Home Shtetl Life Holocaust Landsmanshaftn History Photos Videos
Maps Trips Surnames Researchers Links Guest Book Contact

Recorded Interviews of Radzilow Residents

Conducted By: Marcin Buczek of Radio Station RMF-FM, Krakow, Poland

Radio station RMF-FM in Krakow, Poland sent reporter Marcin Buczek to Radzilow to interview residents regarding the recent revelations that the Polish people were responsible for the murder of the town's Jews during the Holocaust. The interviews were aired on March 26, 2001 on the program "Obraz Dnia" (Picture of the Day), part of the station's News & Current Affairs Division.

The interviews are in Polish. Some of the people clearly confirm that the Poles did play the major role in organizing and committing the crime. Some of the people say that mainly the Germans should be blamed. One of the inhabitants of Radzilow only reads the sign at the disputed monument in Radzilow. The edited version, examining both views, was put together solely by Radio station RMF-FM.


Translation of Edited Version:

I was working with my brother in the field outside Okrasin and we saw this glow. We were trying to guess: Racibory, Radzilow. Father came in a carriage to pick us up and told us that the Jews had been burned alive. They were sitting in the park, but where this park was, in this place now or somewhere else? Well, the Jews were in one place. Supposedly, they were to do some weeding, first at the market square, then...

The Jews were run through the streets. One Jewess asked: "Please Miss, save me." My mother extended her hand to grab her and pull her into our house, but there were these Germans standing there, with skulls on their hats and with weapons and they threatened to take my mother. They were gathered in one place at this market place and then. This place, where they were murdered, was outside Radzilow. I rode with my father through there, because we lived close and he said: "The Jews were burned there."

In 1941, fascists murdered 800 people of Jewish nationality, 500 of them were burned alive in a barn. Let us honor their memory. Most likely some Poles participated, but there were also Germans. There were only a few Germans here - gendarmes. When a surveillance team passed by, they did not stop. How many gendarmes were in this area? Two, and their chief. The chief did not speak any Polish, the other two did, they were from Silesia. Poles help them a little bit, but not much. This interview is too late, 60 years, who remembers, who remembers. What happened here is my business, I remember this for myself.


Permission granted by Jacek Stawiski, Head of News & Current Affairs, Radio Station RMF-FM, Krakow, Poland.
Translation by Vlady Rozenbaum.
Return to Holocaust Section