WŁADYSŁAW SWITEK

25 June 1947. Branch Office for the Investigation of German Crimes in Staszów, in the person of judge Al. Zalewski, with the participation of reporter Wł. Boś, heard the person named below as an unsworn witness.


Name and surname Władysław Switek
Age 48 years old
Parents’ names Marcin and Marianna
Place of residence Rytwiany
Occupation farmer
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

From 1942 to 1945 I served as administrator of the Rytwiany settlement. In the summer of 1943, the German gendarmerie summoned me in my official capacity to organize a burial of 21 corpses, which lay close to one another in the monastery’s forest situated in the commune of Rytwiany. The bodies were massacred beyond recognition. They were buried on site in two mass graves. It was said that the murdered people were Jews who had hidden in the forest following the liquidation of the ghetto. From ranger Andrzej Bublik (residing in Rytwiany – ranger’s lodge), who was then present at the execution site, I learned that these crimes were perpetrated by the German gendarmerie from Staszów and Rytwiany, but I cannot provide any surnames. In the winter of 1943 or 1944, from the windows of my house, I saw the German gendarmerie shoot on its way Kazimierz Kępa, another inhabitant of our village. I don’t know anything about other crimes committed in our area.

The report was read out.