STEFANIA ZAKRZEWSKA

Kielce, 5 March 1948, 6.00 p.m. Stefan Młodawski from the Criminal Investigation Section of the Citizens’ Militia Station in Kielce, on the instruction of the Prosecutor from the District Court in Kielce, with the participation of court reporter Marian Poniewierka, heard the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the wording of Article 140 of the Penal Code, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Stefania Zakrzewska
Parents’ names Kazimierz and Paulina, née Ichnowska
Age 58 years old
Place of birth Staszów
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Occupation housewife
Place of residence Kielce, Śniadeckich Street

When the German troops entered Poland in 1939, I was working as a Red Cross nurse in the municipal hospital. At that time, a camp for Polish prisoners of war was established by the Germans in the Castle. I had access to it; I carried clothing and food for the prisoners.

The camp was established at the end of September 1939 and closed after a few weeks, when the Germans deported the prisoners to the Reich. There were Poles and Ukrainians in that camp.

On average, there were about 1,000 prisoners in the camp. During its period of operation, some 5,000 prisoners passed through the camp. Upon its liquidation, the prisoners of war were deported to Germany.

The prisoners didn’t work. The food was meager, and the prisoners had nothing more to eat than what the Poles gave them. There was neither an infirmary nor a hospital in the camp. There were no epidemics in the camp. This was at the beginning of war and the Polish prisoners were still in good health. The wounded were transported to a hospital, and in effect nobody died in the camp. I haven’t heard about any executions. There were no corpses.

As for the surnames of the people who were imprisoned in the camp, I cannot recall them now.

I didn’t know the camp commandant or other functionaries.

At this point the report was concluded, read out and signed.