CHABERA ALEKSANDRA

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


Name and surname Aleksandra Chabera
Date and place of birth 20 September 1898 in Jadów, Warsaw voivodeship
Parents’ names Jan and Antonina, née Łapka
Father’s occupation Laborer
State affiliation and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Catholic
Education Two grades of elementary school
Occupation Manual worker at the kitchen at the Polish Red Cross
Place of Residence Krochmalna Street 28, flat 14
Criminal Record None

At the moment when the Warsaw Uprising began, I was in the house at Krochmalna Street 28. Until 16 August 1944 the area around our house remained in the hands of the insurgents, whom, however, I didn’t see because I was in the basement from the very outset of the Uprising. All the residents of our house were with me in the basement, 45 people in all. On the morning of 16 August, a German in grey uniform entered our courtyard. I was just preparing breakfast on the first floor. My husband came out to speak to the German who wanted to know how many people were still staying in the basement and whether there were any insurgents among them. When my husband assured him that he would come to no harm, he told us to come out of the basement. We were allowed to take some things and he escorted us to Chłodna Street where we were handed over to an escort of “Ukrainians”. The streets that we went along were empty. The “Ukrainians” led us to the church at Wolska Street, from where the women were transported to Pruszków that very evening. I don’t know what happened to the men.

The report was brought to a close and read out.