On 11 October 1947 in Gliwice, Investigating Judge of the District Court in Gliwice, Zygmunt Switalski, interviewed the person specified below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the significance of the oath, the Judge administered the oath pursuant to the provisions of Article 109 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The witness then testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Feliks Myłyk |
| Age | 34 |
| Parents’ names | Jerzy and Elżbieta |
| Place of residence | Gliwice, Jaskółcza Street 2 |
| Occupation | office worker |
| Criminal record | none |
| Relationship to the parties | none |
1) Max Grabner was head of the Political Department at Auschwitz from 1940 to around mid-1943. He was a cold criminal from Vienna, holding the rank of SD-Untersturmführer. He was particularly cruel during interrogations of Auschwitz prisoners in the Political Department and in the penal block inside the camp, the so-called death block. He took part in selections of prisoners for execution (1943), choosing them from work kommandos in the early spring, when a clandestine organization had been discovered. All of these prisoners were killed. He based this “selection” solely on the education and intelligence of a given prisoner. He conducted mass gassings of the transports of the Jews. On his own initiative he ordered prisoners to be shot with small firearms and stated a made-up cause of death in their death certificates. In 1943 his supervisors had him arrested in Weimar. The reason behind that was the negative foreign press. Grabner’s supervisors chose him as a scapegoat for the "German justice".
2) Herbert [Hermann] Kirschner from Dresden, holding the rank of Oberscharführer, worked in the Political Department from 1940 to 1945. He was Grabner’s right–hand man, and as an administrative head of the Political Department, he shot prisoners in the death block with small firearms (6 mm) on Grabner’s orders. He was tasked with writing down false death causes in the files of the executed prisoners, compiling “SB” lists of the so-called Sonderbehandlung [special treatment], that is, prisoners who were to be gassed. He also took part in the gassing of prisoners in the gas chambers at the Auschwitz parent camp and in mass gassings of the Jewish transports in Birkenau. He sent various items previously owned by Jews to his wife in Dresden, even though he had signed an agreement stating that he would not appropriate any items previously owned by Jews. He participated in the extermination of the Jews in Będzin. When various items, such as vodka, which had belonged to the Jews were transported in trucks, he took some of them for himself.
3) Józef [Ludwig] Pach: SS-Rottenführer from Silesia, spoke very good Polish. Assigned to the Political Department around 1943, he oversaw prisoners who worked there. The man was particularly deceitful and especially hateful towards the Poles. As a so-called interpreter, he took part in the interrogations during which Polish prisoners were tortured. He participated in the mass gassing of the Jewish transports and appropriated items that had belonged to the Jews.
4) Gerhardt Lachmann: SS-Unterscharführer from Fordon in the Poznań region, spoke very good Polish and worked in the Political Department. He interrogated prisoners using very elaborate methods of getting the truth out of them. He created a network of informers among Auschwitz prisoners and had informers working in various kommandos at his disposal. He shot prisoners with small firearms in the death block, participated in the hunt for escaped prisoners, and interrogated those who got caught, torturing them. For about half a year in 1943 he worked in the concentration camp in Lublin as SS-Unterscharführer.
5) [Wilhelm] Boger: SS-Oberscharführer, worked in the Political Department and was particularly sadistic and utterly cruel. Every prisoner in the Auschwitz camp feared him. He invented the torture called Schaukel, that is cradle, which he used during brutal interrogations. His speciality was pursuing the escaped prisoners and interrogating them once they have been captured. He actively participated in shooting prisoners with small firearms in the death block, took part in the mass gassings of the Jewish transports, and used informers recruited from among the prisoners for these purposes.
6) [Klaus] Dylewski: SS-Unterscharführer, worked in the Political Department. He knew written and spoken Polish and interrogated prisoners.
7) Josef Hofer vel Dzierżan: SS-Unterschaführer, worked in the Political Department and later oversaw one of the kommandos. He had very limited knowledge of Polish, he was from Kreuzburg [Kluczbork], located nowadays in the Recovered Territories. He used to have the Polish surname Dzierżan, but later changed it to the German surname Hofer. Fairly decent in his approach to prisoners, he even saved my life when I stole bread for my colleagues from the SS men. He took full responsibility for this act while he was reporting to camp commandant Fritzsch. Not well suited for working in the Political Department, he was later given the post of a guard in an ordinary kommando.
8) Józef Woźnica [Erich Wosnitza]: Untersturmführer of the Gestapo, who received the Golden Party Badge, was probably from Chorzów, and he worked in the Political Department at the Auschwitz camp as a member of the Gestapo in Katowice. He beat prisoners with a whip during interrogations and hid his knowledge of the Polish language. All prisoners feared him.
9) Karl Broch: SS-Unterscharführer was a German who worked in the Political Department. He interrogated prisoners in connection with offences committed in the camp and abused them.
10) Pery Broad: SS-Rottenführer, was probably American, he spoke German, French and English. During his work at the concentration camp he also learned Polish. He conducted interrogations and supervised prisoners working in the Political Department. He was of a mild disposition and treated prisoners rather kindly.
