Warsaw, 25 January 1946. Judge Halina Wereńko, delegated to the Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, has interviewed the person mentioned below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the importance of the oath, the judge swore the witness on the basis of art. 109 of the code of criminal procedure.
The witness testified as follows:
| Name | Stanisław Jaworski |
| Date of birth | 14 July 1907 |
| Parents’ names | Szczepan and Józefa |
| Occupation | Medical orderly at the Wolski hospital |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Twarda Street 61, flat 44 |
During the Warsaw Uprising I lived in Warsaw, at Krochmalna street 81 with my wife Helena, daughters, and son Józef, aged 14.
On 6 August, at dawn, when I was in the basement with all the residents of the building, an armed unit of “Ukrainians” (soldiers in German uniforms who spoke Russian or Ukrainian) came into the courtyard of the house. They shouted at us to go out, rushed into the basement and pushed us outside brutally. In the courtyard, they separated the men from the women and children, and robbed everyone. My son and I, in a group of about 30 men, were driven down Karolkowa Street, towards the monastery of the Redemptorists. On leaving the courtyard, I noticed that the “Ukrainians” had set fire to the front of the house. Passing the building at number 90 Krochmalna Street, I saw bodies lying in the courtyard.
Some time later, in the St. Wojciech [Adalbert] church, Jastrzębski and Marciniak told me about this execution. I found my wife and my daughters, who had been left in the courtyard of our house, in October 1944, near Żyrardów. I have found out only that the group of women was led to St Wojciech church in Wola district and sent, through Pruszków transit camp, to Germany. My wife and daughters managed to escape from the transport.
On the way to St Wojciech church, the “Ukrainians” abducted four young girls from the group; they rejoined the group after a while and told the others that they had been raped by the “Ukrainians”. My wife knows the names of these girls.
We stood in front of the monastery for about 15 minutes. There was also a group of civilians, consisting of about 300 men. I don’t know from which houses or street they were taken. The SS-men and “Ukrainians” drove out the priests, monks and other men from the shelter of the monastery – in the end there was about 400 men in the group. We were all driven down Wolska Street. Everyone kept his hands raised up, except for the priests, as some were carrying suitcases and bundles.
Soon after passing from Karolkowa to Wolska Street, Father Palewski, who was an old man, fell down. My son Józef helped him to get up and took his suitcase. At this moment, the soldiers stopped the group and ordered the men to take the suitcases from the priests. Then they rushed to plunder them – they searched everyone thoroughly, and opened the suitcases with bayonets.
During the march, new groups of “Ukrainians” joined us and every time they searched us for valuables. We were also stopped for a very thorough search on the corner of Działdowska and Młynarska Street.
Eventually, our group was stopped at Wolska Street, just around the corner from Sokołowska Street. We were told to leave the priests’ suitcases on the other side of the street; the priests and the men who were carrying their luggage were to stand beside it. That’s how I got separated from my son, who was placed next to the priests. The “Ukrainians” rushed to the suitcases and the plunder began.
At the same moment I saw that several SS-men ordered 12 priests to step out of the row. They led this group to the gate of Kirchmeyer and Marczewski’s warehouse of agricultural machines, at Wolska Street, opposite Sokołowska Street. Right after that I heard single revolver shots, I counted 12 of them. After a while, SS-men took another group of 12 priests and led them, just like a while before, toward the gate of the warehouse. There were 30 or 31 priests and monks taken; after that the SS-men started to take the men – some of those who had been carrying suitcases, then the men from the other side of the street.
My son went in the fifth dozen, I was in the sixth.
When we passed the gate, I saw two sheds in the back, next to the fence along Wolska Street. Myself and 11 other men were led to the sheds, through the middle of the square. I was nearer the first shed from the side of Sokołowska Street and could only view this one. What I saw were corpses piled on one another, from the edge of the shed to the wall in the back, to a height of half a metre. I could not see whether there were corpses by the other shed.
When we were about 4-5 meters from the shed, a motorcycle came into the courtyard, a German NCO got off (I could not recognise the division or his rank) and gave a document to the SS-men who had led us. In the courtyard, beside those few “Ukrainians” who led us, there was another, large group of “Ukrainians” and SS-men. Having read the document, the NCO (I’m not sure of his rank) controlling the execution up till then shouted raus, then our dozen was led to Wolska Street and joined the two other dozens waiting at the gate. We were all led to the group from which we had been previously taken – standing on Wolska Street around the corner of Sokołowska Street. Then they led us along Sokołowska Street.
When we turned from Wolska to Sokołowska Street, I saw a bank of corpses lying on the opposite side from St Wojciech church. This bank of corpses was as long as the church, as wide as a human body and about two metres high. There could have been approximately 400 corpses. I had the impression that the corpses must have been laid there, that the pile had not formed during the execution – it was too high.
It was already 1945 when the sacristan of St Wojciech church (I don’t know his name) told me that there had been an execution of men in the church cemetery at the beginning of the Uprising.
Our group was taken to the barracks at Sokołowska Street, behind St Wojciech church.
The next day (7 August), the SS-man counted 80 of us and led us to Kirchmeyer and Marczewski’s warehouse of agricultural machines. There was some timber in the courtyard, and a place for a pyre had been prepared. We had to carry the corpses there from the two sheds, some single ones from the courtyard and from the houses on Wolska Street. There were three other pyres prepared – two of them were on the neighbouring property.
My colleagues estimated that we carried about three thousand corpses this day. The SS- men poured some liquid on the corpses and set them on fire.
We were working from 10 a.m., all day and all night from 7 to 8 August. At dawn, they led us to the barracks on Sokołowska Street.
On 8 August, at 10 p.m., I was led in a group of about 500 men in front of an insurgents’ barricade on the Żelazna Brama square, as a human shield for the German army. Many of us died under fire. One hour later the insurgents withdrew to the Saxon Garden, some of our group managed to join them. I stayed in place with about 400 men and on 9 August the SS-men led us back to St Wojciech church in Wola district.
The next day (10 August) I was sent in a transport to the transit camp in Pruszków.
The persons killed in the execution of 6 August in the warehouse of agricultural machines were, among others: my son Józef Jaworski, aged 14, the monks Palewski and Müller, a resident of our house [named] Ciok. Members of my group, who avoided execution, were: Wacław Pikuła, Marciniak, Baranowski, Jan Rudnik, Zdzisław Jaworski, some residents of Warsaw and others.
I don’t know the names of men from the group that was ordered to burn the corpses.
At that the report was concluded and read out.