LUCJAN KALISZ

Łódź, 16 April 1946. Judge Nastanow interviewed the person named below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations, of the obligation to speak the truth, and of the significance of the oath, the judge took an oath therefrom, following which the witness testified as follows:

Name and surname Lucjan Kalisz


Age 38 years old
Occupation lower-ranking administrative employee of the University of Łódź
Religion Roman Catholic

Between November 1939 and 1 July 1944, I worked as a laborer at the Gestapo offices at aleja Szucha 25. I lived elsewhere. In the main, I worked on the second floor, on the right side of the building. I would do the cleaning and move furniture around. Arrestees were brought in continuously, through the day and night.

A friend of mine, Marian Żółkowski, would be able to provide the exact number of those detained. He lives in Warsaw at Żulińskiego Street 9.

I heard the sounds of the interrogations very well, while when cleaning the rooms I would have to mop up large quantities of blood.

Initially, I would also remove bodies and those who were dying after being interrogated.

They were carried to the prison, where they were collected by ambulances. Later on, the laborers refused to carry off the bodies, so this duty fell to the Jews. I myself carried out two dying men. My friends performed this work more frequently.

On numerous occasions I would remove the remains of furniture smashed during the beating and interrogation of arrestees. Usually, the Germans would strike detainees with heavy oak furniture legs. Sometimes, though, they would use iron-tipped whips.

My sister was arrested in 1940 and I know that she was beaten during her interrogation. But the methods were not so harsh at the time, and women would only receive blows to their buttocks. My sister was taken from the Gestapo building to Pawiak prison, and from there – probably – to Oświęcim. She did not return, and she did not write any letters.

There were four instances when interrogatees jumped out of the second floor windows; one of them fell into a pool, full of water, in the courtyard, and the Gestapo men kept shooting at him until he stopped coming to the surface. Others would be taken away with broken limbs. Instances where arrestees would leave the interrogation room without any trace of having been beaten were extremely rare. Nearly always they would come out of the chamber bruised and battered, with their clothes torn. The screams and groans were continuous.

When they interrogated Mr. Stolarski, the librarian of the Ministry of Education, I ran down to the boiler room so as not to hear anything.

I did not hear about any special torture room – interrogations took place everywhere and traces of blood were plentiful. I know with all certainty that in 1941 or 1942 all of the German Gestapo employees attended the execution of a Gestapo interpreter (Dolmetscher) by the name of Stefan, who was accused of collaborating with a foreign intelligence service; it took place on the sports field at aleja Szucha 14. I did not hear about any executions of Poles that would have been carried out on the premises of the Gestapo building.

But I was told by friends that killings were performed there during the Uprising.

To date, one Jan Ćwikłowski continues to work and live at aleja Szucha 25; during the War he was employed in the Gestapo building as a boilerman, and he has a lot of information.

The report was read out.