JANINA KOŚCIUSZKO

On 19 February 1947, prosecutor from the Special Criminal Court in Kraków with its seat at Grodzka Street 52, this in the person of District Deputy Prosecutor, Dr. Kordecki, and with the participation of a reporter, Trainee Judge Nowak, heard the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the provisions of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Dr. Janina Kościuszko
Age 48 years old
Parents’ names August and Sabina
Place of residence Kraków, Krowoderska Street 11
Occupation doctor
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

From 6 March to 1 July 1944 I was in Auschwitz, in the Stabsgebäude [staff office], where I came across Maria Mandl. We had to treat her as if she were a royal princess. She beat the female prisoners for no reason. I remember that once she beat a prisoner until she bled only for keeping her hands in her pockets, and when that woman again put her hands in her pockets, Mandl beat her unconscious and then beat her head against the wall.

She badly beat up the secretary of Beneš, the president of Czechoslovakia, for smoking a cigarette, and then put her in the bunker for three weeks. Once, when one of the prisoners refused to run, Mandl ordered her to be beaten up. Another time, when three prisoners went missing, Mandl beat and kicked their overseer when she was already lying on the ground. She was the scourge of the camp, and when someone shouted that she was coming for a search to the camp, everybody would run away.

Mandl was present at sending people to the gas chamber. She was ruthless and never spared anyone. I remember the last selection, when Mandl and Drechsel used sticks to drive their victims to the furnace.

Mandl carried out searches even at 2.00 a.m., and then ordered that everything be taken away, including the necessities. Once, she accused the prisoners of hiding some gold. The search that ensued was so relentless that the prisoners were divested even of toothbrushes. The military discipline in the camp was so strict that for the slightest movement during a roll call Mandl beat the prisoners and broke their jaws.

More people in the camp would have been healthy if Mandl had taken care of that. Instead, she did everything she could to make matters worse, and when the prisoners had dirty hands she sent them to the gas. She was especially malicious as regards water and the use of it. When the washrooms were ready, as head of the camp, Mandl ordered that they be closed after only two days in use. Mandl never took any interest in food. She was so ruthless that she sent children to the gas. The women were forbidden to go to work in clogs, she took away their warm clothes, and all these orders were issued by Mandl alone.

She depraved everyone. She even forced the block leaders to commit frauds which, in turn, was to the detriment of the prisoners. She personally chose prisoners for selections. For instance, one day she picked 4,500 people.

The report was read out and signed.