In Zwoleń on this day, 8 April 1948, at 11.00 a.m., I, Zenon Wilk from the Criminal Investigation Section of the Citizens’ Militia Station in Kozienice, acting under Article 20 of the provisions introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure, following instructions from the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Radom issued on 31 March 1948 (L. 532/48/2) under Article 20 of the provisions introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure, observing the formal requirements set forward in Articles 235–240, 258 and 259 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, with the participation of a reporter, a Militia functionary from Zwoleń, Władysław Adamczyk, whom I have informed of his obligation to attest to the conformity of the report with the actual course of the procedure by his own signature, have heard the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the right to refuse to testify for the reasons set forward in Article 104 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and of the criminal liability for making false declarations, this pursuant to the provisions of Article 140 of the Penal Code, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Antonina Bąk |
| Parents’ names | Józef and Wiktoria, née Kuś |
| Age | 46 years old |
| Place of birth | Puławy, Lublin voivodeship |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Occupation | housekeeper at a boarding school residing in Zwoleń, Radomska Street |
| Relationship to the parties | none |
With regard to the matter at hand, I know the following: on 18 March 1942, Gestapo men arrived at my place and arrested my husband, Marian. At that time I was living with my husband in the village of Sydół, the Grabów nad Wisłą commune, where he worked as a teacher.
After being led out of the house, he was handcuffed and marched ahead of the Germans. On the way Gestapo men entered other houses, taking all the men with them. The men were marched to the village of Karolin where they were kept until 12.00 p.m. In the afternoon they were shot in Gramm’s courtyard, having first suffered severe beatings and torture. Gramm, a resident of Karolin, was a Gestapo men.
That day the Germans executed the following men: my husband, Marian, who was executed because he was a teacher and who left behind his entire family, that is: Mirosława, 18 years of age, a high school student, Walentyna, 16 years of age, a high school student staying in Puławy, and Barbara, 11 years of age, an elementary school student, a resident of Zwoleń; 2) Franciszek Marzec, a resident of Sydół, who left behind his wife, I don’t remember her name; she works on her farm in Sydół, 3) Marzec’s son-in-law, whose name I can’t remember and who is survived by his wife Helena; she works on a farm with her mother in Sydół; 4) Adam Rębiś, who left behind his wife Katarzyna, some 35 years of age, who also works on a farm; 5) Stanisław Kowalczyk, who is survived by his wife and single child. At the time of the execution the child was less than one year old. His wife now works on a farm. I don’t know her name.
I wish to note that the Germans shot 74 people. I don’t remember the names of all of the victims, because they were brought in from different villages, such as Sydół, Karolin, Kazanów, Ciepielów and many others. Except for my husband, all the men whom I have mentioned above worked on their farms. They were all decent Poles. The Germans shot them as hostages in retaliation for a German soldier who was killed in the woods, at a distance of 15 kilometers from Sydół. The soldier, who was going on leave to Karolin, considered all the locals to be Polish bandits. A list of all the hostages was drawn up by Józef Gramm from Karolin. Gramm was a Gestapo man or a Volksdeutscher from Karolin. (Former German colonists).
As I learned later from people living in Karolin, Gestapo men first beat and tortured the victims, breaking their ribs and twisting their hands and legs. Then, the detainees, who had their hands tied behind their backs and were also tied one to another, were led in groups of five to the pits, where they were killed in a German way, that is by a shot to the back of the head. The pit was filled up with soil regardless of the fact that some of the victims hadn’t died immediately after being shot. As a result the soil, which soon became soaked with blood, quivered with the throes of the people who had been buried alive.
At this the report was brought to a close, read and signed.