PIOTR SOJA

On 29 May 1947, in the notary office in Pińczów, Investigative Judge Michał Gallewicz interviewed the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and the wording of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:

Name and surname Piotr Soja


Age 42
Parents’ names Jakub and Łucja
Place of residence Sielce, Chotel commune
Occupation farmer
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic

The day before the Green Week, on a Saturday in 1943, the Germans came to Wiślica; they had taken a few young people from Gorysławice, Chotel commune and marched them to Wiślica, where they also took some young people, so that there were twenty-odd apprehended in total. They took them all to a certain Koziara’s house in Wiślica. Someone had informed the youths, and two thirds of them escaped. Even though they had been warned by the patrol, five of them didn’t manage to escape. When the Germans came back from a drinking bout, all five were shot dead. Their bodies were collected and buried in the cemetery.

Also in 1943, in the summer or late spring, the Germans surrounded the house of the Skadłubowicz family. Skadłubowicz was a steward at the farm in Jurków, Chotel commune. The Blue Police came with the Germans, and a fight broke out as there were guerillas in the Skadłubowicz household at the time. As a consequence the entire Skadłubowicz family, five people, were murdered. The old mother was killed with sticks. Two or three guerillas who didn’t manage to escape were also killed. The bodies were buried next to the house, and later moved to a cemetery.

I moved the body of Jasiński, a teacher, from a Jewish cemetery [?] to the cemetery in Jurków. The corpse was kept in a barn, where Jasiński had been beaten. I saw that his body was all mangled – broken arms, scars from having been hit in the head, and below the stomach the penis was mutilated as if beaten with a cord. Jasiński was one of the three teachers who had been arrested in Miernów, Złota commune. There were roundups and many people never returned, but that happened everywhere.