JANINA DZIATKIEWICZ

Warsaw, 13 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 Janina Dziatkiewicz, née Wysocka
Date and place of birth 2 December 1919, Warsaw
Parents’ names Władysław and Rozalia, née Granke
Father’s profession bricklayer
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religion Roman Catholic
Education 4 classes of elementary school
Occupation caretaker at the information centre of a military unit
Place of residence Warsaw, Wilanowska Street 22, flat 4
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was at home at Szara Street 4. On 14 August 1944, when German units started to occupy this area, I moved together with my family to the house at Wilanowska Street 22. During the night from 17 to 18 September we withdrew under the pressure of the advancing Germans – who started throwing grenades at our house – to house no. 18 at Wilanowska Street. Also on that night the last insurgent units withdrew from our street.

On the morning of 18 September a few German soldiers – just “Ukrainians” – entered the premises of our house. The civilian population present in the house had gathered in the basement. The “Ukrainians” ordered all of us to walk out. Two “Ukrainians” stood in a room on the ground floor through which we had to pass while exiting the basement. They ordered the women to walk out into the street, where we were arranged in twos, while the men were executed on the spot. They killed my husband right before my eyes, not even allowing me to walk around his body. I had to walk over him. Some of the men fled to the courtyard of our house. However, there was a “Ukrainian” there too, and he shot at everyone without second thought. In this way, 53 men perished in the execution.

In the spring of 1945 the Polish Red Cross visited the area and performed an exhumation of the grave located directly opposite Wilanowska Street 22, in the square. It turned out that the victims of the execution carried out on 18 September 1944 had been placed in this grave. It is not known who buried the bodies at this location.

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