MIECZYSŁAW POCHYŁA

On 9 January 1946 in Radom, the investigating judge from the 2nd Region of the District Court in Radom, Judge Kazimierz Borys, heard 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 Mieczysław Pochyła
Age 26 years old
Parents’ names Jan and Maria
Place of residence Wólka Klwatecka, Wielogóra commune
Occupation chauffeur–mechanic
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

In the spring of 1942, I moved to Wólka Klwatecka near Firlej. From that time on, I saw covered trucks going from the direction of Radom to the sands in Firlej. The trucks were open at the rear. I could see people with hands tied inside them, watched over by gendarmes.

In the summer of 1943 – I don’t remember the exact date – I saw the Gestapo men shoot seven men at the Firlej sands. The victims were led out of a truck, marched to a previously dug pit and arranged in single file; then they were brought one by one to the bottom of the pit and shot with a revolver. The last man was taken back to the truck. He had some conversation with the Germans by that truck; I couldn’t hear it, because I was watching the scene from a considerable distance, but I saw them gesturing expansively. A moment later the man was again led to the pit where his companions had been executed. By that pit, the man – apparently on an order from the Gestapo men – took off his suit and flung it to the ground, and then one Gestapo man fired at him with his revolver.

In the summer of 1944, the Germans ordered me and other residents of the nearby villages to dig pits in the Firlej sands in order to bury the corpses of the people that had been executed there. I then saw about 60 murdered men with their hands tied behind their backs. They were lying at one spot. Later on, on orders from the Germans, the corpses were taken in various directions and buried in the pits. The graves contained from 4 to 12 people.

Apart from that, I didn’t witness any executions.

From time to time, as I was going to or coming back from work in Radom, I saw cars going in the direction of Firlej.

I heard from others about the burning of the corpses in Firlej and I saw lights over the sands, but I don’t have any direct knowledge of this matter.

The report was read out.