LEON BECH

On 6 June 1947 in a 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, the witness testified as follows:

Name and surname Leon Bech


Age 49
Parents’ names Jan and Marianna
Place of residence Wola Zagojska, Zagość commune
Occupation farmer and leader of Zagość commune

It was only after the war that I became the commune leader. I arrived in Wola Zagojska in November 1940 and remained there during the German occupation. I know that in our commune, in the village of […], during the spring of 1943 or 1944, after the Easter holidays, the Germans from Busk or the Gestapo – I don’t know who – came and surrounded Myc, who was in Pińczów at the time. There was a shooting because there were guerillas in that house. They escaped during the shooting, while the rest, i.e. Stanisław Kraniec and Stanisław Lech, were killed. Their bodies were buried in the cemetery.

In August in Krzyżanowice, 4 people were shot dead by a penal expedition from Chroberz. The Germans killed Czerw and Rajdak from Krzyżanowice-Leszcze village, and Sarna and Konieczny from Krzyżanowice-Gacki. The Germans had evidently been informed about those people, since they took them straight from their homes. The Germans wore civilian clothes. They led the people out into the field, to a pile of rocks, and shot them dead. Their bodies were buried in the cemetery in Krzyżanowice. There was no labor camp there similar for example to the one in […]. People from our village were taken to that neighboring camp in […].

Jews were not exterminated within the territory of our commune. However, there were weekly roundups for labor in Germany. I know from the commune books that 576 people were transported for labor in Germany. School children were the largest group, there were no POWs, and several dozen other people. Nineteen (19) people were taken to penal camps. About ten people returned. It is known about the rest that […] not all of them are dead. The Germans arrested eighty-two (82) people at that time. After being arrested and beaten, they were released. A few of those who were beaten died afterwards. Apart from that, twenty- two people were murdered individually in the years 1943–1944. Some of them were taken to Busk and shot dead in the forest […], others were killed on the spot or in the park.

The Russians were present in Winiary Zagojskie on 12 August 1944, as well as in Busk and the surrounding area for some time. Two Germans were killed as a result of a skirmish with the Russian army. In revenge, the Germans were burning farms one by one in those villages, throwing grenades and liquid of some kind. Many buildings were burned down, including manor houses, a school, and half the village.