ZOFIA CZYŻ

On 21 November 1947, Judge M. Pytlewski from the Magistrates’ Court in Iłża 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 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Zofia Czyż
Age 30 years old
Parents’ names Jan and Antonina, née Nogaj
Place of residence village of Podsuliszka, Zalesice commune
Occupation farm laborer
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties wife of Wacław Czyż, killed

On 14 August 1944 before sunrise, the Germans surrounded the village of Podsuliszki, took all the men – including my husband, Wacław Czyż – and marched them to the Modrzejowice estate. These Germans served with the Field Gendarmerie. They had green and black uniforms with death’s heads.

At noon, when I was in Modrzejowice, I saw our men in the courtyard, and the youths and my husband were locked up in the basement. On 14 August 1944, when the men were already gone, at about 1.00 p.m., the Germans set fire to the village.

On 15 August 1944, at about 3.00 a.m., I heard shooting from the direction of the Pakosław Forest. At 10.00 a.m. I went to the forest and found the murdered men in a pit that was covered with earth.

My husband, also dead, lay in the forest. On 16 August 1944 I buried my husband in the cemetery in Skaryszew.

The Germans didn’t say why they took the men, but claimed that all of them were partisans. When my husband was being taken I saw Bronisław Kopania.

I didn’t know any of the Germans and I was so frightened that I was unable to notice what they looked like, so I cannot describe their appearance.

The report was read out.