Warsaw, 27 October 1948. A member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, Judge Halina Wereńko, interviewed the person specified below as a witness, without swearing him. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:
| Forename and surname | Jan Jampolski |
| Names of parents | Piotr and Maria, née Żubrowska |
| Date of birth | 15 July 1916 in Pińsk |
| Religious affiliation | Roman-Catholic |
| Education | elementary school and one grade at technical secondary school |
| State affiliation and nationality | Polish |
| Place of residence | Wola Aleksandra, Nieporęt municipality |
| Occupation | laborer in a light bulb factory in Warsaw |
From 1935, I worked for the Soviet secret intelligence service in Poland. In October 1939, I went to the USSR. After some rest in a sanatorium in Smolensk, I was sent to an artificial silk technical secondary school in Mohyliv. On 23 June 1941, I volunteered to join the Red Army, and on the following day I was transported with other volunteers to Baranowicze, where we were supposed to receive equipment and an order to be sent to the front. On 26 June , the transport was dispersed by German air raids. Then I escaped into the woods, and on 28 June I was admitted to a Russian partisan group commanded by lieutenant Popkov, who was organizing partisan groups against the Germans in the Baranowicze woods in order to break through the area controlled by German units surrounding Baranowicze and join the regular Soviet army. On 5 July, Popkov’s unit was defeated by German paratroopers. I took part in the fighting, as a result of which 12 people from our group were killed; the remaining nine people, including me, all wounded, were taken away by the Germans on four tanks. On the way to Baranowicze, the five heavily wounded people were executed while the three lightly wounded and I were stopped in a field about 15 kilometers away from Baranowicze; there, we were joined to a group of between 80 and 100 men, Soviet prisoners of war and civilian men of Polish nationality. We were ordered to stand close together; we were not permitted to sit down or given any food. We were kept like that for two days and nights. On 10 July, when our group was being driven along a road in the woods, I escaped and hid out in the woods until 7 August, when I was caught by German soldiers. When I was caught, I did not have any firearms on me. I was carrying a scythe and I made excuses, saying that I was on my way to mow hay. Nevertheless, I was taken into a vehicle and transported to prison in Baranowicze. There I found about 10,000 people, men from the civilian population and Soviet prisoners of war. In normal conditions the place was able to hold about 5,000 people. Since there was no room in the building, I was put in the prison courtyard. The place was so crowded that we had to stand close together night and day, and it was impossible to lie down. We suffered from lack of water, food and even fresh air. A few people died near me. I stayed in the prison for two days and nights. I heard from other prisoners that some people had already been kept in there for a few days. One could survive for only five or six days in such conditions. It was said that the Germans kept prisoners in there for only a few days because they did not know what to do with corpses. So, after a few days, they transported prisoners to other camps, and those who were transported away were replaced by newcomers. So, there was a transit camp in the prison. Having stayed there for two days, I saw about 50 corpses that had been put in a vehicle. On 12 August 1941, a transport to Siedlce was created. Only those who were able to walk were selected while those who were too weak were left in Baranowicze, and I do not know their later fate. I was in a group of about 300 men. We were driven westward on foot; we walked for two days and nights. During our journey, German soldiers finished the weaker men off, and about 50 people were killed in this way. A few people escaped on the way. On 14 August, the remaining ones were loaded into vehicles and transported to a camp near Siedlce, located near a road.
I cannot determine its location accurately because being imprisoned behind the barbed-wire I could not orientate myself. I know that there were woods nearby and that the camp itself was located in a sandy field; it was surrounded with wire fencing and watchtowers equipped with floodlights, and six posts with heavy machine guns. I remained there for four weeks. There was once an ineffectual escape attempt made by some prisoners, as a result of which 20 people were killed and 50 wounded. The camp consisted of 15-16,000 men, usually Soviet prisoners of war of different nationalities: Ukrainians, Russians proper, Belarusians, Mongols, Poles and Jews. Each nationality had a separate place behind the wire. In the camp, prisoners were murdered and mistreated; during roll-calls and when meals were being distributed, between two and five men out of 100 were killed with clubs every day. We were taken to collect our meals in groups of 100 and that is why I was able to work out how many prisoners, more or less, died in each group of 100 men. The guards inside the camp were from the German police – the Gestapo. Guards beat prisoners mercilessly, drilled them, or executed them for trifling offences.
