Warsaw, 19 June 1946. Investigating Judge Halina Wereńko, delegated to the Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, heard the person named below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the significance of the oath, the Judge took an oath therefrom, following which the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Henryk Wiśniewski |
| Parents’ names | Stanisław and Helena, née Rybarczyk |
| Date of birth | 27 September 1914 in Wilanów |
| Occupation | farmer |
| Education | four classes of elementary school |
| Place of residence | commune of Wilanów, Stara Wieś 44 |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Criminal record | none |
I own a house and some land in Wilanów. My house is located in the older part of Wilanów, near the country road leading from the church to the City-Garden of Sadyba. The number of my house is 44. Opposite my property stand the houses of Antoni Wiśniewski and Zofia Gąsiorowska, while behind them there is a communal pasture that stretches right up to the lake. Behind Gąsiorowska’s house, in the direction of Sadyba, is Owczarek’s house, while Lenarczyk’s stands further back. Behind Lenarczyk’s house is the embankment, and this runs directly to the Vistula.
In the spring of 1942, the German authorities erected barracks on the pasture near the lake and filled them with Soviet prisoners of war. There were two barracks, each 6 m by 10 m. In the spring of 1943, I do not remember the exact date, some 400 male Jews were placed in the barracks.
The Soviet prisoners of war had been removed beforehand, however some eight of them, who were unable to walk, were shot dead with a revolver by a Volksdeutscher by the surname of Kilanowski. The bodies of the murdered victims were taken to the cemetery by Feliks Owczarek. I do not remember who told me that Kilanowski carried out the execution.
The newly-arrived Jews were guarded by two blue policemen. One of them was Zworski, but I do not remember the surname of the other; I think it may be known to Konstanty Szypiński, a former blue policeman who currently works at the People’s Militia station in Wilanów.
Some time later, I do not remember the date, the Jews started keeping guard themselves, and the policemen were withdrawn. The Jewish camp was supervised by the German police stationed at Dworkowa Street (they wore green uniforms with brown epaulettes). The German police would drive up frequently, and following each such visit one of the Jews would be executed. When the Jews first arrived at the camp, two people were shot. Then three people individually, and four together.
I remember neither the dates of the executions, nor the surnames of the victims.
Towards the end of the camp’s existence, 30 Jews were shot dead in the Wilanów estates, by the road to Piaseczno (between Natolin and the Wilanów estates). Before the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, the Jews from the camp were taken to Warsaw; only seven Jewish commandants were left, and all were soon executed on the grounds of the camp.
Currently there are no Jewish graves in Wilanów, for in 1945 the Polish Red Cross carried out an exhumation and removed the bodies.
All the executions of Jews were performed by German policemen from Dworkowa Street. Sergeant Kilanowski, a Volksdeutscher as I recall, gained greatest notoriety as an executioner of Jews; he burned to death in his car in the spring of 1944, ambushed by Home Army soldiers near Powsin.
When the Jewish camp was still operational – I do not remember the date, but it was in 1943 – two Jewesses (caught in the vicinity) and two Gypsies, whose surnames I do not know, were executed behind the camp.
After its liquidation, the Germans sold off the disassembled barracks, and the grounds by the lake returned to their former undeveloped state. In the summer of 1943, I do not remember the date, but it was before the harvest, German policemen from Dworkowa Street drove up one night at around 1.00 a.m. with three men; the Germans shot them, removed their clothes, and left the bodies near the embankment on the side of the lake. Bodies would be buried by the night watchman, Ludwik Grzelec; he was instructed by the village leader, who in turn acted on orders given by the Germans from Dworkowa Street. He later told me that the executed men were young and had had their heads shaved, which would indicate that they were conveyed there from prison. No evidence was found on their persons. Following each execution, the then village leader, Józef Slassa, would be instructed by the Germans to organize the burial of the bodies.
A few days after this incident, I do not remember the exact date, but it was in daytime, around noon, I looked from behind Antoni Wiśniewski’s house and saw, at a distance of some 25 m, a vehicle carrying German policemen from Dworkowa Street drive up. Two policemen led two young men from the vehicle; they were dressed in civilian clothes and had their hair cut short (I therefore assume that they were taken directly from prison). The policemen ordered the men to walk near the embankment on the side of the lake, and then shot them from behind, aiming for their heads. Next, the policemen stripped the bodies of more valuable items of clothing and drove to the village leader, and thence to Warsaw. I myself buried these bodies. I did not find any identity cards on the corpses.
One of the murdered men was tall and black-haired, aged around 25, with no distinguishing features; the other, blond-haired and slim, was 1,65 m tall, and also had no distinguishing features. Thereafter the policemen from Dworkowa Street would bring more people for execution, mainly in twos, some 10 people in total.
I was not present at these executions, and I do not remember the dates. None of the residents of the village recognized any of the victims.
We did not know where they had come from, nor why they were executed.
Towards the autumn of 1943, I once again observed the execution of two men – brought in by the German police from Dworkowa Street – from behind Antoni Wiśniewski’s house. Its course was the same as that of the first execution, described above. I would just like to add that on each occasion the condemned men were transported in a black, private motor car, cuffed one to another and lying in a prone position. Just like previously, neither I nor any of the other villagers recognized the murdered victims.
The executions continued until autumn, however I did not see any of them. According to my calculations, and not counting the previously executed Jews and a single Gypsy, the German police from Dworkowa Street executed some 25 Polish men near the embankment in Wilanów.
All of the graves were exhumed by the Polish Red Cross in 1945. I know none of the murdered victims, nor where they had been taken from.
Apart from the executions described above, following the harvest of 1943 policemen from Dworkowa Street shot dead a physician, a Jew from Marszałkowska Street, whose surname I do not know. The doctor’s wife and trainee, a Jewess, were executed just a few hours later. I was informed of the details by one of the residents of the village, but I do not remember by whom exactly.
The executions of Poles ceased towards the end of autumn 1943; by then, the partisans would be waiting for the policemen from Dworkowa Street, and once they even successfully ambushed a vehicle carrying some policemen. In consequence – as I think – the executions in Wilanów were stopped. From then on, people would be shot dead by the roadside. I know, for example, that in late autumn 1944 three Poles were executed by the Natolin road.
Testimony concerning the execution carried out by the Powsin roadway, between Klarysew and Powsin (two victims), could be given by an eyewitness, one Władysław Milewski from the village of Powsin, commune of Wilanów.
The report was read out.
(A site-plan of the location in Wilanów where executions of Poles were carried out in 1943, drawn up by the witness, Henryk Wiśniewski, and dated 19 June 1946, has been attached to the report).