On 27 August 1947 in Kraków, acting judge, Associate Judge Franciszek Wesely, delegated to the Kraków District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, acting at the written request of the first prosecutor of the Supreme National Tribunal dated 25 April 1947 (file no. NTN 719/47), in accordance with the provisions of and procedure provided for under the Decree of 10 November 1945 (Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland No. 51, item 293), pursuant to articles 254, 106, 107 and 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, heard the person named below as a witness, who testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Maria Nowakowska |
| Date of birth | 4 April 1921 |
| Parents’ names | Feliks [Żeliński] and Maria, n ée Komorowska |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Marital status | married |
| Place of residence | Kraków, Krowoderska Street 29 |
| Criminal record | none |
On 27 April 1942, I was brought to Auschwitz as a political prisoner from Montelupich prison in Kraków. It was the first transport of female prisoners, as until then the prisoners had been sent to the Ravensbrück camp. I received camp number 6829. Initially, I was assigned various jobs in the camp, and then from June until September 1942 I was in the Arbeitskommando in Budy, where I was employed in agriculture. In September 1942, I was transferred to the women’s camp in Birkenau where I worked first in the Entwesungskammer, which was located in the A field of the women’s camp. I worked there sorting and cleaning underwear sent from Auschwitz that used to belong to the gassed Jews. The Entwesungskammer manager was SS-Scharführer Effinger. Then in November 1942, suffering from rheumatism of the joints, I ended up in the hospital, and after recovering I became a nurse in the hospital. The women’s hospital consisted of about 15 barracks, in which, depending on the period of intensity, there were between 300 and 1,000 patients in each. The medical functions in the hospital were performed by the prisoners, and German doctors only came from time to time, who in turn included: Kitt, Rohde, Thilo, Mengele, Klein and finally Kitt again.
The German doctor usually only came for the selections. They were carried out in such a way that the German doctor walked next alongside the sick beds and each prisoner had to get up. If she couldn’t get up, no matter for what reason, for example just because her legs had been scalded, she was sent for gassing and her number was written down by a doctor- prisoner. Next, these prisoners, regardless of their condition, were moved or rather dragged by the nurses to block no. 25, where they stayed for a week, until an appropriate number had been gathered, after which they were transported by car to the gas chambers.
I was not present directly during the injection of phenol, but the injection of phenol was carried out on a daily basis. It was done at the request of a German doctor and was usually performed by an SS-Rottenführer SDG [Sanitätsdienstgrade, auxiliary sanitary personnel], whose name I don’t remember. I could hear even through the wall separating me from the ambulance a woman prisoner shouting: "Don’t kill me, I have a husband and children". As far as I know, the hospital was not monitored by any other German doctor, except those mentioned above. In particular, I don’t know the accused – doctors Kremer and Münch. I don’t know anything about them being present at the hospital.
The evacuation of the hospital in 1945 looked like this: the prisoners were put in groups of 500 and transported on foot to Pszczyna. Not all of them, however, were transported and at the time when all the Germans had fled, about 1,500 sick women prisoners remained, mostly comprising those who were unfit for transportation.
As for the SS crew, I can’t recall either by name or from the photographs hanging up in the main square in Kraków anyone that I had met in the camp. I only know Maria Mandl – the Oberaufseherin [senior overseer] – and Emilie Mach, but I didn’t have anything to do with them because they were not allowed to enter the hospital area. For this reason, even Maria Mandl was involved – as I know – in a conflict with German Doctor Rohde and other German doctors. Therefore, when one of the nurses was in the camp outside the hospital, she would come in for some harassment from the Aufseherins. In this way, the Aufseherins released their frustration that they couldn’t exercise their authority in the territory of the hospital.
At this the report was concluded and read out.