PAWEŁ WOŹNIAK

On 29 November 1947, in Radoszyce, K. Kocmulski, member of the Vice-Prosecutor’s Commission of the District Court with the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Radom, heard the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the wording of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Paweł Woźniak
Age 44
Parents’ names Andrzej and Marianna née Lichota
Place of residence Szóstaki village, Radoszyce commune
Occupation farmer
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none

On 8 April 1943, in the morning hours, I noticed a few German military policemen who surrounded the house of my neighbor, Stanisław Popiel. I drove off to work in the field then. Half an hour later, the military policemen ordered me to return from the field, which I also did. Three military policemen sat on my [farm] cart and told me to go to Gruszka to get Julian Popiel. The rest of the military policemen stayed. We didn’t find Julian Popiel in Gruszka, so we returned to the village of Szóstaki. When I arrived, I saw that the house of the neighbor Stanisław Janus was burning. Then, all the military policemen drove off to the village of Nadworów, where I took them. When I returned, Janus’ house was burnt down.

People told me that Janus’ house was set on fire by the German military policemen, but I don’t know why. Inside the house were corpses of the Popiel and Janus families. We pulled them out of the fire. They [the corpses] were: Marianna Popiel, Marian Popiel, Bronisław Popiel, Natalia Popiel, Antoni Popiel (12 years old), Krystyna Popiel (4 years old), Stanisław Janus, Teofila Janus, Eleonora Janus (14 years old), Antonina Janus, Józef Janus, Anna Janus (10 years old), Julian Janus (5 years old), and three more young children aged 3 to 5 years, whose names I do not remember. The corpses were buried in the cemetery in Radoszyce. These people had previously been shot. I do not know the names of the perpetrators.

The report was read out.