On this day, 22 November 1948, in Bliżyn, at 12:30 PM, I, Officer Kwiecień from the Citizens’ Militia station in Bliżyn, acting in accordance with the instructions of Citizen Deputy Prosecutor of Regional Prosecutor’s Office of the District Court in Radom, this dated on 25 August 1948, L. 825/48/2 issued on the basis of Art. 20 of the provisions introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure, with the participation of reporter Stefan Baran from the Citizens’ Militia station in Bliżyn, whom I informed about his obligation to attest by his own signature to the conformity of the Protocol with the actual course of the procedure, interviewed the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the significance of the oath, the right to refuse to testify for reasons specified in Article 104 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and of the criminal liability for making false declarations in accordance with Article 140 of the Penal Code, the witness was sworn and testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Ignacy Żak |
| Parents’ names | Franciszek and Józefa |
| Age | 39 |
| Place of birth | Sorbin, Bliżyn commune |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Occupation | carpenter |
| Place of residence | Bliżyn, Bliżyn commune, Kielce district |
| Relationship to the parties | none |
Regarding this matter, all what I am aware of is as follows. From the beginning of the occupation, I was in Bliżyn, and I know that in the year 1941, the POW camp for Soviet prisoners was founded here. Over the course of the prison’s existence around 8,500 Soviet prisoners were brought in, of whom around 40 prisoners are left. The others died because of execution, starvation, and overt harassment on the part of the SS and German police. The dead bodies were subsequently disposed of in a mass grave, which is in the woods nearby Bliżyn.
In the year 1942, the prison camp was established for Jews and Poles in Bliżyn, and it operated till the year 1944, during which time an undetermined number of prisoners died. On average around 40 people, including 20 Poles, were murdered, shot, or taken away every day, so that the average number of people [that] lived in that camp was 3,000 Jews and 1,400 Poles, who were taken from the districts of Kielce, Radom, Końskie, and Iłżecko.
However, in the year 1943, the labor camp for people convicted of petty offenses – such as breaking the curfew – was established. The penalties were, for instance, six months’ imprisonment for exceeding six minutes of curfew. This prison operated for two years, that is, from 1943 until 1945. The prisoners worked in the quarries in Gostków, Bliżyn commune, for the Schmidt Company.
The report was concluded and read out.