On 16 November 1948, in Zwoleń, Judge M. Łowicki, with the participation of reporter P. Mikulski, at the Magistrates’ Court in Zwoleń, heard the person named below as a sworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the significance of the oath, the witness was sworn and testified as follows:
Name and surname | Jakub Wolszczak |
Age | 65 |
Parents’ names | Ignacy and Barbara |
Place of residence | Tczów |
Occupation | farmer |
Criminal record | none |
Relationship to the parties | none |
On 11 November 1943, about 40 German military policemen arrived in the village of Tczów in several cars – from Radom and from Zwoleń. The military policemen from Zwoleń were: Kultz, Heint, [and] Commandant Heinrisch. They were accompanied by “Ukrainians” and three Blue Police officers from the station in Zwoleń – that is Majewski, Srembski, and the third I [only] knew by sight.
Some of the cars with the military policemen broke up around the surrounding villages. It was about 4-5 in the morning. In the morning they started to arrive in cars, transporting and bringing mainly young people. All in all, they brought in 30-something Poles. They were all held at the church cemetery in Tczów. They [Poles] had their hands tied behind their backs. From the church they [military policemen] led them to the school building. There, some of the arrested were interrogated and beaten; they lead them out beaten so badly that some could not walk.
Then they brought me and 12 others behind Józef Warchoł’s barn (in Tczów), [where] they ordered us to dig a hole. We dug a ditch about two meters deep and about five meters long. They then sent us to the neighbor’s [house], Pietrzyk, [where we were supposed] to wait. Afterwards, they brought the arrested to this ditch, a few at a time, and they had to get in this ditch. We heard how they [military policemen] ordered them to lie down. Then they started killing.
After slaughtering everyone, they called us. It was a terrible sight. Corpses lay on top of each other. We covered them with earth. One of the Germans took all of us who buried [the corpses], and said that those people were killed because they were bandits and refused to admit that they had weapons. [He added that] all those who would beat village chiefs, would be killed. I will mention that a few days before this [event], the chief of the Tczów commune, Antoni Wolszczak, was beaten up by the partisans, and the following year in July he was killed by the partisans.
During the shooting, one of the arrested escaped, but the Germans killed him and later he was thrown into the pit.
Two or three months later, the Germans came to the place of the mass grave of the murdered. They deported people from [the surrounding areas]. They surrounded the place of the grave with cars and set up some kind of machine. It was turned on and it released a lot of smoke and you could smell something like sulfur in the air. They did something there for about three hours and drove away. After this, there was an opening in the place, where the corpses of the murdered lay. The rest was trampled.
Among the murdered were: Franciszek Cynowski; Stefan Suwała; Stanisław Suwała; Władysław Wolszczak, Jan’s son; Stefan Banasik, Franciszek’s son; Antoni Stawarz; Jan Stawarz; Stefan Tkaczyk; Lucjan Lesisz; Franciszek Kaca; Władysław Zwierzyk from the village of Tczów; Stanisław Górka from Tczów; Władysław Ćwiklak; Mital; Bolesław Łozicki; Franciszek Sikora; Rzeżak; Stefan Sowa, Augustyn’s son; Stefan Sowa, Jan’s son, from the village of Borki; Antoni Gołąbek; Jan Woźniak; Gregorczyk; Tadeusz Dygas from Rawica; Marianna Kutyła; Stanisław Wójcik from Drożanki; Jan Pietrzyk from Borków and others, whom I don’t know. In total, apparently 37 Poles were killed. Polish police officers kept guard on the roads together with the “Ukrainians”. The murders were carried out only by the Germans.
The report was read out to me – this is what I testified.