They executed prisoners for taking away other prisoner’s bread. Ten prisoners were executed for an escape attempt made by one prisoner. There was an epidemic of dysentery in the camp. Every day, between five and six people died out of 100. There were Wehrmacht soldiers on guard. The conditions in the camp were better than in Baranowicze. There was plenty of fresh air. Every day, they gave out a kilogram of bread for a group of eight prisoners, half a liter of coffee, and half a liter of soup.
The camp in Biała Podlaska
At the beginning of September, 1941 (I do not remember the date accurately), I was assigned to a transport sent to Biała Podlaska. The transport was by rail and it only consisted of Poles, mainly civilians.
I do not know how many people were in it. I remember that it consisted of four freight wagons. There were about 80 prisoners in the wagon I was in. We were escorted by Gestapo men. The camp in Biała Podlaska was located to the south of the city. There were up to 15,000 men in it, including a fairly small group of civilians, with most of the prisoners of war being Soviet prisoners of various nationalities put separately behind the wire. It resembled the camp in Siedlce with the difference that there were tents here, and prisoners of different nationalities were treated in different ways.
Poles were treated the best, then Ukrainians, then Mongols, Russians, with Jews at the very end. In October, 1941, the Jews were transported away from the camp, as it was said – to do forced labor in Germany. There was also an epidemic of dysentery in this camp.
The camp in Dęblin
In November, 1941, I was transported to Dęblin. We were loaded into eight freight wagons. I was in a group of 200 Poles; I do not know how many prisoners of other nationalities were there. We were escorted by the German police.
After we had arrived in Dęblin, we were taken into the fortress. When we were being unloaded from the wagons, the guards hit us with clubs; as a result, we arrived at the fortress completely terrorized; it was impossible to even think of escaping. We spent the night in the courtyard; we were only taken to the barracks on the following day. Before our arrival, the barracks had been empty, extremely filthy and cold. There was only one building for the ill. This building, which housed a first-aid post, was called the “morgue” by the Germans. After the barracks had been tidied up, we were put in there in the hundreds. There was a translator assigned to each group. There was a camp police set up by the Germans from among the prisoners, which was subordinate to the Lagerführer. When ordered to do so, this police beat prisoners and maltreated them. A system of roll-calls was in operation. We always waited for meals standing for a long time. After the evening roll-call was over, the German guards shot at the prisoners who went out of the barracks. At the same time, there was no toilet in the barracks; its substitute were holes dug in the courtyard, which were not enough. As a consequence of an epidemic of dysentery, there was a crowd of people at the holes during the day. A short time after my arrival, I saw that an ill prisoner who was not able to reach a hole in time was shot by a guard. In December, 1941, when there was freezing weather, we were taken to a bath house to be deloused. One had to wait naked in the corridor for one’s turn; after the bath, for which we were given cold water, we waited naked again, for our clothes. A lot of people fell ill after the bath.
Near the fortress, on the other side, there was a larger camp for Soviet prisoners, where there were also women. Our group was in no contact with them. I suppose that we were kept separately because of the epidemic of typhus. In order to get to the bath house, we had to go through that larger camp for Soviet prisoners. There I saw a pile of corpses arranged against a brick wall in the camp as if for cremation.
I was not able to notice if they had had bullet wounds. Shortly after our arrival, an epidemic of typhus broke out. Few people out of each group of 100 were able to take part in roll-calls; then the camp police, which consisted of prisoners of war, threw other prisoners of war out of the barracks by force. An ill person who – after having been hit with a club several times – was not able to go out and join the roll-call was taken to the first-aid post, which was generally called the “morgue.” There was no doctor there, only a few orderlies selected from among the prisoners, whose task was to record the number of ill and dead prisoners. There were no meals brought for the sick in the “morgue.” If one was strong enough, one joined a queue and received food; ill prisoners were not able to do so. There was no bath house for the ill prisoners; consequently, the first-aid post was a place in the camp where the number of lice was the highest.
