WOJCIECH BIELEC

Łubno, 20 August 1975

I, the undersigned Wojciech Bielec, born on 23 April 1914 in Łubno, commune of Dynów, district of Przemyśl, testify to what I have witnessed and what I know.

In August 1943, Katarzyna Szul, who was residing in Łubno, came to me and asked me to secretly fetch a doctor who could see her son Ludwik, who had been severely beaten and shot in the legs by the Gestapo men. I noticed that Katarzyna Szul had been beaten as well.

So I walked stealthily to Dynów and fetched a doctor. I was present when a bullet from a pistol was taken out of Ludwik Szul’s leg and his head was bandaged. The doctor diagnosed him with concussion and mental shock, and then he gave him injections and medicine.

The Germans had taken Ludwik Szul from his house as a hostage after his father Michał had fled into the forest and gone into hiding. I know that the Germans beat and shot Ludwik Szul because they wanted him to point out to them the place where his parents were hiding Soviet soldiers who had escaped from the camp and a Jewish woman called Blima. They also wanted Ludwik Szul to show them where they had hidden the quernstones used for grinding grain for bread – using these was forbidden under the threat of severe punishment.

I know that Ludwik Szull’s parents were secretly grinding grain for bread and providing food for themselves, the Soviet soldiers who were in hiding, and the Jewish woman.

When Ludwik Szul was taken hostage, despite being beaten and shot by the Germans, he didn’t say where the Soviet soldiers and the Jewish woman called Blima were hiding.

After the liberation, the rescued Jewish woman left for Austria, and the Soviet soldiers for the western front, together with the soldiers who were fighting on the front.

Ever since he was beaten and shot, Ludwik Szul had been receiving treatment for conditions connected with his head, wounded leg, and his heart.

At the time of the beating administered by the Germans, Ludwik Szul was a minor at the age of 16.

Member of the Society of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy Wojciech Bielec