MARIANNA OLTON

On 5 July 1991 at 11:30 a.m. Wiesława Kryńska, deputy regional prosecutor in Węgrów, with the participation of reporter Grażyna Wojasińska, interviewed the person named below as a witness, whose identity she determined on the basis of the identity card No. BR 2287739, issued by the Citizens’ Militia Regional Headquarters in Węgrów. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false statements (Article 247, paragraph 1 of the Penal Code), the witness confirmed with her own signature that she had been informed of this liability (Article 172 of the Code of Criminal Procedure). The witness then testified as follows:


Name and surname Marianna Halina Olton
Maiden name Biernacka
Parents’ names Bonifacy and Bronisława
Date and place of birth 23 May 1928, Brzózka, Stoczek commune

Mailing address in Poland (Article 124 of the Code of Criminal Procedure) As listed above

Occupation farmer
Education elementary
Criminal record for perjury none
Relationship to the parties none

[The witness], having been advised of the wording of Article 247, paragraph 1 of the Penal Code, testified as follows:

I knew the Postek family living in Stoczek as they were my close relatives. Julianna Postek was my mother’s sister and my aunt. When the war broke out I was 12 years old already and I remember the events that took place. Throughout that entire time I was living with my parents in Brzózka, but we would often visit Stoczek, which was the seat of our commune. Neither I nor my parents knew that my aunt Julianna Postek and her family sheltered Jews during the war. Only on the day when the Nazis killed my aunt and took her husband, Stanisław Postek, and two sons, Henryk and Wacław, did we learn that they were sheltering Jews. I did not see my aunt’s body but from what I heard the Germans bludgeoned her to death. We did not travel to Stoczek after this tragedy, because the Germans threatened to wipe out the family down to the third generation. My aunt was buried by her eldest son, Kazimierz Postek, who lived in Stoczek. He passed away a dozen or so years ago. What happened to Stanisław Postek and his sons I do not know, but I think I remember my parents telling me that they were murdered in Treblinka.

I cannot say more on the Postek family [and] their fate after they were taken by the Germans because I have a very weak memory. I guess I’ve had a stroke and I suffer from severe headaches. I cannot recall anything else or remember current events. It is even a challenge for me to travel to Węgrów. I might have been able to say more on this topic a few years [ago], but now I experience memory loss. At this the report was concluded, read out and signed.

The interview was concluded at 12:00 p.m.