24 October 1949, Warsaw. Member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, Iwona Skonieczna, interviewed the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false statements the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Jan Czyrnek, monastic name Bertrand |
| Date and place of birth | 25 March 1900, Jamna, Limanowa county |
| Parents’ names | Wojciech and Maria, née Tropa |
| Father’s occupation | Farmer |
| State affiliation and nationality | Polish |
| Religious affiliation | Catholic |
| Education | Doctorate in philosophy and theology |
| Occupation | Priest |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Służew, Dominican monastery |
| Criminal record | None |
When the Uprising started I was in the Dominican Monastery in Służew. In April 1940, part of the monastery came to be occupied by a Wehrmacht unit, of a kind with which I am unfamiliar. In 1941 this unit was replaced by airmen who, rotating, occupied part of the monastery until January 1945. A Luftwaffe technical unit, from 80 to 100 people in number, was quartered in the monastery at the moment of the outbreak of the Uprising. Leutnant Busse was probably in charge of the unit, which was subordinate to the Okęcie command. Its soldiers were equipped with sub-machine guns and one machine gun.
The outbreak of the Uprising took the unit by surprise. Chaos ensued and no decisive action was taken until the evening. In the evening of 1 August 1944, three SS men arrived in the monastery – one officer and two non-commissioned officers. They brought machine guns and actually took command of the garrison. Barricaded, the monastery was turned into some sort of a fortress. On 1 August 1944, in the evening, German soldiers brought to the monastery a group of several men whom they had captured in the surrounding area. Three men from this group were shot in the courtyard of the monastery, in the morning of 2 or 3 August 1944.
Beginning on 2 August, the Germans would go out in the direction of the city. The noise of fighting could be heard coming from that side. Sometimes all the soldiers from the garrison went out to fight, and for a few consecutive days there were no German soldiers in the monastery.
After a few days they returned, setting up more guns, including two light field guns that fired at the area of Mokotów and Czerniaków. Leutnant Busse remained in command of this artillery. I know that until 18 August 1944 eleven to twelve people, including one woman, were shot in the monastery grounds.
Groups of the population evacuated from Warsaw began to pass by the monastery at the end of August. One day I heard the Germans order a few men to be separated from the transport of the civilian population. Suspected of fighting in the insurgent ranks, they were turned back in the direction of the city. The order was carried out, but I don’t know what happened with these young men.
In August I saw the burning of houses. The first houses which the Germans set on fire were located on Puławska Street. I also know that an order was issued to set fire to the Wilanów parcels. Generally, south of Aleja Wilanowska people weren’t displaced. Nor did they suffer any repressions. The same can be said of the area of St. Catherine’s Church on Kościelna Street, where Adam Wyrębowski is a priest.
We stayed in the monastery until the liberation of Warsaw.
At this the report was concluded and read out.