On 30 September 1947 in Kraków, deputy prosecutor of the Court of Appeal in Kraków, Edward Pęchalski, a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, acting in accordance with the provisions of the Decree of 10 November 1945 (Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland No. 51, item 293), with the participation of a reporter, articled clerk Krystyna Turowicz, interviewed the person specified below, pursuant to Article 20 of the provisions introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure with reference to Articles 107 and 115 of the Code of the Criminal Procedure. The witness testified as follows:
Name and surname Regina Morawska
Date and place of birth 3 July 1909, Odessa
| Parents’ names | Michał Kiewlak and Julia Wołłoncewicz |
| Citizenship and nationality | Polish |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Occupation | government official |
| Criminal record | none |
| Place of residence | Kraków, Krowoderska Street 4, room 226 |
I was arrested on 12 January 1941 in Warsaw and detained in Pawiak prison. I was there until 30 May 1942. I was then sent to the camp in Ravensbrück, where I stayed the entire time until the evacuation of the camp on 27 April 1945.
From the Ravensbrück personnel, I especially remember Oberaufseherin [head overseer] Maria Mandl, whom I recognized on 25 of this month in the Central Prison in Kraków. As Oberaufseherin, Mandl was the most important person after the camp commandant and she determined the fate and treatment of the prisoners. At that time, there were about 19,000 women in the Ravensbrück camp. They were all terrified by the sight of Maria Mandl, because she abused us in a cruel way. She was particularly sadistic towards the Poles. Most trivial offences were punished harshly by flogging or detention in the bunker where prisoners were kept in a dark cell with no food for several days. A prisoner randomly encountered on the camp premises would be beaten by her with a whip that she always carried. I witnessed Maria Mandl punching a prisoner in the face and knocking out two of her teeth for walking though the camp hand in hand with another prisoner. During the camp roll calls she had us stand to attention for hours, and the slightest sound or movement was punished by punitive exercises or other camp punishments. She also had a habit of walking behind the rows of prisoners and randomly hitting the prisoners in the calves with a whip. Since she prohibited wearing shoes as early as at the beginning of the spring, it was cold when we stood barefoot during roll calls. The prisoners dealt with this by placing pieces of paper under their feet. When Mandl caught someone doing that, she immediately hit her hard with a whip or a hand in the face, often also punishing her with a detention in the bunker. Very often she appeared at the blocks at various times and conducted searches. In the event of discovering some illicit item, such as a second shirt or sheet, she became furious and beat every prisoner within reach, additionally flogging the guilty person. She also had the habit of setting dogs on the prisoners, watching alone or accompanied by other members of the camp personnel as the prisoners were being bitten by the dogs or whipped. The prisoners spoke about her as a monster in human form, so the whole Ravensbrück camp was relieved when she was transferred to the Auschwitz camp, at some point in the autumn of 1942.
I heard from the prisoners who worked in the political department that Maria Mandl considered the transfer to Auschwitz a promotion and boasted that she was sent there to establish order through terrorizing the prisoners. I was recently informed by former prisoners of the Auschwitz camp that this was indeed what happened, since the fate of the women detained at the camp became worse with the arrival of Maria Mandl in Auschwitz.
At this the report was concluded and signed after reading.