STANISŁAW MICHALAK

Żyrardów, 17 November 1947. The investigating judge S. Rejman heard as a witness the person specified below; the witness did not swear an oath. The witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Stanisław Michalak
Age 60 years old
Parents’ names Szymon and Wiktoria née Kozłowska
Place of residence Żyrardów, Środkowa Street 4, flat 1
Occupation farmer
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

I testify that I know that the Germans carried out several executions in Międzyborów (Żyrardów-Wiskitki commune, Płońsk district). I cannot recall the exact date, but if I remember correctly, it was just after the outbreak of the war with Russia.

The executions were being carried out in several places, one of them near the school, and other ones near my house, just outside the boundary of Żyrardów, roughly at the level of the Jewish cemetery. Many people were executed in front of my house, I buried about 20 Poles myself. The others were Jews, but I cannot give the exact number of these. I also buried two Russian prisoners of war who had been killed by the Germans.

Apart from me, one other Polish man was burying the dead, but he has passed away himself. Among the executed there were men and women of all ages and even some children. The executions were usually being carried out by local Volksdeutcher, among whom I had known Leiman, Getz and Foine personally.

The executions took various forms. They would tell the victims either to run away and then would shoot them, or to lie down with faces to the ground and then would shoot them in the head. They were often tormenting the victims in such a way that they would pluck out the eyes of a victim who had been shot but was not yet dead with a bayonet. The corpses were being undressed and buried on the spot. Sometimes they would store these clothes at my place and take them away later in cars. The executions were taking place in the afternoon, and afterwards at night. The majority of the corpses have already been exhumed, but some remain on the same spot to this day. The corpses of the Poles were being sprinkled before burial with some powder, unknown to me, which caused corrosion of the body.

The court was satisfied that on the decree of the Ministry of Justice, the inspection of the sites mentioned by the witness had been carried out, and witnesses, including the headmaster of the Międzyborów school, had been heard as far back as in 1945.

The reports were sent to the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland.