BOGDAN PYTAŚ

On 23 January 1946, in Radom, the 2nd judge of the District Court in Radom, based in Radom, Judge Kazimierz Borys, heard the person named below as a witness. After being informed about the criminal liability for giving false testimony, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Bogdan Pytaś
Age 26
Parents’ names Kazimierz and Helena
Place of residence Mleczna Street 8, Radom
Occupation lathe operator
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

In the summer of 1940 or 1941, in the afternoon, I saw some Germans digging a pit in the Firlej sands, about 10 meters in length and about two or three meters wide. The next morning, the Germans brought two trucks to Firlej [full of] people and shot all of them over the pits. I didn’t see the execution itself. However, I was at the execution site afterwards and I saw traces of blood and pieces of human bodies and bone fragments in the sand.

Another time, I don’t remember the dates, I witnessed the execution of about 200 people. Those who were transported by cars were lined up above holes that had been dug and were shot with automatic weapons. Some of the condemned were apparently ordered to jump in, because I saw some of the condemned jumping up and the Germans shooting at them when they were already in the bottom.

I think that it was in 1943 that I saw a Gestapo man walking towards the sands, followed by a little boy, about 10 years old. In another place I saw a dug hole. Acacias were blooming at the time. After a while, a second Gestapo officer came into my apartment and stopped me from observing what happened next to this boy. I only heard revolver shots, and after the Gestapo’s departure I noticed a new grave, relatively fresh sand where the pit had been previously dug. On the sand lay a bundle of acacia flowers.

As to the circumstances in which this boy was shot, I can’t really say because, as I mentioned, I wasn’t an eyewitness to the whole course of the execution.

The report was read out.