On 20 October 1947 in Radom, the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes with its seat in Radom, this in the person of a member of the Commission, lawyer Zygmunt Glogier, interviewed the person mentioned hereunder as a witness, without taking an oath. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Antoni Bryński |
| Date and place of birth | 18 January 1899, Radom |
| Parents’ names | Edward and Jozefa née Jabłońska |
| Place of residence | Radom, Mickiewicza Street 1 |
| Occupation | proxy at Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego [National Development Bank] |
| Criminal record | none |
| Relationship to the parties | none |
On 11 November 1939, there were numerous arrests of political parties’ representatives, judges, lawyers, tradesmen, teachers and doctors in Radom. I’m able to give the reason for the arrests. I get the impression that the Germans meant to terrorize the population.
On 8 December, a Christmas day, the Germans began to evict people from Moniuszki, Sienkiewicza and Żeromskiego Streets. Because they only gave an hour to vacate the flats, without indicating any other place to go, unbelievable things were happening. People would throw furniture out of their windows. Most of the residents were forced to take shelter in the Mariacki church, which was temporarily turned into a refuge for the evicted. The Jewish population, suffering constant intrusion by the Gestapo, were not allowed to take any belongings from their apartments; they awaited eviction with no possibility of taking any belongings.
Repressions on a bigger scale didn’t start until February or March 1940 – after a clash between Polish and German units near Chlewiska and Stefankowo in Końskie District. That’s when masses of arrested people were brought from that area to Firlej, where, according to the circulating news, they were executed. Details could be given by witness Blinstrub, a clerk at an insurance company in Radom.
After the fighting near Chlewiska, a wounded Polish soldier named Tomczyk was brought to a military hospital for POWs in Radom and watched by the Gestapo day and night. Because of a very severe condition, he couldn’t be interrogated and died without giving the Germans any information. I know this from father Grelewski, who was the hospital’s chaplain. Grelewski was then murdered by the Germans. The people arrested in the surroundings of Końskie were shot dead in 1940, a couple of days before Easter.
In January 1941, massive arrests were carried out according to lists. The following people were captured: Dr. Witkowski, Gałka, Świątkowski – a lawyer, Cypryszewski, Staniszewski, Prof. Cyrański, Prof. Henryk Suliga, Władysław Paluszyński, fathers Stefan and Kazimierz Grelewski, father Sznura, Eng. Drewski, Piekarski family from Jedlnia, landlord Jan Makulec, tradesman Jerzy Pikulski, floral shop owner Adamska, Eng. Stanisław Cybulski, Aleksander Kołbuk, landlord Ekiert, landlord Gawroński, retired insurance clerk Aleksander Zyhowicz, Lt. Wiktor, gimnazjum principal Małuja, electric plant director Chądzyński, tradesman Romuald Bogacki, Dr. Wroński, and many others, whose surnames I don’t recall. They were deported to Skarżysko, where only few of them were released – the others died, either in camps or in prisons.
By the end of 1941, there were mass arrests again, but I don’t recall any surnames of the captured people. I should mention that the Germans purposely chose national or church holidays for conducting the arrests.
On 4 June 1942, on the day of the Feast of Corpus Christi, reserve officers were arrested in Radom and nearby, school teachers, both high schools and primary.
On 12 July there was a big roundup in Garbatka-Letnisko, with a couple of hundred people captured. In the meantime, there were consistent arrests going on and hostages being taken.
On 11 November 1942, I was arrested in the morning hours. Two individuals came to my apartment, one civilian and the other in Gestapo uniform – I don’t remember their faces. I was taken from my flat to a garage in Kościuszki Street, where I met lots of friends who had already been taken there. We were ordered to stand facing the wall, forbidden from having any conversation whatsoever, and threatened with retaliation in the event of disobeying the order. A Gestapo man wielding an automatic rifle, who spoke poor Polish, watched us.
We stood like that from 6.00 a.m. until dawn. In the evening, Fuchs surrounded by a couple of Gestapo men came into the garage and gave a speech which stated more or less as follows. It was found that all the arrested belong to the Union for Armed Struggle. They would be thoroughly interrogated. He said that confessing would save not just the person, but also their relatives. He described such struggle against the Germans as pointless. He added that the guilt of some of us was proven beyond any doubt, because we had been watched for a long time, so he was sure of us being guilty. Then Dr. Metera, Judge Danikowski, Engineer Kurcza, Stanisław Glogier, Mrs Beselniak, and a few other people, whose surnames I don’t remember, were called out, and taken to the basements of the Gestapo, as I learned later. The rest of us were loaded on cars and driven to prison, placing us in Ferdinand Koch’s Sonderabteilung.
