Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Warsaw
Testimony of Zygmunt Bocian
Address: Warsaw, Twarda Street 13 flat 16; currently: [Warsaw] Grochów, Majdańska Street 18 flat 9
24 August 1944
At the corner of the Jewish cemetery near Nowy Bródna, opposite Golędzinów, a green- gray car approached. Four Gestapo men with shovels got out and dug a pit. The car left, leaving two Gestapo men at that spot. After ten minutes it returned, bringing four people with it; they led them out to the dug-out grave and murdered them with a revolver, shooting them in the back of the head. Among those shot there was one very corpulent priest, a girl of about 12, one woman and a fourth man dressed in black who also looked like he might have been a priest.
After the burial the car drove away, then brought back the same number of people: three men and one woman, who also met the same fate. After burying them in the same grave, they left. This was 7:30 p.m.
25 August
At the same hour the same car came again, bringing four young men who dug their own graves. After digging they had to lie down and in this position they were left, each shot with two bullets and buried. These graves were about four hundred meters from the previous ones.
26 August
It was Saturday. Around 10:00 a.m. they came to dig more graves, and now they were not only doing the digging themselves but also using people passing by. After digging the graves, which took them about two hours, they left at midday, arriving again at 3:00 p.m. and bringing with them four men who dug graves. When they left, they took these people with them, but there were no executions on that day.
27 August
On Sunday, a dark red covered truck brought fifteen people to these dug-out pits. They were led out in fives. From the first five (three men and two women), after leading them to the dug-out pits, there came a scream and two men began to flee. One was shot just a few meters away, while the other managed to escape for about fifty meters, where he was also hit by a bullet from a machine gun. After dragging these to the pit, the rest of the people, hearing the screams of the murdered, refused to leave the car. They were dragged out by force and shot at the gate near the car. When the first lot had been buried, a second lot of about thirteen people came, who met the same fate. Old people, women, and young boys were among them. About thirty people were shot on that day.
These murders of innocent people occurred during the mass selections of men and women from Praga during the Warsaw Uprising.
I was an eyewitness to these murders because I was hiding near this place, expecting to meet the same fate.
I have testified truthfully. I have read before signing.
The second eyewitness is Ryszard Krawczyk, residing at Majdańska Street 18 flat 13, Grochów