KAZIMIERZ CZAJKOWSKI

On 6 August 1947 in Staszów, the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Radom, Staszów Branch, in the person of the former judge Albin Walkiewicz, an advocate in Staszów, interviewed the below-mentioned as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the wording of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Kazimierz Czajkowski
Parents’ first names Jan and Józefa
Age 45
Occupation Butcher
Place of residence Staszów, Krakowska Street 31
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record None

During the occupation I lived in Staszów. I was arrested in 1943 by the Gestapo from Radom. Somebody had informed [the authorities] that I was reading a clandestine news-sheet. I was held for a month in Radom. I was taken with others to the Gestapo premises for three days to be interrogated. The interrogation room had a special table in it, where tools for tormenting people were laid out on it: iron rods, bullwhips, rubber, and other items. There were also gallows set up for hanging people and a special table for immobilizing a person who was being tortured. The table had a notch at one end, under which there was an iron device for grasping the legs, and at the other end of the table there was a contraption with a hook. The interrogation proceeded in such a manner where the subject was either suspended from the pulley (gallows) by his hands, shackled from behind, and was beaten while being ordered to give evidence; or he was laid out on the [interrogation] table I described, where his legs were immobilized by the grips, a cord was tied to his shackled hands which were slung forward, and the whole person who was lying on the table, was stretched out, while the cord was tied to a device standing in front of the table. Then the Germans, usually two of them, beat [the person being interrogated]. Questions were asked after ten blows, and when the person being tortured didn’t answer, they carried on beating him, until both of the Germans doing the beating were tired out and covered in sweat. From 100 to 150 blows were given, mainly to the buttocks, but also to the back and the kidneys. After such interrogations, as a result of the body’s beating, it was only possible to lie down on your stomach.

After a month, myself and 32 other people from Koprzywnica and Sandomierz were taken away to Auschwitz. Around 40 people were taken from Staszów to the concentration camps. I declare that of the people transported out and listed in points 8 and 9 of the Staszów Municipal Board document of 17 June 1947, no. 37/47, 20 of the people, listed in said document in point 9, did not return – they perished.

I know a German who killed Poles and Jews – Henryk Rößler, a colonist from Sielec, but he was killed by the guerillas. Of the military police in Staszów, the worst were Janczewski and Cichoń, who would personally shoot people. I don’t know specific cases of murders committed by Janczewski because his criminal activity took place after I’d been taken away. However, Cichoń shot dead three Jews. I saw how he walked away from the corpses after the deed was done. Whether or not he personally shot dead my brother Władysław Brandmiller, I don’t know, but he was there. He also shot dead Madam Mayor Aleksandra Dąbrowska on the instructions of Mayor Suchan, who was later shot dead by the guerillas. I know of this order to shoot Dąbrowska from other people’s accounts. Suchan collaborated with the Gestapo. I don’t know anything else.

The report was read out.