JAN PANEK

On 6 August 1947 in Staszów, the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes of the District Court with its seat in Radom, Branch Office in Staszów, Judge Albin Walkiewicz, an attorney in Staszów, interviewed the person mentioned hereunder 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 Jan Panek


Age 51 years old
Parents’ names Jakub and Katarzyna
Place of residence Staszów, Krakowska Street 8
Occupation butcher
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none

I am, and I was during the occupation, the fire chief of the fire department in Staszów. On the night of 8 November 1942, I was instructed by the mayor to gather a large unit of firefighters and wait for further instructions. By day, the displacement of Jews began. The Jewish militia made sure that all the Jews left their apartments, formed a column of several thousand Jews and drove them in the direction of Stopnica. The displacement was carried out by the gendarmerie from Ostrowiec, Opatów and Staszów with the help of Ukrainians.

Before the column set off, I saw an SD man from Ostrowiec shoot two Jews. When the column started moving, the Germans began shooting at the Jews in the column, which lasted during the whole journey. The people who had been killed were searched by Volksdeutsche, while we – firefighters – were instructed to remove the corpses who had already been searched and take them to the Jewish cemetery in order to bury them. On the section of the road that went through the city and to the border of the Stopnica District, which was about 1½ km long, there were several dozen corpses.

The following incident took place at the cemetery: a child abandoned in a ditch by its mother was brought to the cemetery. A German told me to put the child alive into the pit with corpses and bury it. I refused. Then, the German shot at the child from a close distance, but the child was wrapped in a pillow, so I did not see it being hit. The German told me to bury it, but I again refused to do so because the child was still alive. Then, the German shot the child with a rifle and the child soon died. Then we buried it. I know – I personally saw one such incident – that every Jew encountered after the displacement was shot at by the Germans. I do not know anything else.

The report was read out. I do not know the names of the German criminals.