In Karolin on this day, 9 April 1948, at 3.00 p.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 | Józef Szewczyk |
| Parents’ names | Grzegorz and Franciszka, née Chołno |
| Age | 46 years old |
| Place of birth | Sycyna, commune of Grabów nad Wisłą |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Occupation | farmer |
| Place of residence | Karolin, commune of Grabów nad Wisłą |
With regard to the matter at hand, I know the following: on the morning of 18 March 1942, a village administrator from Karolin arrived at my place and told me to take a pickax, an ax or a spade and go with him to a place indicated by the Germans. On the way I noticed that the whole village had been surrounded by the Germans. Gestapo men, accompanied by the gendarmerie, were walking right through the center of the village, entering every house and taking all the men with them.
When we arrived on the spot, we were ordered to dig a pit. At first we thought that the hollow we were digging was going to become our own grave, because Gestapo men, assisted by the gendarmerie and German colonists, were very hostile in their treatment of us. We were beaten and kicked. After the hole had been dug, the Germans began to lead those whom they had arrested out of the school in Kazanów. The arrestees, who had been tied together in fives with all sorts of strings and ropes, were lined up and then the Germans started the execution. The bodies of those whom they had shot fell into the pit. Some bodies didn’t fall into the hole, but then the Germans kicked them until they did. I wish to add that when we arrived at the execution site the prisoners had already been assembled at the school I have mentioned above. At 12.00 p.m., after a trial which lasted only a few minutes and was a travesty of justice, all the detainees were led out of the school and executed, every single group.
After the execution, the pit containing the bodies was filled up with dirt. In order to make people forget about this horrible crime, the Germans ordered Karolin’s inhabitants to level the ground and cover it with snow, but all in vain. The layer of dirt, half a meter thick, immediately became soaked with blood. The snow melted and the dirt quivered with the death throes of people who hadn’t died immediately after being shot, covered alive by dirt and other bodies. The residents gathered around couldn’t stand watching this and tried to look away, but the Germans, using rifle butts, forced them to look straight into the grave. The prisoners had been so badly beaten with rifle butts and sticks that their loved ones and the residents of Karolin couldn’t recognize them. Half-conscious, they had their hands and arms broken, and suffered injuries to their heads.
On that day, so sad and painful for the population of Kazanów and other villages, 73 people were executed and dumped into a common grave. They were murdered in the courtyard of Józef Gramm, a resident of Karolin, and had been brought from Ciepielów, Kazanów, Wacławów, Łosin and Sydół. I wish to add that there were cases of people being shot in their courtyards and on the street, right after the Germans led them out of their houses. Józef Gładysz and Stanisław Sałek, for example, were killed in their courtyards. A crying could be heard in the village. Children cried after their fathers, women after their husbands, and mothers for their sons. The family members of those who were murdered are still alive, living and working on their farms in Łosin, Sydół, Karolin, Wacławów, Ciepielów and other villages; they still remember this painful day. I wish to add that among those whom the Germans executed were strangers whose names remain unknown. The execution was carried out by the Gestapo, the gendarmerie, and German colonists from Karolin who were either Gestapo men or gendarmes. The victims were suspected of being involved in underground activity.
At this the report was concluded, read out and signed.