JAN OSÓBKA

On this day, 22 November 1948, in Bliżyn, at 11:30 AM, I, Officer Kwiecień from the Citizens’ Militia station in Bliżyn, acting in accordance with the instructions of the Citizen Deputy Prosecutor of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office of the District Court in Radom, this dated on 25 August 1948, L. 825/48/2 issued on the basis of Art. 20 of the provisions introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure, with the participation of reporter Konstantyn Baka from the Citizens’ Militia station in Bliżyn, whom I informed about his obligation to attest by his own signature to the conformity of the Protocol with the actual course of the procedure, interviewed the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the significance of the oath, the right to refuse to testify for reasons specified in Article 104 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and of the criminal liability for making false declarations in accordance with Article 140 of the Penal Code, the witness was sworn and testified as follows:


Name and surname Jan Osóbka
Parents’ names Józef and Stanisława
Age 19
Place of birth Bliżyn, Bliżyn commune
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Occupation white-collar worker
Place of residence Bliżyn, Bliżyn commune, Kielce district
Relationship to the parties none

Regarding this matter, I am aware of the following facts. I was in Bliżyn from the beginning of the German occupation, and I know that in 1941 the detention camp for Soviet POWs was established. [It functioned] till 1942 and over the course of this time 7,700 Soviet POWs were brought in, more than 7,000 of whom died as a result of food deprivation, executions, and torture. I also saw the arrival of Soviet POWs to Bliżyn, and when those prisoners got out of the cars, the hungry ones, who could no longer walk, they were beaten and shot dead by Gestapo and German police.

In 1942, the penal camp for Poles and Jews was established in Bliżyn. While this camp was operating, an undetermined number of Jews and Poles were murdered because of starvation, beating, torture, and execution, so that on average around 30 Poles every week were murdered, shot dead, and were moved to and buried in the Wojtyniów Cemetery, Bliżyn commune. Some were buried together with the Jews in the forest near Bliżyn. Around 40 Jews were murdered by SS and the German police per week. The average number of people living in the camp was around 6,000, brought from the district of Kielce and others.

The report was concluded and read out.