ZBIGNIEW LUTY

On 12 January 1946 in Radom, the investigating judge from the 2nd Region of the District Court in Radom, Judge Kazimierz Borys, heard the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Zbigniew Luty
Age 19 years old
Parents’ names Stefan and Helena
Place of residence Firlej, Wielogóra commune
Occupation student of the Mechanical High School in Radom
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

On 4 April 1940 I noticed for the first time a group of trucks turning from the Warsaw road to the Firlej sands. I was outside at the time, but the Germans forced me into my flat, just as they did with other residents of Firlej. I watched the events from my window. I saw the Germans lead groups of people out of the trucks: their hands were tied and they were also tied to one another. After they got out from the truck, the people knelt down on the ground. Next individual groups were marched beyond a hillock, and then shots rang out from that direction. There might have been some 10 trucks then, and each contained about 15 people. Apart from the trucks, cars carrying Germans drove between Radom and Firlej as well.

The second execution took place about a week later. Two trucks brought about 30 men, who were subsequently shot. I didn’t witness this execution, but I heard shooting some time after the convicts were led out of the car.

There weren’t many executions in 1940 and 1941, on average one every two weeks. Or at least this is what I noticed myself. I would like to emphasize, however, that both at the time and during the remaining years of the occupation, I spent half of each day in Radom. At the time people were being executed far away from the road, in the middle of the sands. These executions were quite rare, but not single – several dozen people were shot during each.

In the winter of 1941/1942, the executions were carried out in the vicinity of the buildings. Then I saw with my own eyes how the Germans marched the victims, whom they had first led out of the trucks parked on the road to Firlej, in the direction of pits, which were situated some 400 meters away. Next they ordered the convicts to jump into the pits and shot them. One of the victims, seeing what was going on, tried to avoid his death and didn’t want to enter a pit already filled with the dead bodies of his murdered companions. Then some Gestapo man pushed him and then fired at him with his revolver.

In 1942 and 1943, the executions in Firlej took place on average a few times a month. Usually there were from 10 to 20 victims.

The executions became more numerous in the autumn of 1943. Even though it was at this time that the Germans – having expelled the local populace – proceeded to burn, under the cover of straw mats, the corpses of the victims that had been murdered so far, new executions were still under way. We could hear shooting from the direction of the sands and noticed increased traffic. Apart from vehicles that – since they were soiled with lime – must have been carrying corpses from other locations, ordinary trucks were also going between Radom and Firlej at the time; they were escorted by Gestapo men and carried the condemned people to the execution site. The burning of the corpses lasted until April 1944.

I am not sure what the burning of the corpses looked like, because I saw it only from afar. I suppose that there was a makeshift crematorium built at the sands, because I saw that before they began to burn the corpses, the Germans transported lime, bricks, concrete, wood etc. to Firlej. Moreover, for the first three months they burned the bodies only in one spot, as we could see flames over that spot at night and smoke during the day. Three months later the fire was moved to another location.

About a week after the burning was over, the executions were again held as before. The corpses were buried on the spot. Until July 1944, the executions were carried out several times a month. After the Eastern Front had collapsed, the terror intensified. One day in July, the Gestapo men spent the whole day executing people in Firlej. I watched this execution through my binoculars. However, I couldn’t see the shooting itself, as the view was obscured by a hillock. I only saw people being led out of the cars and marched beyond the hill. Then I repeatedly heard automatic gunfire. About 100 people were shot that day. From then on, people were executed almost every other day. I watched these executions through my binoculars. The Gestapo men would take four people from a truck parked nearby, order them to dig a pit and then execute them in it. Next they would bring over the remaining people from the truck, push them into the pit one by one and shoot them with automatic weapons. Before the execution the victims were ordered to strip down to their underwear. Among those condemned to death I saw a little boy of about 8 years; a Gestapo man led him by the hand from the car to the pit, pushed him in and shot him. I saw that one man tried to escape, but was shot. Apart from the executions in Firlej, in 1944 the Germans brought the bodies of people murdered in other locations to bury them there.

In November and December 1944 the executions were less frequent.

The last execution took place in January 1945, a few days before the entry of the Red Army.

According to my estimates, which I am basing on my own observations, during the occupation the Germans executed about 10,000 people in Firlej.

The report was read out.