KAZIMIERZ SZELEST

On 19 June 1947 in Kraków, a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Deputy Prosecutor Wincenty Jarosiński, with the participation of reporter Władysław Sterba, a secretary of the Prosecutor’s Office of the District Court in Kraków, acting in accordance with procedure provided for under the Decree of 10 November 1945 (Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland No. 51, item 293), and pursuant to Article 20 of the provisions introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure, in connection with Article 107, 115 and 254 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, heard the person named below as witness, who testified as follows:


Name and surname Kazimierz Szelest, inmate of the Auschwitz concentration camp no. 3454
Date and place of birth 25 March 1917 in Kraków
Parents’ names Jan and Wanda, née Piątek
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Marital status unmarried
Occupation private clerk
Place of residence Kraków, Pawła Popiela Street 6, flat 9
Criminal record none

I was incarcerated in the Auschwitz I camp from 28 August 1940 to 18 January 1945. At that time, I came across an SS man by the name of Szczurek, who served as a Blockführer. I am unable to say for what period of time he held this post or in which block. Szczurek treated the prisoners in an inhumane manner: he beat them with a stick or a bullwhip for no reason whatsoever and kicked them. Both in the block and during roll calls, Szczurek punished prisoners for alleged offences with very tiring exercises such as squats, standing to attention all the time, etc. Apart from what I witnessed myself, I heard from my fellow inmates that Szczurek behaved towards them like a sadist.

Paweł [Paul] Szczurek who has been presented to me today is the same man about whom I have testified and I recognize him beyond doubt.