STANISŁAW GÓRNIAK

On 23 January 1948 in Kozienice, the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Radom, Branch Office in Kozienice, in the person of lawyer Dr Gustaw Słupnicki, interviewed the person mentioned hereunder as a witness, without taking an oath. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations, of the provisions of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and of the significance of the oath, the judge took an oath therefrom, following which the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Stanisław Górniak
Age 28 years old
Parents’ names Paweł and Katarzyna, née Szymańska
Place of residence Kociołki, commune of Kozienice
Occupation laborer
Religion Roman Catholic

In September 1943, a column of German gendarmes stopped next to our village, Kociołki, and – as I was later told – some of the gendarmes went to the house of forester Antoni Nowakowski, whereafter his body was found in the forest next to the highway. The remaining gendarmes stayed next to their vehicle. At the time, one Władysław Dzik – a laborer who lived right next to the forest – was walking from his house through the field along a footpath. The Germans called him over. Someone told me that Józef Czyżewski, resident in Śmietanki, was also driving by on his bicycle; I myself don’t know what happened. I only heard one gunshot, but later people informed me that both men had been shot and killed by the gendarmes. I saw the spot where they were buried. I knew them well, and I can say that they were neither bandits nor partisans.

Apart from this, in the spring of 1944 gendarmes surrounded our village and used a list to detain the following people as hostages: Tadeusz Rojek, Antoni Rojek, Feliks Rojek, Stanisław Krajewski, Stanisław Połeć, Jan Cieślik, Eugeniusz Połeć, Jan Świtas, Franciszek Przychodzień, Stanisław Wielgomas and Bolesław Maciejczyk. Of these men, only Stanisław Wielgomas returned. Whereas following the Germans’ withdrawal, the bodies of Jan Cieślik and Stanisław Połeć were brought in from Pionki, and those of Feliks Rojek, Antoni Rojek and Stanisław Krajewski from Zwoleń. It was said that they had all been murdered by the Germans.

I did not hear about any other German crimes being committed in our village.