Warsaw, 8 June 1946, Investigating District Judge of Second District of the District Court in Warsaw, Halina Wereńko, delegated to the Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Warsaw, 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 based on article 109 of the criminal code of procedure, following which the witness testified:
| Name and surname | Stanisława Stefania Lilenstern née Chądzyńska |
| Parents’ names | Franciszek, Antonina née Miłobędzka |
| Date and place of birth | 11 November 1884, Glinojeck village, Ciechanów district |
| Occupation | clerk in Warsaw City Trams Company |
| Education | secondary school |
| Address | Warsaw, Noakowskiego Street 10 |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Criminal record | none |
My son, Wojciech Stanisław Jakub Lilienstern, born on 14 December 1914, an electrical engineer by profession, worked in the City Trams Company in Warsaw, on Młynarska Street 2, as a Director of the Technical Department. During the war, in 1939, my son was drafted and took part in the September campaign against the Germans in the rank of cadet. Before the year ended, after getting back to Warsaw, he joined the Polish Underground organization, aiming to resist the Germans. He took an active part in the organization, which he later told me.
On 19 August 1943, on his way out, my son told me to phone his office and inform them that he’d be late. He didn’t tell me anything else about where he was going. At 8.20, I received a phone call from Józef Staszauer, the owner of the bar “Za Kotarą” [“Behind a Curtain”] at Mazowiecka Street 2 or 4, who had been working with my son in a group of five conspirators, telling me to go home at once and destroy all the compromising documents, because my son was “indisposed”, which, I understood, meant he had been arrested. Apart from that, he told me to come to his place. Having arrived at “Za kotarą” bar, I learned from a signaling officer from my son’s unit, Stanisława Zybert, his colleague Tadeusz Korecki, and Staszauer, that my son, along with another member of the underground organization, were set ready at a gate of the house at Poznańska Street 23 to assassinate a Gestapo agent, Lutosławski. Lutosławski was a high-ranked Post official, and according to my interlocutors, he had turned in approximately 300 Poles. Lutosławski resided in the 11th Polish Post Station on Poznańska Street. The Polish Underground organization, based on a conviction, resolved to assassinate him while he was going to work. There had been previous failed attacks on that man. When my son and his colleague were waiting at the gate, a Gestapo car pulled over and captured two of them and two others. While my son and others were being captured by the Gestapo, a gunfight ensued in Poznańska Street, as a result of which four members of the underground died on site, and four (including my son) were taken to the Gestapo premises at Szucha Avenue 29. At the time of his arrest, my son reportedly wasn’t carrying arms, whereas his colleague, who had been with him, rushed into the courtyard of the house at Poznańska 23 and threw the gun away. This detail was given to me by the house janitor.
I don’t know her name, but I will try to find out and turn it over to the Judge.
I need to mention that Stanisława Zybert, probably in relation to that case, was arrested on 17 November 1943, was held in the Pawiak, and was shot and killed after five days. Tadeusz Korecki was arrested in connection with another case, on 23 October 1943, and a couple of weeks later his surname was listed on an announcement of people who had been executed. Tadeusz Korecki was using the surname Korecki, but his real surname was Szuster.
After my son had been arrested I went to Poznańska 23 numerous times, and that’s how I learned that right after the incident, because of the failed assassination attempt on Lutosławski, at the time when the whole street was surrounded by the Gendarmerie, the Gestapo put into trucks almost all the residents of the house at Poznańska 23, and on the opposite side – Poznańska 20 and 22. Some of those people returned later. How many were taken into custody for longer and never came back, I don’t know.
My son’s colleagues wanted to rescue him and other detainees. Józef Staszauer, who had contacts within the Gestapo, acquired 50,000 zlotys of funding for the purpose. Signaling officer Zybert told me that Staszauer was already suspected of treason at that time, which was why the organization gave him some time off. The alleged attempts by Staszauer failed, and the 50,000 zlotys was never returned. The organization launched an investigation, its details remain unknown to me, and then on 8 October 1943 an execution squad of the organization carried out the death sentence passed by the Polish Underground and shot and killed Staszeur, his wife, and brother, altogether 14 people who were present in the “Za Kotarą” bar. Two of the Gestapo men died (I don’t know their surnames) and the bar’s staff, who were also on the Gestapo’s side. Among those killed was one man who was shot unjustly, a pharmacist by profession, I don’t know his surname, he was at the bar to eat something. All the others were an organized intelligence unit. Currently the house in Mazowiecka Street, where the bar “Za Kotarą” was located, is being pulled down.
