On 3 October 1946 in Kraków, acting in accordance with the provisions of the Decree of 10 November 1945 on the Main Commission and District Commissions for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland (Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland No. 51, item 293), in further accordance with Article 255 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and in connection with Articles 107 and 115 thereof, Investigative Judge Jan Sehn, a member of the aforementioned Main Commission, heard the following person as a witness. The witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Mieczysław Kieta |
| Date of birth | 30 December 1920, Kraków |
| Parents’ names | Franciszek and Kinga Stankowska |
| Citizenship and nationality | Polish |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Place of residence | Kraków, Skawińska Boczna Street 12, flat 11 |
| I | was imprisoned in the Auschwitz camp from 18 August 1942 till 11 November 1944 as |
| prisoner number 59 590. Initially, I | was assigned to a variety of work kommandos and then |
| spent some time as a | patient in the camp hospital. In March 1943, I was reassigned to work |
at the warehouse of the newly formed Hygiene Institute. The full name of the institution was the Hygienisch-Bakteriologische Untersuchungsstelle der Waffen SS Süd-Ost [Sanitary- Bacteriological Investigation Authority of the Waffen SS South-East], but this was later changed to Hygiene-Institut der Waffen SS und Polizei Auschwitz O/S [Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS and Police in Auschwitz — Upper Silesia]. The administrative office of the Institute was initially housed in the attic of the building next to the camp command, while the labs were located in the ambulatory clinic on the ground floor of block 20 (the serological lab and blood drawing stations) and in block 10 (the chemical, histological, serological [sic!] and urological labs, as well as a Wassermann test station). The Institute was headed by a German physician called Bruno Weber, the son of a Munich University professor. He was an Untersturmführer and got promoted to the rank of Hauptsturmführer while in the camp. Other SS men working at the Institute were: Franz Fugger, Walter Hoffman, Hans Zabel and Karl Pargner. Later on, Verstweber and Philipp Kapmeier [kapo Meier] were added to the staff. Around Easter 1944, the Institute was moved to Rajsko. In the period of its greatest expansion, it had the following sections: bacteriological (among the prisoners working there was the Czech Professor Tomaszek), chemical (including prisoner Briske, the former director of a state Chemical Institute in Berlin), histological (prisoner Dr. Mąkowski), hydrobiological (prisoner Professor Jakubski from Poznań), aerological — dedicated to typhoid research (prisoners Meisela and Ms. Umschwelf), theoretical aerology (prisoners Dr. Lewin from the Pasteur Institute in Paris and Umschwelf from Lwów), the Wassermann test station (prisoners Dr. Seemann and temporarily Dr. Flock) and, finally, the Nährbodenküche [culture media lab].
The Institute processed samples from all the camps and SS hospitals in the “South-East” SS circuit. That included the Gross-Rosen, Płaszów and Pustków camps. Most of the actual work, however, involved processing samples for the Auschwitz camp itself. An object sent to the Institute would be accompanied by a Begleitschreiben [accompanying letter]; these letters would be registered in the main ledger (Hauptbuch) with consecutive item numbers and then placed in flies according to those numbers. Seeing as the Commission is in possession of some main ledger (Hauptbuch) volumes, many Begleitschreiben folders and one volume of the sub-ledger (Nebenbuch), I believe it has enough material to objectively asses the types of work the Institute did. The main ledger lists both the institution that sent an object for processing as well the test results. If the test result description was extensive, it was written on a separate sheet of paper with a carbon copy; the carbon copy was then accordion folded and kept in the sub-ledger under the appropriate item number. In that case, the main ledger entry for the job also listed the sub-ledger number of the test results and vice versa. The documents from the sub-ledger that I was shown are the results of chemical and biological tests performed on Auschwitz food samples; they give a basis for objectively assessing the quality of the food provided to the prisoners of the Auschwitz camp. As indicated by those test results, the prisoners’ variant of the liver sausage (Häftlings-Leberwurst) contained 47.9–71.3% water (Wassergehalt) and 14.3–18.6% protein (Eiweißgehalt). It is noteworthy, for example, that the results document no. 72 437 — available on page 4 of the sub-ledger — shows 66.8% water and 16.2% protein in the prisoners’ liver sausage sample, while the SS men’s sausage sample, as listed in the same document, contained 54.8% water and 18.2% protein.
