GENOWEFA DURASIEWICZ

On 19 June 1947 in Radom, a member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Radom, deputy prosecutor T. Skulimowski, interviewed the person named below as a witness, without administering an oath. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the provisions of Article 107 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Genowefa Durasiewicz
Age 23 years old
Parents’ names Jan and Wiktoria, née Cibor
Place of residence Skaryszew, Iłżecka Street 6
Occupation housewife
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties daughter of the victims Jan and Wiktoria Urbański

On 6 March 1944, in Edwardów, Skaryszew commune, Radom district, the following people were shot to death by the German gendarmes: my father, Jan Urbański – aged 60; my mother, Wiktoria Urbańska, née Cibor – aged 58; my sister, Aniela Siwiec – aged 28; my brother-in-law, Józef Siwiec – aged 35; and a blacksmith from the village of Edwardów, whom I didn’t know – Józef Gołąbek, aged 22.

They were executed in retaliation for the killing of two Blue policemen by the partisans in Edwardów. I did not personally witness the execution, because at that time I was in Radom. I learnt from my brothers and residents of Edwardów that the execution had taken place as follows: During the occupation, my father Jan Urbański took up a number of jobs – among others, producing oil. The Blue Police from the station in Skaryszew knew about it because someone – I don’t know who – had reported him. Producing oil was strictly forbidden and severely punished by the Germans, so my father, fearing the punishment, repeatedly bribed the policemen from the station in Skaryszew to keep them silent.

On 6 March 1944, in the local shop in the village of Wólka Twarogowa, Skaryszew commune, my father met with three policemen: the commandant of the police station in Skaryszew, whose surname I don’t know, policeman Walczak and another policeman whose surname I don’t know. The policemen told my father that they were going to drive to his place in Edwardów. Father said that there was no point to do so, because there was no oil. The policemen, however, left father in the shop and made their way to Edwardów. In Edwardów they ran into partisans and started a shoot-out. As a result, two policemen were killed – Walczak and the other one – while the commandant of the police station in Skaryszew fled and informed the German gendarmes who were in Skaryszew at the time. They immediately drove to Edwardów together with the commandant of the police station in Skaryszew.

The commandant of the police station pointed to my father’s house, saying that there were only Jews and bandits inside. First, the gendarmes escorted my mother out of the house as punishment for not warning the policemen that partisans were inside, and they shot her in front of the house. Then they took father outside and shot him behind the barn. They took my brother-in-law, Józef Siwiec, who lived with his wife in the same yard as my parents. They shot him in the field and then took my sister, Aniela Siwiec, and killed her as well. At the time, Józef Gołąbek was in the house of our neighbor Jan Trybuła, who is now dead, when the gendarmes were taking Jan Trybuła away, so they also took Józef Gołąbek. They released Trybuła because he was old, and told Gołąbek to run away through the field. During this escape the gendarmes started shooting at Gołąbek, who was running, and hit him while he was crossing the river.

I don’t know the surnames of the gendarmes. The execution was witnessed by Maria Urbańska, residing in Edwardów, and Mrs. Wieczorek, whose first name I don’t know, residing in Wólka Twarogowa. My brothers – Wacław Urbański and Bolesław Urbański – did not witness the execution, because they had escaped. Józef Socha, Jan Socha and Józef Banaszkiewicz didn’t see the execution either.

Roman Siwiec – the village leader from Wólka Twarogowa – buried the corpses of the victims in our garden, as he was ordered by the Germans. I don’t know who participated in burying the corpses.

A month later we unearthed the corpses, put them into coffins, and buried them in our field next to a cross. On 6 March 1945, the corpses were transported to the Roman Catholic parish cemetery in Skaryszew. There was no official exhumation.

I would like to add that after the execution the German gendarmes confiscated all of our property and transported everything to Radom. They took the pigs, calves, and grain away, and then they settled Jan Kaczmarczyk from Puławy in our place. They assigned him our land, buildings, and all of the farming equipment and livestock that they had left in place. We lost all our property.

The report was read out.