Warsaw, 7 June 1946. Deputy Prosecutor Zofia Rudziewicz interviewed the person specified below as a witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Edward Warchałowski |
| Date of birth | 4 October 1885 |
| Names of parents | Wojciech and Józefa |
| Place of birth | Piestrzec, Kielce province |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Lwowska Street 7 |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Occupation | rector of the Warsaw University of Technology [Politechnika Warszawska] |
| Education | Moscow University of Technology |
| Criminal record | none |
During the war, I was a professor of the University of Technology and the director of the State School of Civil Construction [Państwowa Szkoła Budownictwa Lądowego i Wodnego]. After the Germans entered, the main building of the university was seized by the army, who moved out in the spring of 1940. Before their departure they removed the entire furnishing of the building, tearing out electrical installations from the walls.
The German civil administration authorities manifested a hostile attitude towards Polish intelligentsia and scholars. Professors were respected only if Germans thought they could be useful in the area of strengthening the development of the German military industry. At the beginning of 1940 a German named Tzschaschel, as the so-called superintendent of higher education institutions, became the commissioner for the university, as a member of the liquidation [committee?] of the Ministry of Education. In January 1940 (I don’t remember the exact date) the rector of the University of Technology at that time, Professor Drewnowski, and the rector of the University of Warsaw, Professor D. Modrakowski, went to Governor Fischer with a request to be allowed to start teaching at the universities, but their request was denied. Professor Drewnowski recounted the course of this conversation to me; reportedly, Fischer had said that there was no hope of reopening higher education institutions. From then on there were no more lectures at the University of Technology. Young people studied in clandestine courses; the Germans persecuted clandestine teaching heavily, considering it to be one of the greatest political crimes.
Even professors were not allowed by the Germans to carry out scientific work. Some of them received permits to carry out running tests, analyses and so on, for the needs of industry. These were the so-called Prüfanstalten, functioning in scientific facilities. No subsidies were paid by the Germans, the staff were not remunerated. Permits for running such a Prüfanstalt were issued by Tzschaschel with the stipulation that scientific research was not to be carried out therein. A district official Krüger, taking a tour of the university of technology, reproached Professor Czechralski, saying that in his opinion the professor had exceeded the scope of allowed scientific work, declaring: – Keine Wissenschaftliche Poligkeit.
In 1940 Tzschaschel gave an oral permission to hold diploma examinations, yet it was revoked soon after, which indicates that the Germans were trying to limit the number of intelligentsia in Poland.
During the years 1940–1941 some of the scientific facilities were robbed of the most valuable instruments by German professors, who usually relied on permits from the Rüstungskommando or from the civilian district authorities. This is how Germans robbed the geodetic facility, the armaments facility, the physics facility in part and the library of the Faculty of Economy, from which very valuable books were taken away.
In 1942 the State Higher Technical School [Wyższa Szkoła Techniczna] (Höhere Technische Fachschule) was created, with a truncated, two-year curriculum. The core program allowed by the Germans was at a low level, but in reality the teaching was carried out at a much higher level. The director of the School was a German named Güttinger; initially Professor Drewnowski was his deputy, but after his arrest – in November 1942 – a German, a member of the SS named Friderici, replaced him. The opening of this school demonstrated that the Germans wanted to educate Poles to be, at most, lower-level technicians, and not to be scientists.
Generally, the occupation authorities did not permit the use of the name University of Technology or the titles of rector or dean. The University of Technology professors, from the time of the Germans’ entry, did not receive any remuneration for their work at the university, and were not issued university ID cards, which would have protected them against being deported for forced labor.
Professors Smoleński, Bryła, Drewnowski, and Tołwiński were arrested. Smoleński was murdered with his entire family in Auschwitz, Bryła was killed during a public execution, Drewnowski was sent to Majdanek and then to Dachau (he is presently in Brussels), Tołwiński was released after a few months in prison.
During the uprising, the area of the University of Technology was relatively peaceful. During the night between 18 and 19 August 1944 the Germans launched an attack and forced the insurgents out of there. Some of the professors managed to get to the city going through the basements. Some were captured by the Germans and sent to Pruszków. A few members of the lower-level staff of the University of Technology were executed on the spot. Moreover, Professor Trechciński, who was within the university grounds with his son-in-law and a female clerk, disappeared without a trace.
A few days later the Germans began a systematic destruction of the university; they burnt and evacuated the remaining and undamaged laboratory instruments, and they set buildings on fire. I saw this, because from October I remained in Warsaw, in the vicinity of Lwowska and Noakowskiego streets. The civilian authorities are responsible for burning the University of Technology down, since from a military point of view, the burning was entirely redundant.
I submit a copy of a letter from Albert Güttinger dated 20 April 1946, from which it follows that the Germans were attempting a systematic extermination of the Polish intelligentsia.