JAN SOBOLEWSKI

Opatów, 18 April 1946. The Municipal Court in Opatów in the person of judge Al. Zalewski, with the participation of a reporter, trainee judge J. Kwiatkowski, heard the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, of the wording of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and of the significance of the oath, the witness was sworn under Article 108 et seq. of the Code of Criminal Procedure and testified as follows:


Name and surname Jan Sobolewski
Date of birth 9 October 1904
Parents’ names Wojciech and Wiktoria, née Kopeć
Place of residence Opatów, Szeroka Street 17
Occupation tinsmith
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none

After the expulsion of the Jewish populace from Opatów, I saw German gendarmes – including Ryszard Hospodar, a functionary of the local SD who was commonly nicknamed “Chauffeur” – lead 6–8 Jews to the Jewish cemetery. Shortly afterwards the Jews were executed by shooting. Shortly later, someone discovered a Jewish family in hiding, and the German gendarmes – among them Biller (Billert), a gendarme notorious for his cruelty – led these Jews, too, to the cemetery and executed them there. This group consisted of 6 people, including one infant.