Fragment of testimony by Bolesław Staron, , former Auschwitz prisoner, Camp number 127829

his singing or, sometimes only, loud whistling would echo back into the bunker. I never thought at the time, that it was in this manner that this was his signal to telling Mala he is still alive, as well as fellow prisoners, the many friends that he had in the Camp. Edek was handsome, tall, and well built. It is no surprise that this girl was attracted to him. At first, the two of us sat alone, condemned to horrifying sanitary conditions, without the possibility to wash up, and next to the stinking “latrine”, which was only emptied when it was filled. Jakub took care of this task along with his helper. In the cell, there lingered a constant stuffiness as well as stench. Adding to these inhuman conditions, there was also the uncertainty of our further fate. Each time one of the SS or Gestapo men entered the basement of block number 11 as well as the earlier opening of the gate, associated with their arrival, brought about unease and nervousness within us, which ever increased the closer they came to our cell. In the bunker, silence was enforced, so this is also how every opening of the entrance door as well as footsteps could clearly be heard, which increased the atmosphere of terror. (…) They placed a third prisoner into cell number 20, which I was sharing alone with Edek, around the 20th of July 1944. He turned out to be a Slovakian Jew, whose name was Nikolaus Engel. (…) (…) At the beginning of our incarceration in the bunker, there were several instances where they took Engel and Galiński to be interrogated. After the first one, Edek was badly bruised. He even thought about committing suicide. Later, during the investigation, he was not mistreated so badly and no longer spoke about this desire. (…) Not long before my release from the bunker, Jakub – after the evening roll call – organized a half-hour meeting between Edek and Mala. I remember that Edek left the cell together with him, but I am not aware of where the meeting took place. I believe that it took place in block 11. After this short visit, Galiński was extremely miserable. He said that he had met with Mala, but he did not want to say more than that. (…) I remember that still during the same evening in cell 18, he was scratching the face of some woman on the plaster wall. I assumed, because he did not reveal this to me while we spoke, that it was a portrait of Mala, which he was able to finish. He also had the propensity to scratch messages on the walls of the cells in which we were held, among others, he often