KONSTANTY MISZTAL

On 16 September 1947 in Mińsk Mazowiecki, the Municipal Court in Mińsk Mazowiecki, represented by Judge S. Malczewski, with the participation of reporter Z. Mirosz, trainee judge, interviewed the person specified below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Konstanty Misztal
Age 27
Parents’ names Stanisław and Jadwiga
Place of residence Kałuszyn, Piłsudskiego Street 90
Occupation merchant
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

I was interned at Auschwitz between June 1942 and fall 1944, when I was transported to Buchenwald. My prison number was 62 383. I met Kurt Müller in 1943. He was a Blockführer and he carried out executions.

I do not know how Müller treated the prisoners from his block. I saw him take people’s lives with shots to the cerebellum from a small-caliber weapon. Among the executed were also children. Executions took place at SK [Strafkompanie; penal unit] penal block 11 between 10.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m. I cannot provide the names of all those murdered. The final act of executing a group of 59 people, members of the intelligentsia, among them Mosdorf, a National Party political activist, was perpetrated by Müller in April or May 1944. I was present at this execution, as well as at others, in the course of which Müller shot Zacharewicz and Cvoi [?], as well as Bronisław Czech. Müller carried out executions either on his own or with Lachmann, a member of the Political Department. In my presence, Kurt Müller personally executed upward of 200 people of different sex and age.

I knew Max Grabner by his name. He was head of the political division at Auschwitz. Together with Wosnitza, he assisted at the executions carried out by Müller and Palitzsch. During one execution, he approached us (because I worked with others with the Leichekommando [corpse carriers unit] and we were present at the executions, since our task was to remove the corpses) and took down our numbers. He threatened to execute us if we spread information around the camp about who was executed. I did not see Grabner kill people, but on a few occasions, I saw him beat prisoners by the gate. It was in 1943, but I cannot provide the exact date, or the names of those who were beaten.

I know that people who were summoned to the Political Department, headed by Grabner, returned beaten or did not return at all, and we transported their corpses. I do not know if Grabner did this personally.

I heard that the reason for the last execution carried out by Müller was as follows: in 1941, I believe, a prisoner escaped from Auschwitz. Those executed were the suspects in aiding his escape. I cannot explain why the execution was performed so late after the escape. I learned the reasons behind this execution from Kazimierz Kowalczyk and three other prisoners from block 28, who were interrogated by the Political Department regarding this case and who were executed in the last execution. A pilot, I believe from Warsaw, an officer, Lis, was also killed in this execution.

From the list presented to me of former members of the military staff of the former Auschwitz concentration camp, aside from Kurt Müller and Max Grabner, I know Hans Aumeier. He was camp leader at Auschwitz I. I came across him immediately after my arrival at the camp in 1942, at one of the executions, since Aumeier in his capacity as camp leader, assisted at all executions. I remember that during the execution of a group of 150 people from the Sosnowiec area, among them women and children, Aumeier kicked me because I worked too slowly. During one execution, a Polish prisoner shouted, "Long live Poland!". When Lachmann, who understood Polish, translated this to Aumeier, the latter grabbed a spade and kept hitting the prisoner on the head so that he passed out. It is possible that he even killed him.

Aumeier, drove a car around the camp and would shoot, for no reason, at prisoners who were walking down the camp’s streets, often killing them. Prisoners fled at the very sight of Aumeier’s car.

In May or June 1943, a friend of mine, Józef Bąk from Jasło (I believe he is now deceased), watched from around the corner as Aumeier was driving into the camp. When Aumeier spotted him, Bąk started to run. Then, Aumeier started to chase him and shot in his direction, but missed. He caught him on the first floor of the washroom and in my presence kicked him in the stomach and hit him a couple of times with the butt of his gun around his ear, shattering his eardrum. Later, Bąk could hear very poorly with this ear. It happened at block 28.

Aside from myself, the following persons can provide information concerning the suspects: Czesław Soból, Warsaw, Wiejska Street 18; Adam Kuryłowicz, Warsaw, I do not know his exact address; Karol Namysłowski, Warsaw, Dąbrowskiego Square.

The report was read out.