Township: Koprzywnica
Commune: Koprzywnica
District: Sandomierz
Voivodeship: Kielce
QUESTIONNAIRE
on mass executions and mass graves
1. Date and place of execution:
March 1944. The executions were carried out in Koprzywnica by the church wall.
2. Type of execution (by shooting, by hanging, etc.):
By shooting.
3. Personal data of the murdered victims:
Poles, Jews, foreigners: Only Poles.
Number of murdered victims: 40.
The victims were brought in from: From the direction of Ostrowiec.
Surname, age, occupation, address: The surnames, age, professions, and addresses
of the victims have not been determined; the only thing we know is that they were
young men, aged from 18 to 35. The execution was carried out by the church wall
in Koprzywnica.
4. Is it known what the victims were accused of, whether the execution was carried out in retaliation, etc.?
The executions were carried out as a result of the so-called Gestapo verdicts on
charges of belonging to clandestine patriotic organizations.
5. Who carried out the execution (gendarmerie, Gestapo, SS, police, Wehrmacht)?
Members of the Gestapo and gendarmerie.
6. Are the surnames of the perpetrators known (please provide the surnames)?
No.
7. Were the corpses burned or destroyed in any other way?
No.
8. Where were the corpses buried (exact location)?
The corpses were buried in two graves in a nearby forest.
| 9. | Description of the grave(s) (size, estimated number of victims buried in one grave). |
| 10. | The bodies were buried in two big graves, each about 5 meters long and about 21/2 meters wide. |
| 11. | Was there an official exhumation? Were the corpses buried officially, and if so, where? |
The families of the victims, having learned about the execution and the place where
the victims had been buried, gradually opened the graves in secret and took the bodies
away, having identified them. Some of the corpses were exhumed by the families
already after the Germans escaped. Currently, there are no bodies in those graves.
Reportedly, many corpses were dug out by partisans and returned to the families.
12. Are there any grounds for exhumation in the future?
No.
On 19 September 1945, the contents of the above questionnaire were officially certified by Stanisław Wójcikowski, the head of the Koprzywnica Commune, with the Municipal Court in Sandomierz.