Warsaw, 24 September1947. A member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Warsaw, Judge Halina Wereńko, heard the witness mentioned below without an oath. After being warned about the criminal liability for giving false testimony and the obligation to speak the truth, the witness testified as follows:
| First name and surname | Władysław Sieroszewski |
| Parents’ names | Wacław and Stefania n ée Mianowska |
| Date of birth | 30 December 1900, in Warsaw |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Place of residence | Warszawa, Górnośląska Street 16 flat 6 |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Education | Legal |
| Occupation | Attorney of law |
At the time of the outbreak of the uprising, I happened by chance to be in the building at Wawelska Street 60. As the oldest ranking officer, I took over the actual command of the defense of the blocks located between Wawelska, Mianowskiego and Uniwersytecka Streets. I have described the course of this defense in a report for the Office of National Remembrance, a copy of which I attach to this report (attached). Currently, I wish to supplement it with the following details:
The uprising near Narutowicz Square and adjacent districts broke out on 1 August 1944 at exactly 5:00 p.m. (I looked at my watch at the moment of the first shots and grenades). It started with an attack on the halls of residence, Okęcie airport, the SS-Kaserne at the junction of Raszyńska and Wawelska Street, the barracks at Tarczyńskiej Street, Niemcewicza Street, and a series of smaller resistance points. The insurgent divisions were quite numerous, but abysmally armed (one or two rifles, or submachine guns, a few pistols of different calibers and a dozen grenades per platoon, one light machine gun per company – but not everywhere).
The element of surprise failed. Fifteen minutes before the attack, German troops occupied emergency positions, probably forewarned as a result of the premature outbreak of fighting in some other districts of the city. All insurgent attacks were repelled with great bloodshed. Some of the divisions were wiped out almost completely, such as the "Madagascar" regiment in the Okęcie attack, one of the "Odwet" battalions that had left Kolonia Staszica in the direction of Rakowiecka Street, and so forth. Some of the insurgents from this community managed to retreat to the grounds of the polytechnic.
On the night of 1–2 August, the commander of the 4th district in Okęcie declared that the uprising had failed and gave his subordinate troops the order to leave the city. Most of the troops obeyed this order.
Near Narutowicza square, there remained resistance points at Wawelska Street 60 (until 11th August), at the Tobacco Company on Kaliskiej Street (until 8 August), at Saint Jakub’s church and adjacent houses (until 5–6 August) and a few smaller ones, which were quickly eliminated. The decision of the commander of the 4th district cannot be justified from a military point of view. The further progress of insurgent combat in other districts and the defense of the above- mentioned individual points of resistance that, despite the enemy’s far superior strength, paralyzed the operations of the enemy forces for ten days, shows that leaving insurgent troops in Ochota would have delayed the outer western line of resistance in Warsaw, at least as far as Raszyńskiej Street (while, of course, leaving strong German enclaves in this area). It would have made the first Allied bombings from mid-August more effective, would have shielded the southern wing of our troops fighting in the Wola and Powązki regions, and would have partially protected the population of this district from direct German revenge, allowing them to evacuate to other quarters of the city.
I personally witnessed the following German crimes:
1. Shooting from a distance of 150–200 meters at paramedics as they tried to assist the wounded, despite clear Red Cross signs, stretchers etc. on 3 August 1944 from the halls of residence (bunker) on Uniwersytecka Street.
2. The Germans opened fire on civilian hostages sent by them to collect their killed and wounded from around the walls of the blocks occupied by the insurgents (around 8 August) from the SS-Kaserne on Uniwersytecka Street.
3. Driving people en masse from burning buildings from Kolonia Staszica and Lubeckiego Street towards Zieleniak and Okęcie (3 August).
4. The burning of buildings, which wasn’t only unjustified for military reasons, but even harmful for their military operation, because it deprived them of support points in the attack on our positions. Because these houses—usually of modern construction—didn’t want to burn, the Germans with the help of assault guns, or tanks, shot at the walls and the "Klein" ceilings to let a better "draught" through (among others, at Raszyńska Street 58, at the beginning of August).
5. In the garden of the villa at the intersection of Wawelska and Prokuratorska Street, on 11 August 1944, I found a dozen or so bodies of civilians, including women and old men, who had been murdered by the Germans. Most of them had been massacred to the point of being unrecognizable. Because there weren’t any large blood stains, I suppose that they had been executed elsewhere and dumped here.
In connection with the testimony of von dem Bach, who—while enumerating the German divisions—didn’t mention SS-Galizien, I state that we confirmed the presence of members of this division on the basis of personal evidence found in the clothes of those who fell in the fighting for the block on Wawelska Street. Personally, I saw—if my memory serves me well—two such pieces of evidence. The intelligence report of 1 August 1944 was announced to the commanders of the troops and stated the presence of Ukrainians from SS-Galizien in the halls of residence.
I have hereby given testimony. The report was read out.