JADWIGA NOWAKOWSKA

On 31 May 1947 in Zwoleń, the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes with its seat in Radom, this in the person of its member, Deputy Prosecutor J. Skarżyński, acting pursuant to Article 20 of the provisions introducing the Code of Criminal Procedure, interviewed the person mentioned hereunder as a witness, without taking an oath. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Jadwiga Nowakowska
Age 40 years old
Parents’ names Józef and Helena
Place of residence Zwoleń, Radomska Street 57
Occupation currently works as a trader
Religion Roman Catholic
Criminal record none

I lived in Zwoleń throughout the whole German occupation. During this time, my husband worked at the Agricultural and Trading Cooperative in Zwoleń. On 16 May 1944 my husband, Władysław Nowakowski, was detained by the Gestapo from Radom along with more than 40 other people. The arrests took place in the night. The arrestees were transported to Radom. Earlier, on Good Friday 1944, the Germans had held a mass execution in the market square in Zwoleń. I didn’t witness this killing.

On 19 June 1944 at around 8.00 p.m., two trucks arrived from Radom. Their passengers included some of the people who had been detained on 16 May [19]47, my husband among them. I didn’t actually see the execution that was held on 19 June 1944, however I know with all certainty that my husband was shot dead on that date in the market square in Zwoleń, in a group of more than 40 other victims. I recognized my husband’s body after the corpses were exhumed in the spring of 1945. Ms Ostrowska, who witnessed the shooting, told me that the victims were ordered to kneel, and were then shot from behind.

The execution that took place in 1944 (June) was a retaliatory measure for the kidnapping by Polish partisans of two officials of the Radom District. It was announced in leaflets that were dropped by German aircraft beforehand. As far as I know, my husband was a member of an organization fighting for Poland’s independence. I know that during the arrests in May 1944 one Prokopowiak (I don’t know his name), who had worked as a teacher in Zwoleń before 1939, was seen amongst the Gestapo men wearing an SS uniform. The execution held on 19 June [19]44, as well as the preceding one, were public, and people were forced to gather and watch the massacre. Quite obviously, they were intended to have a deterrent effect.

I now have to provide for 3 children (aged 19, 15 and 9). I don’t receive any benefits. I do not know who informed on my husband’s organization. I would like to mention the following as showing a particular desire to persecute the Polish residents of Zwoleń: the personnel of the gendarme station, headed by Kalc, Professor Koltz, Lucius, and others, whose surnames I don’t know (the Volksdeutscher, Ms Krigmann, and her brother Fred Giede).