Warsaw, 26 June 1946. Judge Antoni Knoll, acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, interviewed the person named below, who testified as follows:
My name is Gawarkiewicz Antoni, son of Antoni and Józefa, born on 17 February 1909 in Warsaw, religion – Roman Catholic, residing in Pyry near Warsaw, Puławska Street 21, a bricklayer by profession, criminal record – none, relationship to the parties – none.
In June and July 1943, after being so instructed by the commander of the Polish police in Pyry, I was forced to dig graves and attend the mass executions perpetrated by the Germans in the Kabacki Forest near Pyry. The police commander at the time was sergeant Dąbkowski, who was arrested by the Polish authorities following the arrival of the Polish armed forces. I don’t know his current whereabouts.
The first execution took place more or less in mid June. As evening fell, Dąbkowski approached me and ordered myself and my brother, Edward Gawarkiewicz (residing in Pyry, Cicha Street 1), Jan Stodulski (residing in Pyry, ks. Matalatowskiego Street 2) and Wacław Dąbrowski (I don’t know his address) to take some shovels and go to the forest in order to dig a grave. Dąbkowski showed us the spot where the grave was to be dug.
When we started digging, we did not yet know that this was to be a grave. The hole that we dug had the following dimensions: 2 metres by 8 metres by 1,80 metres.
We learned of its intended use while digging.
After we had dug the hole, he allowed us to go home, however, he stressed that around 3.00 in the morning he would wake us, for we would be needed again. At around 3.00 my brother and I, together with Stodulski and Dąbrowski, accompanied Dąbkowski and constable Gromelski to the spot where the execution was to take place. Dąbkowski ordered us to go into the grove and wait there.
After 3.00, three (as far as I can remember) vehicles drove up; one of the them was a motorcar. The person in charge of the execution, lieutenant – and later captain – of the Gendarmerie Lipscher asked Dąbkowsk whether we were nearby and ordered him to call us. He asked us whether we knew what was going to happen there, and when we answered in the affirmative, he added that 'Polish bandits' would be shot in retaliation for the murder of some policeman or something like that, I don't remember exactly. Five or six detainees were led out from the vehicle; they were dressed in civilian clothes.
Their hands were not tied.
On Lipscher's order, the execution was carried out by ten Polish policemen. Apart from the Polish policemen, there were also ten or so German gendarmes. Having fired off a round, when the condemned persons fell to the ground, the gendarmes finished them off with shots from their revolvers. We were then ordered to take the bodies and throw them into the grave. We were not allowed to lay them down, we just threw them haphazardly into the pit.
Another five men were then led out, and they were shot dead and buried in the same way. The murdered men were buried in their clothes.
Lipscher and the firing squad waited until we had half filled the grave with earth. Before he left, Lipscher ordered us to level the grave in such a way that there would be no traces left. We were also instructed to tidy up any places that were spattered with blood, so as to leave no trace.
If I heard correctly, the persons murdered in this execution were transported there from Jadów.
After two or three weeks, we were again summoned by Dąbkowski to dig a new grave, next to the previous one; its dimensions were more or less the same.
Next day in the morning, also around 3.00, vehicles brought in fourteen condemned persons. All of them were handcuffed in pairs.
The execution was also performed by the Polish police. Having carried out the execution, the gendarmes removed the handcuffs from the dead and, in this case [too], we had to throw them into the grave and cover it up with earth. The execution was conducted in the same way as before.
As I heard, these fourteen men were transported from Grodzisk. They were dressed in civilian clothes, but had numbers on their trousers.
I seem to recall that before the execution Lipscher read something out, but I don’t know what it was, because I could not look at the sight and stood a considerable distance away.
The third execution took place more or less ten days after the second. Then, some twenty people – transported most probably from Sochaczew – were shot to death. The course of the execution was identical. The prisoners were in civilian clothes and handcuffed, too.
The execution was also carried out by Polish policemen, commanded by Lipscher.
The grave was dug next to the other two.
Not once did we receive any belongings of the murdered men after the executions.
I was informed of the fact that the first transport of condemned people came from Jadów, the second from Grodzisk, and the third from Sochaczew, by Dąbkowski. All of the transports came from the direction of Warsaw.
I don’t know the surnames of the police officers comprising the firing squad, nor do I know at which stations they served. Dąbkowski's wife continues to live with her father, Szczepański, in Pyry at Cicha Street 1.
In October or November of the same year, 1943, Stodulski and I were called upon to bury four Jews who had been executed by firing squad near the military buildings in the Kabacki Forest in the vicinity of Pyry. These Jews had been transported from Warsaw and shot dead in Pyry. Their bodies were undressed, with the clothes placed on a pile. After we buried the bodies, we were ordered to throw the clothes and shoes into the vehicle.
The execution was carried out by wachmeister Vormuller or Fornera.
Before the Warsaw Uprising, I think this was in January or February 1944, I was summoned once again, this time by the German Gendarmerie, to dig a grave for four men and two women who had been transported from Warsaw and executed by firing squad in Pyry.
The most senior figure at the execution was Gendarmerie lieutenant Buschwitz, who was later shot dead in Powsin.
I was not present at the execution itself.
We were ordered to remove the better items of clothing, mainly shoes, from the bodies and throw them into the vehicles.
I also recollect that in the autumn of 1943, constable Gromelski summoned Stodulski and myself to dig a one-man grave.
This time it was a Pole. He was completely naked and covered in bruises; he had a dressing on his thigh, for he had been wounded there. He had been transported from Warsaw, but I cannot state this with absolute certainty.
I can confirm that a great many people transported from Warsaw or Piaseczno had been executed by firing squad near Pyry.
I know nothing more regarding the present case.
The report was read out, and the interview closed.