The peak of the epidemic was in the winter of 1941. I could see hand-carts arrive at theprisoner huts and take 20 prisoners out of 100 every day; they were transported to thefirst-aid point.
There was starvation in the camp; every day we received a loaf of bread for a group of eight prisoners, half a liter of coffee, five decagrams of fruit preserve, half a liter of soup. Soup was usually made by boiling swede. At the end of December, 1941, the following incident occurred: one prisoner, a Mongol, had been going around the rooms selling meat. Shortly afterwards an assembly was called. The Lagerführer said that the Mongol had been selling human flesh; he added that this was punishable by death; he shot the Mongol in front of us and said that everybody would die like that for cannibalism.
I fell ill with typhus in January, 1942. When I was no longer able to go out for roll-call, on a camp policeman’s order prisoners tied a belt around my leg and, pulling the belt, they dragged me into the “morgue.” I was seriously ill for two weeks without any medical assistance. I was looked after by a friend, who brought me some food when I could eat. I lay on the floor on straw, just like the other prisoners. Everybody wrapped himself up in his own clothes; we were not given anything to cover ourselves with. An orderly came to check the number of patients; then, prisoners came to take away the corpses. There was no medical care during that time. The Lagerführer or other Germans who were in the camp did not come at all. However, I recovered and, thanks to the help of my friend and the cook, I regained my strength.
The school in Powązki
At the end of February, 1942, together with other prisoners, in a group of about 100 Poles, I was transported to Warsaw. The transport consisted of six, maybe seven, freight wagons.
I was put in a Jewish school in Powązki together with part of the transport – a group of Poles, Russians and Ukrainians, 400 men in total. We took a bath in a municipal bath house and were given clothes. There had been no camp in the school before our arrival, the rooms were clean, so we were not even ordered to clean the floor. The Lagerführer was an SS-man who maintained discipline but who had high standards of cleanliness. We were starved just like before, but there was no epidemic. The Lagerführer administered severe punishments for disobeying orders concerning the maintenance of cleanliness; the police, which consisted of prisoners, beat us for trifling offences.
The camp in Beniaminów in the vicinity of the village of Białobrzegi, Nieporęt MUNICIPALITY
At the beginning of March, 1942, (I do not remember the date accurately), our whole group from the school in Powązki was transported in trucks to the camp in Beniaminów. The camp was located in huts built in a field near barracks. When I arrived, the prisoners were divided into groups on the basis of their nationality, and each group had their own hut. There were bath houses available every ten days. There was starvation just like in the other camps, with the difference that during my stay the Polish Red Cross had access to the camp and they brought extra portions of soup once a day. The camp authorities only allowed them to distribute soup to the prisoners of Polish, Ukrainian, and Mongolian nationality. Russians were excluded. During my stay, other prisoners said that there were about 15,000 prisoners in the camp; I had the impression that their number was lower by a few thousand.
I do not know how many people died in the camp. Corpses were buried behind the camp, at the edge of the woods, usually in fairly large pits. I saw the burying of corpses many times. I can show the locations. Prisoners said that the end of 1941 was the peak of an epidemic, the most severe starvation, and that there were cases of cannibalism. I stayed in the camp until Easter in April, 1942. Then, thanks to the efforts of representatives of the local community, I was set free as a member of a group of six Poles who were released. The Nieporęt municipality looked after us and I went through two months’ quarantine there. Later, I worked on the production of peat and on a farm; finally, I settled in the village of Wola Aleksandra. The camp in Beniaminów was already shrinking in 1943. At that time, there were a lot fewer Soviet prisoners of war there, and there was a large group of internee Italians. In 1944, before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Germans transported the Soviet prisoners of war away. After I had been released from the camp, I worked in intelligence for the People’s Army (the witness shows a certificate issued by a member of the staff, Chief of intelligence services of the People’s Army for area no. 2, Corps District 3, “Kola” Zuzański, 19245, the town of Legionowo. The certificate has no date. The authenticity of Zuzański’s signature was confirmed by the municipality deputy head Ziółkowski with the administrative stamp of the Legionowo municipality.)
At this the report was concluded and read out.