11) [Johann?] Kaufmann: SS-Sturmmann, worked at the Political Department, was short- tempered and very hostile towards the Poles. He oversaw the prisoners working in this department and appropriated items previously owned by Jews.
12) [Johann] Schindler: SS-Sturmmann from Łódź, spoke very good Polish. He worked in the Political Department as an interpreter. He was present during interrogations of the prisoners as an interpreter, and he also oversaw the prisoners who worked in this department. He was an older man of a rather calm disposition, not hostile toward the Poles. He was dismissed from the SS and returned to the civilian life.
13) [Otto?] Hepner: SS-man from Łódź, who spoke Polish. He worked in the Political Department supervising the prisoners who worked there. He was an older man, kind to the Poles. Dismissed from the SS, he returned to the civilian life.
14) [Bernhard] Kristan: SS-Unterscharführer, a young German, very hostile towards the Poles. He worked in the Standesamt section [register office] of the Political Department, took part in brutal interrogations of prisoners, and in the gassing of the Jewish transports. His task was to falsify the cause of death in the prisoners’ death certificates.
15) [Hans] Draser: SS-Uterscharführer, was Romanian. He worked in the Political Department and spoke German and Romanian. He participated in interrogations and in the mass gassing of prisoners.
16) [Josef] Setnik: SS-Unterscharführer from Silesia, spoke Polish and worked in the Political Department. He was an interpreter and overseer of the prisoners who worked there. As an interpreter, he took part in brutal interrogations of prisoners.
17) [Stanislaus] Ivanauskas: SS-Sturmmann from Lithuania, had very limited knowledge of German, but spoke very good Lithuanian. He worked in the Political Department, overseeing the prisoners who worked there. He was a coward by nature. He was present during the arrivals of the Jewish transports and during the gassing.
18) [Hans] Schurz: SD-Untersturmführer, Grabner’s successor as the head of the (German) Political Department, less harsh than Grabner, otherwise just like him.
19) [Oswald] Kaduk: SS-Unterscharführer, probably from Chorzów. He previously worked as Blockführer [block leader] at the camp, and later as Rapportführer [report leader]. His sadism and cruelty knew no bounds. During roll call he would walk between the rows of prisoners, beating and kicking them. He always had a whip or a baton. He took part in the gassing of prisoners, abused the newly arrived transports and selected people for gassing on a whim.
20) [Max] Sell: SS-Untersturmführer (a German), most likely a tailor by trade. In the Auschwitz camp he worked as head of the labor department, Arbeitsdienstführer, and was exceptionally brutal and sadistic.
21) [Bruno] Brandauer: SS-Rottenführer (a German), a young man, worked in the Political Department supervising the prisoners who worked there. He participated in interrogations of prisoners and in the mass gassing of the Jewish transports.
22) Piotr Marco: SS-Sturmmann, a young Czech, worked in the Political Department as a Czech interpreter and supervised the prisoners who worked there. He was hostile towards the Poles. He participated in brutal interrogations of prisoners and in the mass gassing of transports.
23) Witold Witkowsky: SS-Sturmmann from Poland, who spoke Polish and worked in the Political Department, and he later was an overseer in some kommando. Rather mild at first, later he turned out to be deceitful towards the Poles. He participated in interrogations and the mass gassing of prisoners.
24) [Jakob] Fries: SS-Unterscharführer (a German), worked in the camp administration as Arbeitsdienstführer. He was particularly cruel and sadistic during roll calls and when prisoners were at work. Around the camp, he was notorious for terrorizing prisoners and had a nickname "Żelazny Gustaw" [Iron Gustav]. Later he was transferred to the SS panzer divisions.
25) [Heinrich] Schoppe: SS-Unterscharführer (a German), worked in the camp administration as Arbeitsdienstführer. He was exceptionally brutal and sadistic during roll calls and when prisoners were at work.
26) Hans Hoffmann: SS-Unterscharführer (a German), worked in the Political Department overseeing the prisoners. He participated in the mass gassing of prisoners.
27) [Walter] Quakernack: SS-Unterscharführer (a German), worked in the Political Department as head of the register office, the so-called Standesamt. He wrote down made-up causes of death in the prisoners’ death certificates and participated in the gassing if prisoners.
28) Kehler: SS-Unterscharführer (a German), worked in the camp administration as Blockführer. He was a sadist. Hitting prisoners in the face was his specialty.
29) Hans Stark: SS-Unterscharführer (a German), worked in the Political Department managing the admissions of the transports. He was short tempered and sadistic in his treatment of the newly arrived prisoners. He shot prisoners in the death block, using small firearms, and participated in the mass gassing of prisoners.
30) [Wilhelm] Claussen: SS-Unterscharführer (a German), at first worked in the Political Department, later in the camp administration as Rapportführer. He participated in the mass gassing of prisoners.
31) Lorenz Carstensen: SS-Sturmscharführer (a German), and older man working in the Political Department as an overseer. He was kind to prisoners and opposed the Nazi regime, which led to frequent disagreements between him and his supervisors from the Political Department. He was later transferred to one of the camps in central Germany.
I was detained in the concentration camp from 14 June 1940 until 16 October 1944. My prisoner number is 92.