MARIA BŁĘDOWSKA

On 30 October 1947 in Radom, the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Radom, in the person of Deputy Prosecutor T. Skulimowski, heard the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the provisions of Article 106 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Maria Błędowska
Age 47 years old
Parents’ names Karol and Ewa, née Sambor
Place of residence village of Kończyce, Kowala commune
Occupation farmer
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

I know that throughout the occupation the Germans were carrying out numerous executions in the Kosów Forest. I didn’t witness them, as the Germans forbade us to enter the forest at the time, but I saw that people were being brought there and next I would hear shots and screams.

Afterwards I would go to the execution site, and I even uncovered three graves. In the first grave, which I dug up in October 1939, I found the body of a young man wearing a black suit and a bloodied shirt. This grave was 10 meters long and 3 meters wide. It was after the execution of both men and women who were brought to the forest in two cars.

In the second grave – I no longer remember the year I uncovered it – I found two young men in grey sweaters; they were buried face down. The third time I dug up a Jew.

I don’t know the surnames of the German gendarmes who carried out these executions. According to my estimates, the Germans shot about a thousand people in Kosów, or maybe more. The bodies were buried on the spot, but I am not sure whether they are still there, as I heard people say that some of the corpses were later burned. In 1944 I indeed saw that the site was sheltered with mats, and I also heard the drone of some machine, but I don’t know what the Germans were doing there.

The report was read out.