Szczepan Paśnik was a Warsaw-area man who, with his wife Józefa, was accused of the murders of seven women in the first weeks of 1922. A summary court in Warsaw sentenced both of them to death on April 6, 1922. Both were executed in Warsaw on April 7, 1922. Józefa Paśnik is remembered as the only woman executed in Poland between the world wars.
Paśnik was 36 when he died. He had a farm near Pruszków, a town just outside Warsaw, but spent much of his time in the city's criminal circles. He was tried several times for theft and robbery. In 1913 he was sentenced to 12 years of hard labor and forced settlement in Siberia for killing a policeman; the revolution freed him. His birthplace and the date of his birth are not on record.
His wife Józefa was 40 at the time of her death. She had a child, whom she mentioned at the trial. The prosecution held that she took an active part in her husband's offenses.
The couple were accused of killing seven women in the Warsaw area in January and February 1922. The deaths were placed in towns around Warsaw, among them Włochy, Wawer and Teresin. Only the case of Maria Moroz was tried.
The couple were arrested in the last days of February 1922. The exact day and the place of arrest are not on record.
The trial opened on April 5, 1922, before a summary court in Warsaw, a procedure that allowed a verdict within days and no appeal. A panel of three judges heard the case over two days. Szczepan Paśnik admitted the death of Maria Moroz only. As to the other accusations, he said he had been beaten into confessing.
On April 6, 1922, the court sentenced Szczepan and Józefa Paśnik to death. Their defense counsel each asked the head of state for clemency. Józef Piłsudski, the head of state, did not grant it for either of them.
Szczepan and Józefa Paśnik were executed in Warsaw on April 7, 1922, the day after the verdict.
Six of the seven deaths were never the subject of a verdict; the court tried the case of Maria Moroz alone, and whether the couple were sentenced for six deaths or one is not settled. Szczepan Paśnik said that his admissions on the other deaths had been forced from him. The court sat under the summary procedure; whether it was a summary court proper or the Warsaw district court sitting summarily is not settled.
1913: sentenced to 12 years of hard labor and forced settlement in Siberia for killing a policeman; freed by the revolution.
January to February 1922: the period of the accused killings of seven women in the Warsaw area.
Last days of February 1922: Szczepan and Józefa Paśnik are arrested.
April 5, 1922: trial opens in Warsaw.
April 6, 1922: both are sentenced to death; the head of state declines clemency.
April 7, 1922: both are executed in Warsaw.