WŁADYSŁAW ROGALSKI

On 11 December 1945, in Radom, Kazimierz Borys, Investigating Judge from the Second District of the District Court in Radom, based in Radom, interviewed 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 Władysław Rogalski
Age 60 years old
Names of parents Wojciech and Zofia
Place of residence Radom, Zborowskiego Street 8
Occupation retired policeman
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

My son, Edward Rogalski, born on 13 October 1910, a technician employed at the Arms Factory in Radom, was arrested by the Germans at his workplace on 24 September 1942 and on 15 October 1942 executed on the gallows by the Warsaw road in Radom.

I witnessed the execution. It was carried out between 8 and 9.00 a.m. When I arrived at the execution site, the construction of the gallows was coming to an end. At about 8.00 a.m., two covered cars arrived from the direction of Radom. Ten people were led out of the cars and lined up. There were six men and four women. All of them had their hands tied behind their backs and all had successive numbers written on their backs in paint or white chalk. They were standing at a distance of about fifty meters from the gallows. The hangman, masked and dressed in civilian clothes, took the convicts one by one and led them up to the gallows. After they stepped onto the platform, he put a noose around their necks and then, with a quick movement, pulled away the table on which they were standing from under their feet. All of them went to death completely calm. Their mouths weren’t gagged. They willfully lifted up their heads when the noose was being put around their necks. My son was hanged seventh. Winczewska was the last one. She was the only one to cry before her death: "O Lord, what I am guilty of"?! All the others didn’t say anything before their death. One man, right after he was led out of the car, fell to the ground and started shouting in an unearthly voice. He seemed to be bouncing up and down, clearly afflicted by a fit of sickness. However, he soon calmed down.

All of the people executed on the gallows remained still after they died. There was no wind that day, so the bodies weren’t moved by it.

However, Ada Winczewska, Stanisława Winczewska’s sister-in-law, showed signs of life. Although she was hanging still, there was some quivering in her abdomen, as if something was rising and falling. I wondered what the cause of it was. Later I learned that Ada Winczewska was pregnant. Her abdomen could be seen quivering for a few minutes. Clearly the fetus didn’t die right away.

Winczewska’s body was removed at 4.00 p.m. and taken to Firlej where it was burnt.

There was also a board set up by the Germans next to the gallows. From the notice posted on it, it could be inferred that the people executed on the gallows were bandits. It also contained a warning that entire families would suffer extermination in the event of German orders not being complied with.

The Germans also watched the hanging bodies. One of the German women was there with a two-and-a-half-year-old child. I heard her say to the child while pointing to the bodies – "Polnische Banditen". Germans, both civilians and those dressed in uniforms, betrayed contentment. They significantly differed in their behavior from the Poles.

The Germans didn’t notify me of my son’s death. A formal notification was sent to the Parish Office from where my son’s wife received the death certificate of the deceased.

Having been shown a photograph of the people executed by the Warsaw road in Radom, the witness testified as follows: My son is hanging fourth from the left or seventh from the right. Stanisława Winczewska is hanging first from the left or last from the right. Ada Winczewska is next to her, but I am not sure.

The report was read out.