On 15 July 1947 in Staszów, the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes of the District Court with its seat in Radom, Branch Office in Staszów, Judge Albin Walkiewicz, an attorney in Staszów, interviewed the person mentioned hereunder as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the wording of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Maria Skrętek |
| Age | 36 years old |
| Parents’ names | Wincenty and Karolina |
| Place of residence | Staszów, Wysoka Street 17 |
| Occupation | trade |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Criminal record | none |
On 3 August 1940, a Gestapo unit came to Staszów from Ostrowiec and arrested mayor Ignacy Raczyński, Stanisław Rogala, as well as Wiktor Skrętek and Jerzy Felczyński, who had been stopped by accident. They were all taken to Auschwitz, then to the Buchenwald camp, and from there to different camps. They all died in this way; my husband in Gross-Rosen. I actually do not know the reason for their arrest. Reportedly in the spring of 1942, four young Jews committed a theft, as a result of which a gendarme from the Staszów station killed four people, that is, the parents of those Jews; I personally saw dead Jewish women.
On the day when the Jews were displaced from Staszów, that is, on 7 November 1942 in the afternoon, I went out and saw numerous paddles of blood on the streets and many carts with corpses of the murdered Jews that were being taken to the cemetery. As far as I can remember – in 1943, Belusiak, a teacher from Oględów, was arrested. He was kept in jail in the basement under the gendarmerie headquarters. Maria Kumańska, who was a cook in that building, told me that Belusiak was tortured by the gendarmes, that is, they burned his heels and then they beat them using hard objects until his heels turned black; they also pulled out his nails, pierced his elbow joints with wires, and finally they killed him. Kumańska saw it all very well because she managed to secretly bring him some water.
The people who committed the most crimes were the chief officer of the Staszów station, Leutnant Rippert, gendarme Janczewski – I do not know his rank, but his first name was probably Wacław, because the Germans called him Wenzel, and Cichoń, whose name I do not know. Not only they were present at executions, but they also carried out the executions by themselves. They killed several people every day. On the streets, they would shoot at everyone who had a hand in a pocket or hit them in the face and knock their teeth out.
In 1943 and 1944, people were often arrested and sent to Germany for labor. If there were no healthy men in the house, the Germans took away women, leaving children behind, or old people – as hostages until healthy men reported.
In 1943, a dozen or so people from Staszów were sent to camps, mostly to Auschwitz, and the following of them were killed: Mrs. Cholewa, Mrs. Rytfińska, two people called Adamus, Stępień, Iżyłowski – I do not remember more names. I do not know what formation carried out the arrest.
Every time the gendarmerie from Opatów or Germans from different formations came to our town, they brought lists of products, drinks, usually luxury items, and demanded them from the Jews (this happened before the displacement of Jews). The Jews, of course, did everything to deliver the required items. After the ghetto was formed, the Germans took away goods from Jewish stores, opened provisional stores and the money earned was handed over to the Germans from Ostrowiec.
In 1944 in Ostrowiec, I saw 50 people who had been shot dead; they were lying in two rows, their hands were tied with barbed wire, and they had been killed with a shot in the back of their heads. Reportedly, the execution itself was carried out by Ukrainians in German service. Before the execution, the victims were kept in the prison in Ostrowiec.
I do not know anything else. The report was read out. The words “Teofila Sochowa” were marked.