STANISŁAW GOZDUR

On 25 February 1949, the Magistrates’ Court in Lipsko nad Wisłą, with Judge Aniela Krężelewska presiding and with the participation of a reporter, Stanisław Wroński, on the motion of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, pursuant to Article 4 of the Decree of 10 November 1945 (Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland No. 51, item 293) and Article 254 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, heard the person named below as a witness in accordance with Articles 107, 109, 113, and 115 of the said Code. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the significance of the oath, the witness was sworn pursuant to Article 111 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and testified as follows:


Name and surname Stanisław Gozdur
Date and place of birth 11 November 1891, the village of Wola Suchecka, Dziurków commune, Iłża district
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Nationality and state affiliation Polish
Occupation farmer, Lipsko commune administrator
Place of residence the village of Dąbrówka, Lipsko commune, Iłża district
Criminal record none

When the Germans came – as far as I remember, it was on 7 or 8 September 1939 – I was at home in the village of Dąbrówka. That morning at about 11.00 a.m., while I was tending livestock, my cows got startled by shots and scattered about the field. I ran after them and then I suddenly heard screaming and pleading, “Spare us!” Then I heard people shout and moan loudly, “God, Mother of God, deliver us!” I looked in that direction and saw some Polish soldiers, who were kneeling, and armed German soldiers who stood in front of them with their guns at the ready. The German soldiers didn’t shoot because they were waiting for their commander. Shortly afterwards the officer came and the soldiers asked him what they were supposed to do. The commander ordered them to execute the Polish soldiers, as he didn’t know what else he could do with them and didn’t want to take them with the German troops beyond the Vistula. He gave the command to fire. A salvo rang out. Then I walked away, as it was forbidden to stand there.

I know German very well because I spent three years in German captivity during the war of 1914, and later I was also working in Germany. The officer gave the order in a loud voice, in German. His words remain etched in my memory: “Alles mussen mitten Soldaten Schweine polnische totschiessen”. Half an hour later, when the German soldiers left the site, one of the Polish soldiers got up and went in the direction of the village of Cukrówka. He spent three days there. The local farmers provided him with help, dressing his rather serious wounds: he was wounded in the side and on one hand. A few days later the soldier returned to his native parts, somewhere in the Kielce region. Thirteen Polish soldiers were killed, and one – whom I’ve just mentioned – survived. I don’t know his surname.

I don’t remember what the uniforms of the German soldiers who murdered the Polish soldiers looked like. I saw that they had grey rubber coats and helmets. The officer was dressed in a likewise fashion. This German crime was perpetrated near the Zwoleń- Lipsko road, close to the village of Cukrówka. The murdered Polish soldiers were buried in a common grave in a nearby forest.

At this point the report was concluded, read out and signed.