CZESŁAW CZAJKOWSKI

On 5 August 1947 in Staszów, the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes of the District Court with its seat in Radom, Branch Office in Staszów, Judge Albin Walkiewicz, an attorney in Staszów, interviewed the person mentioned hereunder as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the wording of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Czesław Czajkowski
Age 61 years old
Parents’ names Stanisław and Maria
Place of residence Staszów, Droga Rytwiańska 6 Street
Occupation teacher
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none

During the occupation, I lived in Staszów near the Jewish cemetery. In 1942 and 1943, on several occasions I saw German gendarmerie escorting groups of five to six people, sometimes more, to the cemetery. Then, I heard shots, even from machine guns. I did not go to check what had happened, but it was obvious to me that those people – Jews – were shot dead.

In the fall of 1943, about 5 trucks arrived, or maybe more because they were taxicabs, but also big half-covered trucks and trucks similar to houses with chimneys, fully covered. People were prohibited to pass by the Jewish cemetery. The Germans checked whether it was impossible to see what was happening at the cemetery from nearby houses. A part of the cemetery was fenced off with high mats. I did not see what happened there, but I could hear shots and then I saw smoke, which smelled quite peculiarly. People were saying it was the smell of burning flesh.

These mysterious activities lasted from 8.00 a.m. to around 2.00 p.m. Then, we were forbidden to go to the cemetery, but some people who were curious went there at night – after the Germans had left – and they claimed the common graves that were there had been violated and covered with freshly-dug dirt. I did not see if the Germans got anything out of the vehicles. The trucks with chimneys parked behind the high mat fence and we could not see anything. As a matter of fact, it was dangerous to look because the place was surrounded by guards. I also saw a German shoot a Jewish woman whom he had found among the ruins of the ghetto after it had been emptied. I do not know anything else.