On 1 October 1947, the Municipal Court in Tarnowskie Góry, Fifth Branch, with Judge J. Walkiewicz presiding, heard the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Andrzej Wilk |
| Age | 38 |
| Parents’ names | Andrzej and Maria |
| Place of residence | [illegible] |
| Occupation | farmer |
| Criminal record | no |
| Relationship to the parties | none |
From the former list of former crew members of the former concentration camp in Auschwitz shown to me, I know the following people:
12) While in the Auschwitz camp, I met Rudolf Buchholz in 1940. He was the SS-Rottenführer and a Blockführer [block leader]. I know him from the period of 1940 to 1941, when I was deported from Auschwitz. He had a hostile approach to the prisoners. I repeatedly witnessed situations when the kommandos were coming back from work, [and] he stood by the gate and when he saw that someone from among the prisoners fell out of line [or] even changed his step, he set his dog on them, or came up [and] beat and kicked with disregard to whether the prisoner would lose strength. I didn’t see him murder anyone.
28) Max Grabner, SS-Untersturführer, was the head of the Political Department in Auschwitz. I didn’t come into direct contact with him. He issued death sentences on the prisoners. In the event of a prisoner’s escape, he ordered ten prisoners to be selected who would then be directed to block 11 and there they would die from starvation. I saw him myself, during the roll call, walking up and choosing the prisoners whom the Gestapo would then send to block 11. He was in Auschwitz until the end.
33) Josef Hiller, SS-Rottenführer, was the head of the prisoners’ canteen. I can’t say anything bad about him, he was kindly disposed towards the prisoners. He personally assisted in the correspondence between prisoners and their families. He took letters from us, sent them from the camp, and delivered them to us. He did so selflessly. During conversations with us he tried to cheer us up and told us that the Germans would go to hell.
34) Hans Hoffmann, SS-Rottenführer, worked in the political office. He was hostile towards the prisoners. I saw him bringing in and escorting out 11 prisoners from the block to the political office, beating and kicking them. He often rode around on a bicycle and made the prisoners keep up with him as he rode.
37) Heinrich Josten, SS-Obersturmführer, when I met him, was the deputy Lagerführer [camp leader], the head of the labor department. The prisoners were afraid of him, but I don’t know anything about him.
38) Stefan Kirschner, SS-Sturmmann, I know him from 1940, he was a Blockführer, and we called him “Duck”. After coming to the camp at the very beginning, Kirschner made us exercise. This involved very demanding gymnastics, so that we would collapse from exhaustion, and then he used to beat and kick us – basically, he abused the weaker prisoners. After two months I went to another block. In 1943, when I returned
| to Auschwitz again, he was still a | Blockf | ü | hrer | , but his attitude towards prisoners |
| had mellowed. |
53) Arthur Liebehenschel, was for a short time the commandant of the Auschwitz camp (a few months at the turn of 1943 [and] 1944). He softened the regime. He forbade the beating of prisoners, allowed prisoners to bring food from their work.
65) Kurt Hugo Müller, SS-Unterscharführer, was a Blockführer. He didn’t especially persecute the prisoners. I didn’t hear anything bad about him. He only followed the orders of his superiors.
72) Ludwik Plagge, SS-Oberscharführer, was a Blockführer, and his nickname was “Little Pipe”. He was extremely hostile towards the prisoners. He harassed the prisoners by making them do gymnastic exercises involving “rolling” during which he would come up behind a prisoner, and if he was rolling too slowly, kick him in the kidneys.
That’s all I know. The report was read out.