ROMAN GAGUŁA

24 January 1950, Warsaw. Trainee Judge Irena Skonieczna, acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, interviewed the person named below as a witness, who testified as follows:


Name and surname Roman Gaguła
Date and place of birth 18 June 1882 in Błonie
Parents’ names Jan and Katarzyna, née Walczak
Father’s occupation Forester
State affiliation and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Catholic
Education He can sign his name
Father’s occupation Janitor
Place of residence Warsaw, Grzybowska Street 71, flat 1
Criminal record None

At the moment when the Warsaw Uprising began, I was at Grzybowska Street 71. There were lots of people staying in the basements of our house. Opposite our big house there stood only tiny wooden houses whose residents also hid in our basements. The insurgents occupied the surrounding area until 15 August 1944. The house gate was closed. On 15 August, at 5.00 a.m., German tanks drove into Grzybowska Street from the side of Przyokopowa Street (at that moment there were no insurgents on our property). The Germans began to bang on the gate. As I was the janitor, I opened it. We were all ordered to come out of the basements. The Germans led us out into Przyokopowa Street, where the women were separated from the men.

One blind man and one wounded man remained in the basement. I do not know what happened to them.

After my return to Warsaw in January 1945, I found no trace of either of them.

On Przyokopowa Street the Germans robbed the people of all their valuables. Then we were marched to St. Adalbert’s Church in Wola. The men were led into the lower church, where they stayed for the night, while the women were transported to Pruszków still on the same day. The men were detained for different types of work. Some of them were assigned to work at the Klawy factory at Przyokopowa Street, some were sent to load trains in Stawki, and others were employed to work along the front line. After twelve days I was taken to Pruszków along with the other men from our group.

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