On 19 November 1947, the Municipal Court in Iłża with Judge M. Pytlewski presiding, interviewed the person specified below as a witness, without administering an oath. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the provisions of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:
Name and surname | Marianna Belica |
Age | 21 years old |
Parents’ names | Walenty Belica and Marianna, née Ziętek |
Place of residence | Podsuliszka, Zalesice commune |
Occupation | farmer, lives with her parents |
Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
Criminal record | none |
Relationship to the parties | sister of the victim Tadeusz Belica |
Three or four days before 14 August 1943, a large unit of Germans in black uniforms – probably SS men – arrived at the Modrzejowice estate. Before sunrise on 14 August 1943, they took several dozen people from the village of Podsuliszka, including me and my brother Tadeusz. We were all taken to the Modrzejowice estate and detained in the basement. I was among the four women there, we were separated from the men. We escaped in the evening of the same day. In the morning of 15 August 1943, at sunrise, all of the men were escorted to the Pakosław Forest, located around a kilometer from the Modrzejowice estate. 16 of them were shot there, while 12 men managed to escape on the way there. I was not present at the execution, I didn’t see anything. All of the victims were immediately buried at the execution site. Four days later, my parents took the body of my brother Tadeusz and buried him in the cemetery in Alojzów, Krzyżanowice commune.
The arrests took place because Bronisław Kopania from the village of Podsuliszka had reported that were a lot of partisans in our village. When the Germans fled, Kopania disappeared as well. His location is unknown, he probably went along with with the Germans. I did not know the Germans who took us. I do not know a single surname and cannot describe their looks. Today I would not even be able to recognize them.
The report was read out.