Testimony of Wiesław Kielar: Execution of Edek and Mala

“Achtung” rang out and after a moment of complete silence, an SS-man came forward from the group of the SS standing on the side of the guardhouse and started to read the sentence in German from a piece of paper he was holding in his hand. At that very moment, Edek, standing on the stool, placed his head in the noose and with his feet, he pushed himself away with considerable force, hanging himself. He kept his word! The SS-men did not, however, allow for such a demonstration. They raised their voices and the Lagercapo realized, just in time, and caught Edek by the waist and placed him back on the stool – loosening the noose. The German finished reading the sentence in his language and then started reading it in Polish. He read it very quickly but not clearly. He was in a hurry. Edek waited patiently until he finished. And in a moment of complete silence, he suddenly yelled with an astonishing voice: Long live Pol… .but he couldn’t finish. Jupp had suddenly pulled the stool away, the noose tightened completely, this time, and Edek’s body became rigid and then after this hanged limp. He was dead. His legs were still convulsively trembling and his head had fallen to one side. His body was gently swinging, turning once in one direction and then back in the other. Everyone stood motionless and in complete silence, only the group of SS-men started to back away from where they had stood in the direction of the Camp entrance. “Hats off!” was the command in Polish that spread from the side where block 4 stood. I was amazed that this was the voice of Tadek Piekarski. This was the moment that the entire camp paid its respect to the departed. One of the SS-men realized what was happening and screamed: “Alles Raus Wegtreten”.