GENOWEFA FRĄK

On 14 December 1945, in Radom, Kazimierz Borys, Investigating Judge from the Second District of the District Court in Radom, based in Radom, interviewed the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Genowefa Frąk
Age 35 years old
Names of parents Wawrzyniec and Tekla
Place of residence Augustów, Kowala commune
Occupation farmer
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none
I live on the border between Augustów and Różki. In October 1942, I don’t remember the

exact date, I saw laborers from a German construction company from Rożki erecting the gallows. Built of birch wood taken from the forest situated near my home, the gallows were set up opposite my house’s windows, over railroad ties arranged along the railroad track.

In the morning, at 9.00 a.m., cars from Radom arrived. Gendarmerie came first, followed by two covered trucks carrying the convicts, 6 women and 9 men. Looking through the window I saw how the first woman was hanged, then another one. The execution was carried out by men wearing civilian clothes.

I don’t know the people who were hanged. There was a boy among them. He was about fifteen years old.

The bodies were left hanging for the whole day. In the evening they were buried in a birch forest, in a single grave. Last year, the Germans displaced the locals, screened the site where the bodies were buried with mats and set about doing something. They were probably burning the bodies.

I didn’t see the board set up next to the gallows close up and I don’t know what information it contained.

Trains passing through Rożki were held up at the station longer than usual. In this way the Germans forced passengers to watch the bodies hanging from the gallows. Gendarmes even walked around the area and forced the local population to leave their homes and look at the bodies.

Having been shown photographs of the people hanged in Rożki, marked as "Rożki I" and "Rożki II", the witness testified as follows:

I don’t recognize anyone among the people executed by the Germans. I definitely recognize the gallows and the silhouettes of those executed near my home.