The Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin has conducted an investigation on 'overall Nazi crimes committed in 1941-1944 at the Majdanek concentration camp (German: KL) in Lublin, particularly the mass and individual killings, as well other procedures of extermination against camp inmates of various nationalities, as a result of which about one million persons lost their lives'. In the course of the investigation, an information was obtained that one of the guards of KL Lublin is still alive. It was Erna W., citizen of the Republic of Austria. 

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

On the basis of the collected evidence, on May 21, 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 October 7, 1942 and January15, 1944, acting as guard of the Lublin concentration camp Erna W. participated in committing crimes against humanity on Fields V and I of the Lublin Concentration Camp, located at Majdanek in district Lublin. She applied illegal violence and threat, motivated by national and race prejudice, against physically and psychologically exhausted women and children from the civilian populations of the occupied territories, 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 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 vital to the 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, may occur only in exceptional cases.