STEFAN BORATYŃSKI (KLUSKA)

On 19 June 1947 in Kraków, Wincenty Jarosiński, Deputy Prosecutor of the District Court in Kraków, member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, with the participation of reporter Władysław Sterba, secretary of the Prosecutor’s Office at the District Court in Kraków, in accordance with the Decree of 10 November 1945 (Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland No. 51, item 293), pursuant to art. 20 of the provisions enacting the Code of Criminal Procedure, in connection with art. 107, 115, and 254 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviewed the person specified below as a witness, who testified as follows:


Name and surname Stefan Kluska, a prisoner of Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps
Date and place of birth 13 June 1917, Kraków
Parents’ names Jan and Antonina
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Marital status bachelor
Occupation office clerk
Place of residence Kraków, Dajwór Street 25/12
Criminal record none

I was interned at the Auschwitz camp from 14 September 1940 to June 1943. My prison number was 57. During my time there, I came across SS man Paweł Szczurek, who at that time was a Blockführer; I do not remember at which block.

I saw it myself how Szczurek, when new prisoners arrived at the camp, beat them and kicked them for no reason whatsoever. I also saw Szczurek’s behavior when prisoners were transported to the gas chambers. He shouted at prisoners who tried to approach the vans and did not allow any prisoners to get close to the vans carrying those designated to be gassed. Similarly, his treatment of those already loaded in the vans, whom he convoyed to gas chambers with other SS men, was crass, as he shouted at them and threatened to beat them.

I came across Szczurek again in 1945, at the Buchenwald concentration camp, but I do not remember exactly what function he carried out at that time. I think he was a Blockführer. I do not know how Szczurek conducted himself at Buchenwald.

The Paweł Szczurek presented to me is exactly the one about whom I have been testifying and I recognize him beyond all reasonable doubt.

At this point the report and procedure were concluded. The report was read out and signed.