BRONISŁAW FABISIAK

Warsaw, 11 October 1949. Irena Skonieczna (MA), acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, interviewed the person named below, who testified as follows:


Name and surname Bronisław Fabisiak
Date and place of birth 15 December 1892, Mąkolin, Płock county
Parents’ names Józef and Maria, née Gawryńska
Father’s profession farmer
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religion Roman Catholic
Education two classes of elementary school
Profession carpenter
Place of residence Warsaw, Dobra Street 53, flat 80
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was at home at Dobra Street 52/54. Throughout the Uprising, the area was fired upon from the University and bombed by aircraft.

On 6 September 1944 at around 9.00 a.m. the Germans first entered our area. The insurgents had already left, withdrawing through the sewers to Drewniana Street, to the Fusch factory. There, as I heard, they were discovered by the Germans, who executed 18 of their number. The Germans led the residents of our house and neighboring buildings along Radna Street to Browarna Street. There our group, numbering around one thousand persons, was shelled by artillery, firing – I think – from the Saski Garden. Many people were wounded, and a few died.

In the afternoon, at around3.00 p.m., the Germans led us to Bednarska Street, and from there through Teatralny Square, Senatorska Street and Elektoralna Street to St. Stanislaus’ Church. Along the way, the Germans and “Ukrainians” dragged young girls from the column and raped them. Some of them returned, but others perished.

I know that in our street the Germans did not commit any crimes such as shooting the civilian population. The graves in the courtyards at Dobra Street 53 and 52/54 were dug by us during the Uprising to bury the bodies of people who had died or been killed in the course of military operations.

As regards other German crimes, I know that my sister, Bronisława Zielińska, who was in the Śródmieście [City Center] district when the Uprising broke out, was forced by the Germans in the beginning of August – along with other women – to act as human shields for tanks.

I also heard that when they entered the area of Drewniana Street, the Germans murdered the wounded in the hospital that had been set up during the Uprising in the school at Drewniana Street 8. The bodies of the victims were buried in a common grave on the other side of the street, opposite the school.

At this point the report was brought to a close and read out.