On 19 June 1947 in Kraków, Municipal Judge Dr. Henryk Gawacki, acting deputy prosecutor of the District Court in Kraków, with the participation of a reporter, Aniela Bereźnicka, a senior reporter of the Prosecutor’s Office of the District Court in Kraków, and pursuant to Article 20 of the provisions introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure, in connection with Article 107 and 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviewed the person named below as a witness, who testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Kazimierz Szelest |
| Date and place of birth | 25 March 1917 in Kraków |
| Parents’ names | Jan and Wanda, née Piątek |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Occupation | unemployed |
| Place of residence | Kraków, Pawła Popiela Street 6, flat 10 |
| Relationship to the parties | none |
| Criminal record | none |
From August 1940 to 18 or 20 January 1945 I was a prisoner in the Auschwitz camp, and if my memory serves me right as to the dates, from June 1942 to the end of my stay in the camp I was employed in the prisoners’ kitchen or else in the storeroom of that kitchen where I was tasked with chopping meat. This kitchen was located by the main gate of camp no. 1 and its window looked out to the said gate. Through this window, I could see very well all the people who were coming in and out of the camp. Since I was incarcerated in the camp for so long a time, I knew all the details, even those pertaining to particular members of the camp personnel, as seeing them almost every day, I knew where each of them worked and what tasks he performed. Therefore, I am able to provide the following information with regard to some former personnel members whose photographs were presented to me today:
I recognize suspect Herbert Ludwig beyond doubt as a Blockführer from the period of time lasting from the last months of 1943 to the end of 1944. I very often saw suspect Ludwig beat prisoners during roll calls, hitting them with his hands or a stick in the face or blindly all over the body and kicking them; I saw him do the same during searches of prisoners coming back to the camp from work, with searches taking place in front of a building known as Blockführerstube [camp manager’s office]. He confiscated all foodstuffs and liquor found on the prisoners. He liked to storm into blocks at night and conduct searches. Sometimes he walked with a dog on a leash.
I didn’t see the suspect set the dog on prisoners.
Apart from all this, suspect Ludwig proved duplicitous: when the prisoners, not knowing him well yet, addressed him with a request for some favor, he would promise to do the thing in question – of course it was understood that the favor would not be rendered selflessly, but in return for food or alcohol – but at the same time would inform on that prisoner to the Lagerführer. I heard about this from some prisoners whose surnames I no longer remember.
The report was concluded, read out and signed.