeSchweine, PolnischeBande, BanditenMisthaufen.
Here I would like to correct my statement – I do not know if Kazimiera Hytra was beaten up by Mandl, but I am certain that she was detained in the dark room and starved.
I also testify that during my detention in the camp in Ravensbrück, Mandl had a reputation as a most brutal sadist.
The report was concluded.