BOLESŁAW PIĄTEK

Kielce, 5 February 1948, 10.30 a.m. Stanisław Kostera 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 Bolesław Piątek
Parents’ names Józef and Katarzyna, née Stachórska
Age 53 years old
Place of birth Dąbrowa Górnicza
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Occupation locksmith
Place of residence Kielce, Hoża Street 8, flat 2

The camp by the "Hasag-Granat" factory in Kielce was established by the occupational authorities at the beginning of 1943. The camp was closed in August 1944. In that camp there were only Jews from Poland and three Jews from Vienna, namely one doctor and a dentist with his wife.

At first there were on average some 100 prisoners in the camp, and towards the end there were about 500 prisoners in the camp. During its period of operation, about 1,000 people passed through the camp. Upon liquidation of the camp, the prisoners were deported to Hasag factories in Częstochowa.

In the camp, the prisoners worked in the maintenance department and in production, operating factory machinery. I cannot say how the prisoners were fed in the camp, as they had their own kitchen; I heard them complain that the food was meager.

Sick prisoners received medical assistance in the camp. I don’t know anything about the death rate among the prisoners.

There were some executions by shooting in the above-mentioned camp. One was carried out in 1944, when ten prisoners who had been hiding from deportation were shot to death. Another execution took place a month after the camp had been liquidated – then some Jew who was hiding out on the factory premises was executed. The bodies of the executed prisoners were taken to town, but I don’t know where they were buried.

There was no crematorium in the camp.

No material evidence survived.

I cannot give the surnames of the people imprisoned in the camp; I remember only one, Hirschmann, who currently lives in the West.

A German by the name of Bergier was the camp commander. The camp was supervised by Untersturmführer Szliht.

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