WŁADYSŁAW KRÓL

31 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, who testified as follows:


Name and surname Władysław Król
Date and place of birth 21 August 1880 in Radom
Parents’ names Jan and Franciszka, née Sadowska
Father’s occupation Estate administrator
State affiliation and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Catholic
Education Elementary school
Occupation Janitor
Place of residence Warsaw, Warecka Street 6, flat 8
Criminal record None

At the moment when the Warsaw Uprising began, I was in the house at Nowy Świat Street 53. At the end of August or at the beginning of September 1944, our house was set alight by a shell. As a result, the people who were staying in it moved into the basements of the house at Nowy Świat Street 55/57, which had burned down in 1939. We stayed there with no water and with almost nothing to eat until 8 September 1944. That day the Germans – from a unit with which I am unfamiliar, but it seems to me that they were “Ukrainians” – entered our premises and screamed at the people to leave the basements. On Nowy Świat Street, where we were gathered, they robbed us of our watches, but we weren’t searched. Then they led us along Ordynacka Street to Kopernika Street, and then along Kopernika and Oboźna streets to the University, where we were given food and drink. Among those gathered in the University gardens, there were more people from other streets and houses. All of them were escorted in groups in the direction of the Wola district. After two days, my group too was led along Ossolińskich Street, Piłsudskiego Square, Wierzbowa Street, Theater Square, Senatorska Street, Chłodna Street and Wolska Street to the church in Wola. We spent two days in the church and then we were taken, both men and women, to the Western Railway Station, from where we were transported by train to Pruszków.

I heard of no crimes committed by the Germans on Nowy Świat and Warecka streets. But I heard from Bielawski’s wife about the crimes committed by the Germans in Wola. Her husband was killed in Wola during the Uprising. I myself saw no crimes.

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