PAWEŁ KIEŁBOWSKI

Municipal Court in Chorzów Chorzów, 9 January 1946 In the presence of: Associate Judge
Wł. Czosnek, acting as judge
Court recorder Kasprowski, acting as reporter

Witness interview report
concerning German crimes

After the case was called out, there appeared:

Paweł Kiełbowski, 54 years old, Roman Catholic, office worker, resident of Chorzów I, Powstańców Street 1. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and without taking an oath, the witness testified as follows:

On 24 September 1942, mass arrests were carried out in Radom. As was usually the case in those times, the reason for them was unknown. 20 days after the arrests were conducted, that is on 13 October 1942, ten of the arrested were executed. Site of the execution: Radom, Kielecka Street (Mleczna Street).

Among the murdered people I recognized my son, Ryszard Kiełbowski, born on 1 March 1915. My son had served as an officer cadet in the Polish Army. His profession: mechanic. I recognized two more people apart from my son, who were: Franciszek Saramonowicz and his son.

In all, there were 10 people murdered. I wasn’t present during the execution, I arrived at its site only two hours later. The bodies of the murdered remained on the gallows until dusk.

The Germans placed a plaque at the execution site with the following warning in Polish: “The Polish populace is hereby warned that all people cooperating with or hiding “bandits” will be punished with death, as will be their families, and all their property will be confiscated for the benefit of the State Treasury”. This warning plaque also featured a note that the “bandits” and their helpers had been hanged for murdering a Gestapo man on a train between the stations of Rożki and Skarżysko.

On 14 October 1942, 15 people were hanged by the arms factory in Radom. Following the execution I recognized my son Stanisław, born on 13 November 1917, also a mechanic by profession. I didn’t recognize anyone else from among the hanged, as I didn’t even try to, overwhelmed with the death of my second son. Besides, recognition was hindered by the changes in the appearance of the hanged people.

On 14 October 1942, the Germans hanged 10 or 15 people in Radom. Among the hanged I recognized Sikorski, a former employee of the arms factory in Radom. The people who were also present at the site then recognized five members of the Winczewski family and one Ryglaski, a mechanic by profession, a former employee of the arms factory. I didn’t know these people so I couldn’t recognize them.

I wasn’t present at the execution site in Rożki. There were identical plaques with inscriptions at all execution sites.

The employees of the arms factory were forced to attend the execution by the factory, so that they would see what fate awaited them should they disobey any orders of the German authorities.

The bodies of the executed were buried in the township of Firlej, situated 7 kilometers away from Radom in the direction of Warsaw. There was a huge cemetery of victims, brought there from various parts of Poland. In the winter of 1943/1944, the Germans used Jews to dig up and burn the bodies of the executed that had been buried there.

The report was brought to a close.