In June 1947, Józef Manela appeared in the office of the police of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in Stuttgart, Western section no. 1002, camp no. 664, and made the following declaration in lieu of an oath:
| Name and surname | Józef Manela |
| Date and place of birth | 8 March 1925 in Radom |
| Place of residence | until the outbreak of the war: Traugutta Street 40, Radom now: Reinsburgstrasse 203, Stuttgart |
| Registered as | Displaced Person |
| Card number | 05115375 |
I know Polizeiführer [Police Leader] Böttcher well because I worked in the SS office. He was the Polizeiführer for the entire district of Radom and the head of my workplace. The office was located at Słowackiego Street 7, 11, and 13, and at Żeromskiego Street 58. I would often see Böttcher around. He was a tall man with dark blond hair. He would often come for an inspection. One time in January 1943 he saw a certain Kestenbaum, residing at Żytnia Street 7, talking to a Pole. He ordered Untersturmführer Kapke to shoot him. The execution was carried out on the same day. One time in December 1942 we were carrying Christmas tree candles from the “Korona” office. We halted in front of Untersturmführer Schippers’ house. One of our Jews, whose surname I don’t remember, sold a few candles to some Polish woman. Rottenführer Bachmayer saw that and reported it to the Polizeiführer. An hour later Böttcher ordered that this Jew be shot. The order was carried out by Kapke.
SS- und Polizeiführer Böttcher supervised all deportations. I saw him during deportation actions in January 1943. During a deportation which began on 13 January 1943 I saw him carry out his duty on the streets, accompanied by all the officers: Kapke, Szypers, Weinrich, Nell, Veicht, Schenkell, Major Post, Schild, Obersturmführer s Reinke, Pahlke and Blum, as well as Börnemann and Bachmayer. He gave out orders, sent people to their death, shot at them and stepped on those lying on the ground. Present at that time were also Rottenführer Wolf, Unterscharführer Martin Geiger and Obersturmführer Doppler. When they came near to where I was, which happened at Szwarlikowska Street, I witnessed Weinrich smash the head of a small child on the wall. He repeated this several times.
One time in June 1943, nine people failed to show up to work, where they dug peat. When the supervisor of this work site Rotenführer Bachmayer asked Polizeiführer Böttcher what to do with these people, Böttcher gave an order to shoot all nine of them. I know this because Weinrich first turned to Genewück, head of the Ostindustrie [East Industry], who in turn directed Weinrich to Böttcher. At that time I worked in the “Peat” office and I overheard this conversation.
One time in March 1943, the Jewish community was forced to compile a list of the Jewish intelligentsia. People from that list were supposed to be able to leave for Palestine. However, at some point Polizeiführer Böttcher’s trucks arrived. People were loaded onto these trucks along with their belongings. It was only after the departure that the poor souls realized they were headed in the opposite direction and that the trucks were escorted by Ukrainians who received orders from Kapke and Geiger. They were transported to Szydłowiec, where they had to dig pits for themselves and were eventually shot by the Ukrainians and Kapke. I know all this from Bella Frydman – one of the 13 people who were spared. She told me what had happened there. I heard about it also from SS-Untersturmführer Geiger, when on the following day he bragged about personally shooting Dr. Fried.
The Ukrainians were especially feared because they were under Kapke’s command. Encouraging them to commit the most horrific acts, he led by example, as he was extremely brutal. During the executions of the intelligentsia in Szydłowiec, one of the Ukrainians was trying to pull off a ring from some Jew’s finger. He couldn’t do it, so he eventually cut off the finger with a bayonet. Kapke watched it happen with joy.
In the autumn of 1943 many people were transported to Radom from such places as Starachowice, Ostrowiec, Skarżysko, Pionki, and Bliżyn. The trucks arrived at Słowackiego Street 1 – the location of the Polizeiführer’s staff and the living quarters of the SS. Under Böttcher’s supervision, the trucks transported these people to Biała Street, where everyone was killed except two people who survived by some miracle. The survivors’ names are Amek Bleiwais, who currently lives in the United Stated of America, and Chaim Glatt, residing in the tuberculosis sanatorium in Gaunting.
During that time Böttcher ordered that 50 Poles be hanged. Execution sites were located in five districts of the city.
SS- undPolizeiführer Böttcher is responsible for three deportations. In the course of these deportations, 1,000 people died at Biała Street, 7,000-8,000 died at Wałowa Street in the Perec garden, and 50 died in the Perec garden during the third deportation of 5,000 people. There were also many other victims who were sent to the gas chambers.
I declare, in lieu of an oath, that the above is true to the facts. I am aware of the criminal liability for making false declarations. I am ready to appear before a court as a witness.