FELIKS MOLAK

On 27 October 1949 in Warsaw a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Irena Skonieczna (MA), interviewed the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Feliks Molak
Date and place of birth 28 March 1893, Kępa Glińska, Warsaw county
Parents’ names unknown, Katarzyna, née Molak
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education 4 classes of elementary school
Occupation laborer
Place of residence Warsaw, Czerniakowska Street 146, flat 13
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was at the port at Czerniakowska Street 136. The area of the Czerniakowski Port had been occupied by the insurgents. Fighting continued in our area right until 13 September 1944. The Germans fired at the port from the school at Czerniakowska Street 122. On 13 September, German pressure forced the insurgents and the remaining civilian population to abandon the port. They withdrew towards the school at Zagórna Street 9, while the remaining civilians proceeded to Przemysłowa Street. On the next day, 14 September, the Germans took Przemysłowa and some nearby streets. They drove crowds of people to the port. From there, after some two hours, we were led further towards Agrykola Street, because fighting was raging in Praga. While we were passing the Kassino at Czerniakowska Street, the Germans dragged some of the men from the crowd (I noticed that they selected only those who were more or less decently dressed, among them the manager of our port, Feliks Słomczyński) and executed them on the spot, under the growing trees.

I do not know how many died in this manner, for obviously I was forced to walk forward.

We were led along Agrykola Street to aleja Szucha. There the Germans again started dragging out young men and detaining them. I know that none of the detained men have returned home to date. The Germans led the remaining civilians along Rakowiecka Street to Narutowicza Square, and from there along other streets (I do not remember which) to St. Stanislaus’ Church in the Wola district. On the next day the women and elderly men were transported to Pruszków. The younger men, myself amongst them, were taken to perform various types of work. The next day I and a few other colleagues went to the electric train, which took us to Pruszków.

After returning to Warsaw on 21 February 1945, I saw a large grave near the Kassino. In the summer of that year the Polish Red Cross conducted an exhumation of the site. A great many bodies were found there, maybe as many as 60. I do not know whether or not these were solely the bodies of the victims of the execution carried out on 14 September 1944. I only recognized the body of our manager, which we interred at the Czerniakowski Cemetery.

At this point the report was concluded and read out.