Having returned to Warsaw in 1945, coming across Mazowiecka Street, I got into a conversation with a janitor of the house where the bar was located. I don’t know his surname, but I will find out and inform the Judge. The janitor told me that after the incidents of 1943, “Za Kotarą” was managed by Staszauer’s wife’s brother, whose surname I don’t know. During the Warsaw Uprising, Staszauer’s wife’s brother reportedly participated on the Polish side, wore a Home Army band, and finally he “set the Gestapo on the Poles and turned in many of the insurgents to the Germans”. I shall report the surnames of the janitors of Mazowiecka Street and Poznańska Street within two weeks.
I need to add that after my son had been arrested by the Gestapo, Staszauer informed me that on 19 August 1943 my son and his colleagues had been arrested by Herman Szyman [Hermann Schiemann] – a high Gestapo official in Szucha Avenue. During the shootout in Poznańska Street (Polish attackers hurled grenades and shot at the Germans), Schiemann was wounded, and stayed at the Sisters of Saint Elizabeth Hospital, where Staszauer would visit him. At this period, Staszauer was keeping my hopes up for my son’s release thanks to his connections in the Gestapo. I don’t know the surnames of my son’s colleagues who were arrested then.
It should be mentioned that my son was drawn into the execution squad of the Polish Underground organization by Staszauer shortly before the attempted assassination. He’d had a different role in the organization before then. These details were revealed to me by signaling officer Zybert. Apparently, my son was turned in by Staszauer as an execution unit commander. When my son was held at the Pawiak prison in September 1943, I left two parcels at the Polish Police station in Krochmalna Street – one with food, and one with clothing. I also handed in two such parcels on 20 September 1943, and on 8 October 1943 two parcels were taken from me again – one containing food, and one clothing. After some time I was called by phone to come to the station on Krochmalna Street, where I was informed that my son had been deported, and two clothing and two food parcels were returned to me. Since then I have had no reliable news regarding my son’s fate.
Several weeks after the parcels had been returned to me I received a message from the Pawiak that half of the prisoners held in isolation cells had been shot and killed. I didn’t learn what happened to all the others. The Pawiak’s guard who shared some information with me, Karol Piłka, whose present address I don’t know (I’m only aware that he’s not in Warsaw), presumed that my son could have been shot in one of the isolation cells then, as he’d been facing one of the most serious charges. At that time there were fourteen men in the isolation cells, so seven of them might have been shot in the ruins of Nowolipie Street. A [female] Pawiak guard, Łapińska, I don’t know her current address, told me that at the end of September 1944 my son was brought back horribly beaten up after an interrogation at the Gestapo’s (Szucha Avenue 25). Except for that, I managed to learn through the people who had connections in the Gestapo that my son was charged with commanding an execution unit of a Polish Underground organization and with espionage. In regard to the latter charge, I know that it was made up, my son didn’t have any documents on him when he was taken from Poznańska Street. Signaling officer Zybert told me that a set of documents had been planted on him.
I also need to mention that I heard (I don’t recall who from exactly, but it was someone from within the [Polish] organization), that opposite the “Za Kotarą” bar, on Mazowiecka Street, there was a painting gallery, or some art gallery, whose owner and staff were in touch with the bar owner and worked for the Gestapo. I don’t know the surnames of anybody from that gallery.
I should also add that in November 1944 I was informed by a Pawiak guard, Piłka, that Pawiak guards stole a list with some of the prisoners in the isolation cells. My son’s surname was there, with an annotation: “Departure to Berlin”. The list was passed on to the underground organization operating in the Pawiak, who concealed it as a document. Now Dr. Loth was saying that the list was lost in the ruins of Pawiak. Dr. Loth spent many years in the Pawiak and that’s why I spoke to him.
The report was read out.