STANISŁAW ZAPAŁA

Brynica, 3 May 1948. At 7:00 PM, acting on the basis of Article 20 of the implementing provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and in accordance with order LŻN 81/47 from citizen District Vice-Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Regional Court in Kielce, dated 20 March 1948, issued on the basis of Article 20 of the implementing provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, observing the formal requirements listed in Articles 235–240, 258, and 259 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in the presence of witnesses: Józef Drogosz, resident of Brynica, Piekoszów commune, Kielce district; and Mikołaj Krauze, resident of Brynica, Piekoszów commune, Kielce district; whom I advised of the requirement to certify with their signatures that the report reflected the actual course of the procedure, I, officer Witold Moszczyński from the Citizens’ Militia station in Piekoszów, interviewed the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the right [to] refuse testimony for reasons listed in Article 104 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and of the liability for making false declarations in accordance with Article 140 of the Penal Code, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Stanisław Zapała
Parents’ names Adam and Franciszka, née Kozioł
Date and place of birth 11 November 1902, Brynica
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Occupation farmer
Place of residence Brynica, Piekoszów commune, Kielce district
Relationship to the parties none

Regarding the present case, I am aware of the following facts: On 12 September 1944, at 1:00 PM, about 700 German Gestapo officers arrived in cars, surrounded the whole village of Brynica, and led all the people who were there to the end of the village of Brynica. In front of Jan Piłat’s house, they told us to split into groups as they divided us; as the village leader, I was released to go home with my minor son Stefan Zapała; Mikołaj Krauze and Jakub Sadza [were released as well], while Stanisław Sideł, Wojciech Sideł, Antoni Sideł, Józef Sideł, Józef Szczerek, Stanisław Szczerek, Józef Czyż, Stefan Czyż, Jan Żak, and Stanisław Grabowski, nom de guerre Socha, from Brynica, were set apart to be shot; the others were placed in cars and transported to [work at] the trench[es]. The Gestapo officers asked those mentioned above [who were] set apart to be executed: “Who shot at us yesterday?”

Let me note, that on 11 September 1944, the Germans had arrived in the forest near the village of Brynica; three Germans came to the village, [who were] dressed in civilian clothes, and took with them the teacher from Brynica – Emilia Szajdek; they took her into the forest, and then partisans jumped out of the forest and started shooting. Seeing the danger, the Germans let the teacher go and fled into the forest, firing back. As noted above, they were shot by the Gestapo, which means the execution was carried out by the Gestapo; they had been caught in the village of Brynica. The execution was an act of retaliation. The bodies were unearthed from the pit and buried in the cemetery in Chełmce.

At this point, I concluded the report and read it out before signing.

Let me mention that Stanisław Grabowski, nom de guerre Socha, was shot in his leg on 11 September 1944, and taken by car to Kielce, where he was killed.