JÓZEF JANUS

On 17 September 1947 in Chorzów, the Municipal Court in Chorzów, Fifth Brnach, in the person of J. Goettlich, with the participation of reporter B. Wartak, 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 Art. 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Józef Janus
Age 46
Parents’ names Jacenty and Jadwiga, née Wywiał
Place of residence Chorzów, Chrobrego Street 19
Occupation office worker
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

With regard to the presented case, I know Maximilian Grabner from Vienna, who was the head of the Political Department at the Auschwitz camp, approximately from the beginning of the camp in 1941 to November 1943, holding the rank of SS-Untersturmführer and the police rank of criminal secretary [Kriminalsekretär]. I met him during my interrogation in 1940. He was the most severe perpetrator in Auschwitz. He personally passed death sentences and participated in executions. He has the deaths of about two million people on his conscience.

I know a specific case of Stanisław Dubiel, currently residing in Dzierżoniów, Wrocław voivodeship, Obywatelska Street 10, phone no. 27-43. The death sentence had been passed and he was to be executed, but the camp commandant was protecting him. It was Grabner who objected to this protection and insisted on carrying out the sentence. The case reached Himmler and only thanks to that, Dubiel was spared.

I heard from fellow prisoners that Grabner ordered to torment prisoners with various methods of abuse and also tortured them personally. On his orders, many innocent prisoners were hanged, shot, or beaten to death. Executions by hanging were conducted in the roll call square opposite the kitchen, and shootings took place in block 11. Grabner was always present during executions. Nowadays, I no longer remember the names of the dead and the victims who were my companions in misery.

I also met Hans Aumeier, who at the time was the camp commandant at Auschwitz. He was very similar to his predecessor – the only difference between them was that Aumeier himself did not pass death sentences. He was, however, present during executions. As the camp commandant he disciplined prisoners with elaborate tortures, such as the “post”, flogging, beating in the face, and kicking.

As for the photographs that were presented to me, I may know some of the other suspects by sight, but I cannot testify about them personally. I also never met Johannes Lissner.

The report was read out and signed.