JAN SAŁEK

The Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Radom, in the person of a member of the Commission, lawyer Zygmunt Glogier, interviewed the person named below on 30 August 1947 in Jedlnia-Letnisko. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Jan Sałek
Father’s name Bartłomiej
Date and place of birth 30 October 1906, Kieszek, Jedlnia commune
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

I live 400 meters from the execution site. As far as I can recall, the Gestapo brought their victims to the forest in the village of Siczki about eight times. Each time, about five covered trucks would arrive, each filled with people. I suppose that some 1,500 people must have been executed. I base my assumption regarding the number of victims on the dimensions of the graves.

The victims were killed with grenades. This is evidenced by the fact that some trees near the graves are marked with grenade fragments, and besides I myself heard them explode. In the direction from the main road into the forest, the road which leads to the execution site was marked by the Germans: they painted red circles with white dots inside on the trees standing by the road, as these marks helped them to find the spot where they were to carry out the execution.

In 1944, after three years, the Germans came back to this execution site. They did something with the graves, and then they filled them in. At the time I saw a few fragments of bone with [illegible] human body and many smaller bones scattered around the graves.

Now as for the executions that were carried out in the Siczki Forest from the late autumn of 1939 to 1940, I can give one fact that I observed during the numerous executions I was forced to witness. This was on 15 October 1943. When I was collecting [illegible] potatoes, a friend of mine, [illegible], a neighbor, who happened to be passing by told me that the Germans had come for another execution to the Siczki Forest. As I was curious about how the executions were conducted, I went there by a roundabout route in order to catch a glimpse. Since nothing could be seen from the side of Golczaski’s road, and since there were guard posts everywhere – there were over 30 sentries – I went in the direction of the village of Siczki and towards a hill from which, as I hoped, I could see something. As soon as I ascended the hill, I saw about 7 or 8 tarpaulin-covered trucks parked among the bushes, and one truck that stood directly by a pit, and I saw people walking down the ramp from that car into the pit. I couldn’t see who these people were, as one Gestapo man began to yell at me to stop, and when I didn’t, he fired a shot, and so I stopped; then that Gestapo man came to me, shouting and asking what I was doing there.

Since I didn’t speak any German, he called over another Gestapo man, who was middle- aged, and the latter began to question me where I was going and why. When I told him that I was going to my employee who owed me money, he went with me to ascertain that I hadn’t lied; after that he told me to run away quickly and without looking back, saying that I clearly didn’t realize what a great danger I had put myself in crossing the forest.

I would like to add that during a personal search, the Gestapo man stole about 40 zlotys from me. As my Gestapo guardian and I were approaching Jabłoński’s place, I could already hear grenade explosions and shots.

I confirm that this is my testimony. The report was read out.