On 11 May 1946, the Municipal Court in Opatów, represented by Judge Al. Zalewski, with the participation of reporter R. Cybulski, interviewed the person named below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations, of the wording of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and of the significance of the oath, the judge swore the witness in accordance with Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, whereupon the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Franciszek Kidoń |
| Age | 56 |
| Parents’ names | Mikołaj and Salomeja |
| Place of residence | Opatów, Iwańska Street 34 |
| Occupation | laborer |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Criminal record | 4 months of arrest under Article 23, Section 1 in connection with Article 257, Section 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in 1934 |
| Relationship to the parties | none |
In 1942 – I don’t remember the exact date – the German gendarmerie carried out a search at my place, and as a result they took away about 4000 m[eters] of textiles that I had bought in Łódź, which I proved by presenting the receipts to them. On 22 November 1943, officers of the local SD unit: the head (Szulz) and his deputy (Ryszard Hospodar), together with officers of the former criminal police: Stanisław Słonka, Feliks Nowaczyk, and Witold Młynarski, conducted another search at my place. This time they took away the rest of my textiles, my pathephone, and many other belongings. Then they put me in the local detention center, and after four weeks, I was transported to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, and later to Dachau, where I stayed until we were liberated by allied forces.
After my return, I found out from my wife Marianna that in the meantime, when I was away, my 24-year-old son Józef was murdered by Hospodar, the torturer known locally for murdering Polish and Jewish people. It happened because when [my son] was a bit drunk, he said: “They will pay for my father,” which was overheard by the former Blue Policeman Stefan Grys, who was passing by. From the Kulniew restaurant he informed the local SD unit. Hospodar and Witold Mlynarski rushed there from the station, and the latter shot [my son] down in front of the local people.
While in the detention center, the detainees complained of cruel treatment by Hospodar, Tadeusz Teodorczyk, and Stanisław Słonka. Słonka, who had the worst reputation in the local area, was particularly cruel: together with the gendarmes, he took part in fighting the partisans, captured people who had escaped from Germany, and sent people to Auschwitz and other death camps as a member of the escort. He also robbed Poles and Jews in every way he could. In the fall of 1943, or possibly some other time, Ryszard Hospodar shot down a young man, probably from Malice, or a resident of Opatów, named Świderski, right in front of me in the cemetery alley. Independently of the above, living near the cemetery, almost every day I saw Hospodar lead various young people to the nearby cemetery, the place chosen for the executions, where he murdered them.
One time, I don’t remember the date exactly, in the fall of 1942, I happened to be coming back home via Ćmielowska Street. Near the former state company buildings, the headquarters of the gendarmerie, I saw the gendarme Wiktor Berger murder two people, one of whom was a Pole and the other a Jew, in the presence of two other gendarmes unknown to me.