STEFAN CHWAŁA

Nowa Wieś, 28 November 1948

Interviewed as a witness:


Name and surname Stefan Chwała
Parents’ names Józef and Mariana, née Mielczarek
Date and place of birth 11 November 1908, Kowalewo
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Marital status married
Occupation farmer
Place of residence Nowa Wieś, Kamyk commune

With regard to the execution of 10 hostages in Nowa Wieś, I know that one day – I don’t remember the date, but it was in May 1943 before noon – a car full of people and surrounded by gendarmes arrived in Nowa Wieś. The car stopped by the forester’s lodge, where the people were ordered to get off, and they began to build some scaffolding. I figured out that it was a gallows, and that the people who had been brought there were going to be hanged. I wanted to run away, but I couldn’t; we were forced to watch under pain of death.

When the condemned persons – there were 20 of them – had erected the gallows, 10 were placed under the gallows, and the rest had to fasten the nooses around their necks. When the sentence was carried out and the doctor had declared the executed dead, the gendarmes took the scaffolding and the murdered people and left in the direction of Kamyk.

I would like to emphasize that the murderers herded the local populace and the residents of surrounding villages to witness this sad event under pain of death.