STEFAN ADWENT

On 11 May 1946, the Municipal Court in Opatów, represented by Judge Al. Zalewski, with the participation of reporter R. Cybulski, interviewed the person named below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations, of the wording of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and of the significance of the oath, the judge swore the witness in accordance with Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, whereupon the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Stefan Adwent
Age 21
Parents’ names Józef and Maria
Place of residence Opatów, Wilsona Square 12
Occupation laborer
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

In the spring of 1942 – I don’t remember the exact date – I witnessed the execution of a Jew at the local Jewish cemetery by SD criminals Ryszard Hospodar and Stanisław Słonka, known in the area. Watching it from a long distance, I saw the man shot dead by two shots, one fired by Hospodar and the other by Słonka.

Another time, in October 1942, I saw Hospodar and Słonka leading a young, well-built man along Iwańska Street towards the cemetery, the execution site. The captive tried several times to talk to the men escorting him, most probably about some kind of request. In response, Słonka hit him twice on the head with a revolver, as a result of which he fell, and when he could not get up, because he was cuffed, Słonka kicked him with his boot. Soon, shots were heard; they murdered the man in a nearby cemetery.

In June 1942, I was captured in a roundup and sent for forced labor in the Reich, where I worked for six weeks, after which I managed to save myself by escaping. I tried to stay away from home so that they wouldn’t catch me. My suspicions turned out to be right because once, an officer of the former criminal police, Tadeusz Teodorczyk, came to my house to capture me. Another time, criminal police officers Stanisław Słonka and Feliks Nowaczyk came for me with the same purpose, but each time I was not there.

On 12 November 1942, at about 10:00 PM, when I was briefly in Opatów, I heard a scream behind me: “Stand still, hands up,” and then Stanisław Słonka ran up to me with a revolver in his hand, followed by Feliks Nowaczyk. One of them grabbed me by the hand and the other by the collar, and they dragged me to the local detention center, where I stayed for four weeks, after which I was transported to the concentration camp in Buchenwald, where I stayed for two years and six months until I was released. During my stay in the detention center, one of the prisoners complained to me that he had been tortured with a rubber baton by the gendarme Wiktor Berger in an inhumane way.

Before I was caught and taken to the camp, I saw former criminal police officer Tadeusz Teodorczyk beat people who were standing in queues, waiting for an allocation, with a stick.