Similarly, the results on page 44 of the sub-ledger show 66.3% water in the prisoners’ sausage sample and 44.3% water in the SS men’s sample. In all instances, the water content was lower and protein content was higher in products for the SS compared to the Häftlings- Leberwurst. Furthermore, results on pages 76, 98 and 99 of the sub-ledger indicate that the prisoners‘ samples analyzed in those tests contained Bacterium coli and Bacterium proteus. Regarding other meat products, the documents on pages 41 and 59 of the sub-ledger give water and protein content ranges for the prisoners’ variant of the blood sausage (Häftlings- Blutwurst): 51–73.2 % water and 12.2–23.8% protein, whereas the prisoners’ variant of the scalded sausage (Häftlings-Brühwurst) was assessed to contain 45.4–78.5 % water and 13.2–18.6 % protein (documents on pages: 52, 59, 67 and 68). Additionally, a document on page 6 of the sub-ledger gives a calculation of the caloric value of the prisoners’ sausage (Häftlings-Wurst): it had 140 calories per 100 grams. Specifically, the 100 gram sample provided to the Institute contained 13.1 grams of protein and 9.2 grams of fat, that is 54 + 86 calories. Another document on the same page provides details about the prisoners’ bread (Häftlingsbrot): it contained 43.9% water, 6.1% protein and 1.85% minerals. A positive (+ + +) Iod-Zink-Chlorid-Reaktion [Schultze’s reagent reaction] indicated that cellulose was present in the sample. Furthermore, documents on page 104 of the sub-ledger (items no. 45, 299 and 300) provide the results of acidity tests performed on the prisoners’ bread as compared to the soldiers’ bread (Truppenbrot). In the leaven (bei der Aufschäumung), the prisoners’ variant had an acidity of 11.0 and when tested using a centrifuge the acidity was 10.7. In comparison, the test results for the soldiers’ bread were 15.3 and 14.3. A margarine sample was also tested and the results (available on page 91 of the sub-ledger, item no. 36 564) show 26.6% water, 0.1% ash and 78.2% fat [sic!]. Another testing job involved meat taken directly from the prisoners’ kitchen in Auschwitz I — document number 26 469 on page 68 of the sub-ledger states that the meat sample would be classified as class II number 7 in the Berlin meat classification and came from an old, malnourished cow. Its surface layer was in the early stages of decomposition. Yet another document gives the results for cheese (main ledger number 14, item 24 194, sub-ledger page 68): 16.4% fat, 20.9% water and 20.7% fat in dry mass (inderTrockenmasse).
The Institute also produced large quantities of test serum used to identify blood type. Human blood, which was necessary to produce the test serum, would be drawn from camp prisoners. This was done by Zabel, a painter by trade. He would roam the hospital block and — without consulting the camp physician — pick out whichever prisoners he wanted. He would draw up to 500 cm3 of blood at once. Zabel often ended up targeting recuperating patients, whom such a blood loss would pull back into their illness. Much blood was also drawn when prisoners were shot en masse in block 11. In that case, the blood would be drawn from the bodies right after death, by Fugger and Zabel. Weber once personally went to Auschwitz regarding that.
[A photograph of jars and test tubes]
Photograph number 1, which I hereby present to the court, shows jars with human blood after blood type testing. One can see the letter A written in chalk on the jars; the letter B is not very visible. I took this photograph myself in June 1944 and sent it, via Rottenführer Philipp Kapmeier [kapo Meier], to Kraków. It survived there until now.
Fugger and Zabel also performed autopsies of prisoners executed by shooting and would harvest meat from the corpses to make human meat stock, which was used as a media culture for typhoid, diphtheria and tuberculosis bacteria. At the height of production, three to four times a month the Institute would receive 30–40 kilograms of human meat. It was delivered in two or three ordinary buckets. There were thigh and buttock muscles, often also chest muscles — primarily from women’s bodies. The muscles were completely skinned. When a trip was made for the serum, Institute staff would use a motorcycle with a side car or, sometimes, Weber’s official car. The prisoners working in the laboratory initially ate the meat that was left over after the stock was cooked, thinking it came from the camp butcher, but quite quickly — still in 1943 — we discovered it was human flesh. One of the prisoners working in the lab, Dr. Mikołaj Korn, found a piece of skin on the meat and, together with Dr. Janusz Mąkowski, established that the meat came from a human body. Some of my colleagues who ate the meat developed nausea and fell ill. From that time onward, no prisoner ever ate the boiled meat; we buried it in the Institute garden, away from the barrack.
[A photograph of jars]
Photograph number 2 also shows jars with human blood. I also took it myself and sent
it to the outside. I’d like to note here that three rams and later also two horses were kept
in Rajsko for blood drawing. They were, however, used infrequently — often the ram or horse
would be spared and the blood would be drawn from a prisoner working in the lab, who’d be
given two cigarettes in exchange. The prisoners were ordered to donate blood by the SS men
and, fearing to refuse, they did so.
In the summer of 1943, we had a visit by the overseer of all SS Hygiene Institutes, SS-Standartenführer Dr. Mrugowsky from Oranienburg. During the visit, Weber boasted about the work he was doing and especially about his serum production — he showed Mrugowsky around our culture lab and Mrugowsky was pleased with what he saw. Also in 1943 there was a push to test all the Auschwitz prisoners for malaria. Those who were found to be infected were then separated and sent to the Majdanek concentration camp. In 1944 the local population was tested for malaria as well, but I don’t know what the results of that were.
In the spring of 1944, noma started to spread in the Romani camp. In connection to this, the corpses of Romani children were being brought to Rajsko, to the Institute. Histopathological testing and research was conducted on the corpses — some of the children’s heads were preserved whole in jars as specimens.
The report was read out. Thus the hearing and the report were concluded.