JAN GOŁĄB

In Białaczów on this day, 18 September 1948, at 10.10 a.m., functionary Górczyński from the Citizen’s Militia Station in Białaczów, with the participation of reporter Jerzy Galant, heard the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the wording of Article 140 of the Penal Code, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Jan Gołąb
Parents’ names Franciszek and Marianna
Age 40 years old
Place of birth Miedzna Drewniana
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Occupation farmer
Place of residence Miedzna Drewniana, Białaczów commune
Relationship to the parties none

As regards the case of Poles murdered by the Gestapo and the German gendarmerie in the village of Miedzna Drewniana, I know that in November 1942, the Gestapo and gendarmerie took some innocent victims, these being: 1) Franciszek Mastalerz 2) Józef Podpłoński 3) Stanisław Korbownik 4) Józef Abratkiewicz 5) Piotr Smolarek. The above mentioned gendarmerie and Gestapo took these to the forest in the Białaczów forest district, and murdered them in a bestial way with shots to the back of the head, having first beaten them unconscious. Next they buried their victims in the forest and smoothed over the ground.

Three months later the corpses were transferred to the cemetery in Białaczów. The murdered victims were completely innocent.

I would like to add that during the last offensive, that is in January 1945, when they were retreating from the Polish territory, the Germans killed three Poles, these being:

1) Jan Walecki, a miller, who wanted to put out a fire in a barn (set alight by the Germans), and was shot dead on a ladder while extinguishing the fire. Next: 2) Jan Sikora, killed when he tried to escape to a shelter, and Józef Smolarek, who was executed by shooting in his own courtyard and thrown into a burning flat, where he burnt.

Władysław Podsiadlik, 38 years old, was taken to a concentration camp and finished off there.

This is everything that I know regarding the case.

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