I was placed in cell no. 3. Along with me were: Eng. Rejchel, Eng. Sosnowski, Witold Grochowski – head of Social Care Department in Radom’s Municipal Board, Tadeusz Kasprzykowski – a school pupil, Eng. Tadeusz Maj, Jan Białowąs, Antoni Kozera with his son (12 people of his family were arrested, who were staying in other cells), Jerzy Kupidura, Polish Army sergeant Aksan, Lipiński, and railway technician Zygmunt Ociessa [sic!].
My cell mates, who had been arrested before us, congratulated us on being able to get to the cell safely, because all the prisoners submitted by Koch were inhumanely tortured before making it to the cells. I was able to verify this information myself numerous times during the following eight weeks of my stay in prison. Before Christmas 1942, on the very day of Christmas Eve more than a dozen of people – from Iłża District, I suppose – were brought to the Sonderabteilung. They were let in by Koch, who first beat them up mercilessly, and then – on Christmas Day, beat them with a bull whip and forced their cell mates to beat them in the face. The interrogations started on 13 November, as a result of which the prisoners couldn’t stand straight without help – Aksan and Tadeusz Maj were beaten especially severally. Taken to an interrogation on 17 December, Zygmunt Ociessa was thrown into the death cell by the Gestapo after coming back, according to what Dr. Tomaszewski, a prisoner called from another cell, managed to find out. I should mention that Ociessa was in good health at the time when he was taken to be interrogated.
I was interrogated on 4, 5, and 6 of January 1943. I was taken away from the prison in the morning, handcuffed. Koch or one of the Gestapo thugs, who came to pick us up, were the ones to cuff us.
Very often, a Gestapo man named Albin would come to do so; he was nicknamed “Ryży” by the prisoners, a man of an animal’s face and behavior. Having arrived at Kościuszki Street, we were put in a bathroom and cuffed to heaters. The bathroom was on the side of Kościuszki Street. We would very often sit there without any meal until 7.00 p.m. or later, waiting to be called up for interrogation.
I should mention here, that the waiting was extremely distressful, because the crying and screaming of tortured prisoners was reaching us from all the surrounding rooms. A secretary would enter the bathroom and read out a prisoner’s surname, then approach him, open his handcuffs with a key and lead him to the interrogation room without the chains.
I was interrogated in the room opposite the bathroom. A uniformed, medium-height, stout, broad-shouldered individual was to interview me, assisted by a slim dark-haired man – a translator. On the first day, I was beaten up with whips by both of them. Brought to the place on the second day, I stood for the whole day in the basement and I wasn’t interrogated.
On 6 January, having arrived at Kościuszki Street, I stayed in the bathroom until late afternoon and in a huge crowd, as masses of people were brought in to be interrogated. When I was called in, I got beaten again. That’s when I saw a couple of women in the bathroom, severely beaten and covered in blood. No record [of the interrogation] of any sort was made. I left for Majdanek in a transport on 9 January 1943. Before leaving, our hands were tied and after arriving at the platform we had to wait for the wagons for a few hours, kneeling in the snow.
Albin, nicknamed “Ryży”, came to Majdanek several times, accompanied by the translator Skoneczny – description: burly, well-built, supposedly from Radom. Skoneczny was known by my companion in misery, Bogusław Maliszewski, who presently resides in Kraków, and who used to be his colleague from the regiment. Albin, along with Skonieczny, interrogated and beat me up also in Majdanek, and that included a time when Albin broke his whip on me.
From among the people who were arrested on 11 November along with me, the following are dead: Stefania Suchańska, Halina Kasprzykowska, Iza Glogier, Patkowa, Wanda née Glogier, Alicja Kozera, Eng. Rejchel, Jan Białowąs, Zygmunt Ociessa, Antoni Kozera, Konrad Kozera and Tadeusz Kozera, Eng. Tadeusz Maj, Tadeusz Kasprzykowski, Józef Konieczny, Witold Grochowski, Judge Dankowski, Antoni Libicki, Eng. Edward Feliński, Witold and Tadeusz Pszczółkowski, Kazimierz Zabicki, Zygmunt Deperasiński, Antoni Kozłowski, Eng. Kurcz, Kołtun, Deperasiński (no first name), and Julian Nowakowski.
I was held at the Majdanek and Buchenwald camps. I was released by the Americans on 11 April 1945.
I hereabove testified.
The report was read out.