JAN GÓŹDŹ

In Dębno on this day, 7 May 1948, at 12.30 p.m., I, officer Stanisław Tomczyk from the Citizens’ Militia Station in Słupia Nowa, acting on the basis of the following: Article 20 of the provisions introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure, on the instruction of citizen Prosecutor from the II Region of the Prosecutor’s Office of the District Court in Kielce, this dated 20 March 1948, L.Ż.N. 36/47, issued on the basis of Article 20 of the provisions introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure, observing the formal requirements set forward in Articles 235–240, 258 and 259 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, with the participation of reporter Jan Sepioło, whom I informed of his obligation to attest to the conformity of the report with the actual course of the procedure by his own signature, have heard the person named below as a witness. The witness, having been advised of the right to refuse testimony for the reasons set forward in Article 104 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and of the criminal liability for making false declarations, this pursuant to the provisions of Article 140 of the Penal Code, stated as follows:


Name and surname Jan Góźdź
Parents’ names Franciszek and Maria, née Dwojewska
Date and place of birth 11 April 1925, Dębno
Religion Roman Catholic
Occupation farmer
Place of residence Dębno, commune of Słupia Nowa, district of Kielce
Relationship to the parties none
As regards the present case, I am aware of the following facts: On 29 June 1943 German

gendarmes drove up and carried out a sweep operation, herding all the people before the church of the community of Dębno. Among them were Feliks Bzymek and his family – Katarzyna, Bronisława, Mieczysław and Anna, Jan Kucharski, Jan Binkowski, Anna and Jan Piwowarczyk, Stanisław Wiącek, Antoni Lesisz, Maria Lesisz, Stanisław Pepaś, Stanisław Binkowski, Józef and Władysław Dyk, Władysław Michalski, Piotr Matys, Paweł Matys, Stanisław Pelka and his family – Maria, Józef, Jan and Kazimierz, Jadwiga and Maria Łebek, Marianna Łakomiec, Franciszek Rak, Stanisław Łebek, Stanisław and Władysław Lesisz, and Eugenia Dwojewska.

The abovementioned persons were accused of hiding partisans in their houses, and were therefore shot dead. They were buried near the church in the community of Dębno, commune of Słupia Nowa. It is probable that these people had been informed on by Smurzyński and Franciszek Witek. The execution was carried out by German gendarmes who were stationed in the township of Święta Katarzyna, commune of Bodzentyn, district of Kielce. I do not know the surnames of the killers, for they were strangers.

At this point the report was brought to a close and read out before being signed by the witness.