ZENAJDA CZEREWKA

Kielce, 4 March 1948, 12.00 p.m. Stefan Młodawski from the Criminal Investigation Section of the Citizens’ Militia Station in Kielce, acting on the instructions of the Prosecutor from the District Court in Kielce, with the participation of 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 Zenajda Czerewka
Parents’ names Michał and Zofia
Age 56 years old
Place of birth Kielce
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Occupation office worker
Place of residence Kielce [...]

During the German occupation I worked in an administrative office, and towards the end in a laundry.

The camp was established as soon as the Germans entered Poland and was operational until their defeat. The majority of prisoners were Poles, but there were also some Jews.

At first it was a camp for Polish prisoners of war. There were some 1,100 prisoners then. During its period of operation, some 10,000 people passed through the prison camp in Kielce. Three- quarters of the prisoners were deported west, and the rest were gradually released.

The prisoners worked mainly in the Ludwików companies and at Nowy Folwark farm, and in the prison they worked in the carpenter’s, shoemaker’s, locksmith’s and blacksmith’s workshops, in the kitchen, bakery, warehouses and corridors. The prisoners were fed with swede, beetroot, carrots and water.

There was an infirmary and a hospital in the prison. There were epidemics of typhoid fever and dysentery in the camp. As to the death rate, two to four people died after being interrogated per month.

Some groups of prisoners were taken, usually in cars, outside of the city and executed there, for example in Św. Wojciecha Square in Kielce, in Młynarska Street, and in the woods. The corpses were buried at the execution sites.

No material evidence survived except for personal files of prisoners incarcerated in the prison during the occupation, which were handed over to the Prosecutor’s Office of the District Court in Kielce in 1947.

I cannot recall the addresses of any prisoners.

At first the prison was headed by Szamer, Korotofil; other Germans were Bergerrman, Fuss, Miller Strüre, Szefer, and Kunce.

Some Volksdeutschers there were Jeske, Henzolk, Szerge, Chmielewski, Waide, Frai, Auguściak, Golach, Zasławski, Budel, Bott, Helm.

I don’t recall any more surnames.

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