On this day, 14 February 1949, Municipal Court in the town of Skarżysko-Kamienna, represented by Magistrate Władysław [?] Gaździński, with the participation of reporter A. Wójcik, interviewed the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Konstanty Grygiel |
| Age | 50 |
| Parents’ names | Jan and Franciszka |
| Place of residence | Wojtyniów, Bliżyn commune, Kielce district |
| Education | self-taught, able to read and write |
| Occupation | stonemason, supplier of crushed aggregates and dressed stones |
| Criminal record | none |
| Relationship to the parties | none |
During the German occupation, and two years before the Germans were expelled from our country, I was employed as a laborer in a sawmill in Bliżyn, which was managed by the German authorities.
In April 1943, I left my job at the sawmill in Bliżyn for three days to go to Opatów district to purchase some food. When I returned home from my trip, within half an hour the Blue Police came and took me to the Skarżysko-Kamienna Labor Office (called Arbeitsamt in German). That day I was told at the Arbeitsamt that I couldn’t leave my work even for a day, and I was sent under escort with the same Blue Police officer to the penal camp in Bliżyn.
At the Arbeitsamt there were Germans. I was not informed of any sentence nor who was going to administer it. A few days later, a German SS officer told me that I was sentenced to six months in the penal camp. The head of the sawmill, a German called Janko, had given the order to detain me and send me to the Arbeitsamt.
In Bliżyn there were [really] two camps – one for Polish nationals, and one for Jews. [Both] were arranged in one of the factories in Bliżyn. The Poles were on one side of the factory, and the Jews on the other. In this camp there were barracks – I don’t know what the name of the camp was – some Poles and Jews told me about it. The camp was managed by Commandant Nell. As I recall, he had the rank of Captain, but never that of General. I did not know the SS General Bettchen [Böttcher]. I know that generals used to come for inspection, but I don’t know their names. The camp staff consisted of German SS officers (around 30 people), and approximately 30 guards of Ukrainian nationality [who served] as [their] assistants.
I was in the camp for approximately a month and a half, from April to mid-May 1943. Due to the efforts of my family, I was released. In the camp there were approximately 70 Poles. The prisoners who stayed there had been convicted for leaving their jobs, breaking the curfew (staying out or travelling during the night), or travelling without passes. Most were [sentenced] to six months in the camp. I do not know the names of the people in the camp because the Poles who stayed there were brought from the General Government. The prisoners of the Bliżyn camp were escorted by guards to work outside the camp in the quarries near the village of Gostków, Bliżyn commune. They were employed there to crush stones from morning till evening, and after work they were brought back to the camp. Initially, I crushed stones outside the camp; and later, at the camp, I processed them into pieces.
In the camp we got some food; every day in the morning [we received] black coffee without sugar, and 12 decagrams [120 grams] of bread for 24 hours; for lunch [we had] soup consisting of rutabagas with water or potatoes; for dinner [we had] black coffee without sugar, and no bread. In the camp, the German SS officers, as well as the Ukrainians, beat the Poles for no reason – even for forgetting to bow to the passing guard. They beat [us] with whips, rifle butts, and sticks. I was beaten on my head with a whip for not bowing.
Prisoners had signs: armbands on their left arm with a large “P” on red canvas. Regarding illness, a Jewish doctor treated Polish and Jewish prisoners alike. There was a separate barrack for sick Jews and Poles. An epidemic of typhus spread there. At the end of my stay in the camp, many prisoners died from typhus. Almost half of the prisoners died in the camp. During my stay there, there was no execution of prisoners.
After my release from the camp, the Germans arrested the Polish ciura [a military henchman] from the village of Jastrzębia, Bliżyn commune, on suspicion of belonging to a secret organization. The camp guards in Bliżyn (SS officers) beat him so severely that he died on the street by the camp. I heard about it from people.
The Germans buried the dead in the woods outside the Bliżyn camp. I don’t know who issued the sentences placing Poles in the camp. I was not tried before any German court [that would have] passed the decision to put me in the penal camp. I don’t know the official names of the camps in Bliżyn for Jews and Poles. There was no crematorium. I don’t know whether they gassed people. Before they put me there, the place had served as a camp for slaves – Russian soldiers. There had been more than 6,000 of them, taken from the front. Everyone was either murdered or died of typhus. They are buried outside the camp, in the woods, a few kilometers away. This cemetery still exists and is fenced. The bones of the dead are visible even now. I walk past this cemetery often.
I do not know the camp commandant, SS Officer Bottchen [Böttcher]. I may recognize him in the picture. When I was in the camp, the prisoners told me that the name of the camp commandant was Nell. I knew him by sight. I do not know whether he had a pseudonym. Nell stayed in the camp on the spot, whereas the other officers came by car infrequently, sometimes once a week. Nell had the rank of Captain. I know military ranks, because I served in the Polish Army. He had three stars on his shoulder. Maybe he was promoted to General later.
The report was read out.