MARIAN SZCZEPAŃSKI

On 18 April 1946, the Municipal Court in Opatów, represented by Judge Al. Zalewski, with the participation of reporter app. J. Kwiatkowski, interviewed the person mentioned below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations, of the wording of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and of the significance of the oath, the judge swore the witness in accordance with Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, whereupon the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Marian Szczepański
Age 35 years old
Parents’ names Antoni and Joanna née Kwiatkowska
Place of residence Opatów, Kilińskiego Street 12
Occupation store owner
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none

In the spring of 1942 – I don’t remember the exact date – I found out from my sister-in-law Jadwiga Anna Szczepańska, that her husband – also my brother – Piotr Szczepański, was taken, arrested by Stanisław Słonka, officer of the criminal police under the local SD station in Opatów. My brother was initially detained in the local detention center and later was relocated with many others to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Gross-Rosen, from which he had sent his last message, because soon an official notice arrived from there that my brother died from a heart attack in the camp hospital.

I learned from my brother’s coworkers that Słonka arrested him due to accusations of sabotage against the Ömler company, where he was employed as a driver. In fact, it was a simple accident, not sabotage. As a citizen of the town of Opatów, it is known to me that the aforementioned Słonka had an awful reputation, because during the German occupation, he executed Polish and Jewish people; he sought out and arrested people who escaped from Germany, to take them away to Auschwitz; alongside German gendarmerie, he actively participated in fights against Polish partisans; and he beat and tortured the detainees, but I can’t give you any specific facts regarding these circumstances.