In the course of an investigation conducted by the IPN (Institute of National Remembrance) in Lublin, on „overall Nazi crimes committed in 1941-1944 at the Majdanek concentration camp (German: KL) in Lublin, consisting in particular in perpetrating mass and individual killings, as well as applying all other methods and procedures of extermination against camp inmates of various nationalities, as a result of which about one million persons lost their lives”, information was obtained about the still alive guard of KL Lublin, citizen of the Republic of Austria, Erna W.

The investigation was conducted by the former District Commission for Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland, and the factual accounts have been collected from the testimonies of former female inmates of KL Lublin.

On basis of the collected evidence, on 21.05.2007 the decision was issued to press charges against Erna W. The charges are as follows:

„During the German occupation of Poland, on unspecified dates between 7th October 1942 and 15th January 1944, on Fields V and I of the Lublin Concentration Camp, located at Majdanek in district Lublin, voivodeship of Lublin, acting as guard of the Lublin concentration camp, jointly and in concert with other persons, participated in committing crimes against humanity, by breaching the principle of protecting the population of belligerent sides set by provisions of the law of nations, expressed in introduction to Hague Convention (IV), ‘concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land’ (Journal of Laws 1927, no. 21, item 161), by applying illegal violence and threat, also motivated by nationality and race, against physically and psychologically exhausted women and children from civilian populations of occupied territories, confined to the Lublin Concentration Camp, giving them inhumane treatment;”

Following the decision to press legal charges, requests for judicial assistance were formed and forwarded to respective institutions:

1. The Republic of Austria – primarily a request for information whether any proper judicial proceedings have been conducted against the former guard of the Lublin concentration camp, Erna W., on the territory of the Republic of Austria; and a request to attempt to obtain a photograph of the suspect Erna W. (taken possibly in a period close to the time covered by the charge);
2. The Federal Republic of Germany – a request to secure evidence from document, by using the same to prepare, for the needs of the described investigation, an official copy of a testimony incriminating the suspect, previously given in the Federal Republic of Germany by a Polish witness, Tatiana T.

Initial proceedings are in progress, and the availability of any documents from files of the investigation, pursuant to art. 156 § 6 second sentence, may occur only in exceptional cases.