On 24 June 1944 I left work together with the Strassenbaukommando and met Galiński in a hospital block of the BIa sector. Together we headed towards the BIb sector in order to thoroughly analyze the escape route on the map, all three of us. Mala had short hair and was wearing a skirt and a sweater. 

After a short goodbye Edward Galiński registered his leaving of the female camp in Blockführerstube and headed towards Kartoffelbunker [potato warehouse], located near the BIa sector. When Galiński reached his destination, I went to the hospital block … in the BIa sector and gave a sign to my friend Tadeusz [Jerzy Sadczykow], who was near the buildings of female exit quarantine. Then I headed towards the fencing near the corner of the BIa sector from the direction of the Kartoffelbunker. … A dozen minutes later I saw Mala dressed in a navy-blue overalls leaving from the direction of the Blockführerstube building, standing next to the exit quarantine for women. Mala was carrying a white porcelain washbasin on her head. Tadeusz was walking next to her, carrying a toolbox. When they were approaching the Kartoffelbunker Galiński, disguised in the SS uniform, left it. Tadeusz [Jerzy Sadczykow] turned back, while Galiński and Mala took the road in the direction of Budy. …

Later I learnt from Tadek [Jerzy] about the last details of Mala’s escape. When I gave him a sign, he approached the SS lavatories next to the Blockführerstube and pretended to be repairing a broken lock in one of them. Malaleft the Blockführerstube and afterwards went into the open lavatory, where she put on the overalls supplied by him. Mala was not leaving and when Tadek [Jerzy] looked inside, he saw Mala standing and totally devastated, unable to decide whether to put the overalls on or not. So, he went inside and nearly forced her to dress up, gave her the porcelain washbasin and directed outside the lavatory. The remaining scenes I saw myself.  

… The roll call was over. I immediately approached the shed, annexed to the kitchen, in which the convicts sentenced to hanging were usually held. In a minute the door of the shed opened and Galiński left, led by Lagercapo “Jup” and one of the Blockführers. Galiński had his hands tied behind his back. … He was led to the gallows. He climbed on a stool. The sentence was begun to be read (in German and in Polish). Before it was finished, Galiński put his head inside the loop and bounced off the stool. Lagercapo “Jup” immediately ran towards him and freed him from the loop, putting the stool under his feet again. And the sentence was begun to be read again. The last words of the sentence barely faded away when Galiński started shouting Polish national anthem: “Poland has not yet…”—and he hung on the gallows. Suddenly, somebody in the group of the fitters standing separately ordered in Polish “Hats off!”. In silence, thousands of prisoners’ hands made simultaneously this so well-known gesture—it was the farewell and the homage to the executed. Unbelievable silence fell for a few seconds, finally disrupted by frantic yelling of the SS men who, armed with automatic weapon and machine guns, started dispersing the prisoners. …

Impressed by the events I witnessed, I thought I was being called by the Political Department. No explanations seemed to be able to change my assumptions. The messenger left and reappeared, ensuring me that I was called by Rapportschreiber Gosk. I followed the messenger and in block 2 I met Lagerältester Danisch, Lagercapo “Jup”, Raportschreiber Gosk. When Danisch saw me, he said: “Edek, he was a good mate though…” From his further words it could be concluded that during Blockführers’ briefing Schwarzhuber emphasized Galiński’s determination, as in spite of tortures, he did not reveal that one of them … had provided him with the uniform. 

Shortly after, the news was spread all over the camp that Edek and Mala were captured and brought back. They were supposedly arrested somewhere in Bielsko or near Bielsko. They were incarcerated in the bunkers of one of the blocks [11] in the main camp. We also knew that “Big Jakub” [Kozalczik] was helping them in those bunkers. … One day, we came back from work. There was a roll call. … Coming back after work, we saw Mala standing at the camp gate. Her face was nearly yellow. … 

When I found myself together with other Jewish women next to the kitchen building of the BIb sector, I saw portable gallows standing there. I was standing in the first row, opposite the gallows in the distance of a dozen meters. … 

Mala Zimetbaum was told to stand next to the single, portable gallows. A short, swarthy-faced SS man named Ruitters was also standing near her. Lagerführerin Maria Mandel was standing on the other side of the gallows, and she began her speech. She was not holding any paper in her hands. She was saying as follows: “Everyone who, as Mala, dares to escape from the camp, would… 

When Mandel was pronouncing these very words Mala … started cutting her wrists totally calmly, on her right hand with her left hand. Astonished, I saw the yellow color gradually disappearing from her face. None of the Jewish women who saw it, standing outside the kitchen, said a single word, but something must have shown in our faces, as in one moment Ruitters turned towards Mala and saw what she was trying to do. He reacted immediately—he just seized her hand, making it impossible for her to continue what she started. …

The fact that Mala interrupted the course of the execution, the scenario so thoroughly elaborated by the camp authorities, came as a total surprise for them. The reaction of Mandel and the SS men was also characteristic. In the mess which occurred, it was ordered to lead Mala to the Revier [female prisoners’ hospital] in the BIa sector. …

Later I only heard that in the Revier, no dressing was put on her hand, but she was placed on a trolley for transporting bread and then, as ordered by the SS men and under their supervision, several Pflegers [nurses] led Mala directly towards the sector gate along Lagerstrasse [camp street] to the crematorium. 

The next memorabilia that I hand over to the Museum Collections are two locks of hair … wrapped in paper with a German inscription printed on it, on the edge of the paper it is written with a pencil “Mally Zimetbaum 19880, Edward Galiński 531”. These are the locks of Edek Galiński and Malla Zimetbaum, who escaped from the camp in Birkenau and with whom I had also intended to flee. I received it an hour after Edek Galiński was hanged. Legerkapo of the BIId sector Jup Winedeck, who carried out the execution of Edek Galiński … handed the hair over to me. …

The hair, together with the photograph of Mala Zimetbaum … were smuggled by me through all subsequent camps. 

… In the autumn of 1943 female prisoner Mala Zimetbaum came to me and asked me to draw her portrait. I fulfilled her request. … My tool was a piece of regular pencil and some paper. As I finished the portrait, it only lasted about an hour, … I handed it over to Mala. Mala, who wished to express her gratitude, managed to get for me the transfer to the “Strickerei” (hosiery) Kommando. It was very important for me as I was weak after a long illness. Thanks to working in the hosiery, I survived the toughest period for each female prisoner, i.e. the winter of 1943/1944.