Warsaw, 17 July 1948. A member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Judge Halina Wereńko, heard as a witness the person specified below; the witness did not swear an oath. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Władysław Gąsiorowicz |
| Parents’ names | Jan and Józefa |
| Date of birth | 19 September 1899 |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Education | three classes of elementary school |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Bieniewicka Street 4, flat 8 |
| Occupation | tram driver |
At the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, I was in my flat in Warsaw at Marii Kazimiery Street 21 – Dembińskiego Street 2/4, in Rogalski’s house, with an exit to Dembińskiego Street.
On 1 August at about 3.00 p.m. I saw a group of insurgents who were running one by one through the gardens along Marii Kazimiery Street in the direction of the barracks at Gdańska Street, where the Germans troops were stationed. Shortly afterwards I heard shooting, which lasted till evening.
During the following days, by their barracks, the Germans built pillboxes at Dembińskiego Street, Potockiej Street, Gdańska Street, and Marii Kazimiery Street, and used them for shelling the insurgents’ posts and shooting at all passers-by. They also began to burn wooden houses adjacent to the barracks at Rymkiewicza Street, Skotnickiej Street, Marii Kazimiery Street and others. They were not, however, setting a lot of them on fire then. During the first days of the uprising, the barracks were surrounded by the insurgents and cut off from the Central Institute of Physical Education.
I don’t remember the exact date, but on about 7 September the German troops left the barracks which had first been destroyed. At the beginning of September (I don’t remember the date) I heard that it was announced on Kamedułów Street that the civilians were to leave Marymont; there were also some leaflets about this, as I heard.
On 14 September, after preliminary artillery fire, a German assault from the Central Institute of Physical Education and the Bielański Forest began. I heard heavy shelling from 10.00 a.m. On that day the insurgents were not shooting from that house. At about 2.00 p.m., the “Ukrainian” troops came to our house from the direction of Rymkiewicza Street and Dembińskiego Street. I was in the basement then with some 150 people, including women, children, and the inhabitants of neighboring houses which had been set on fire with missiles. At first grenades were thrown into the basement, which injured many people and caused the stairs to collapse, and then we heard an order in Ukrainian to leave the basement (wychodi!). People began to leave. I left with my family in the last group.
When we came out to Dembińskiego Street, I saw that on the side of Marii Kazimiery Street a line of soldiers in German uniforms was standing – judging by their shouts they were “Ukrainians”. Around the corner of our house, on the side of Dembińskiego Street, there was a machine gun on a stand, operated by a few soldiers. On Rogalskiego Street, towards Dembińskiego Street, and on the latter I saw corpses. When we took a few steps forward, a volley of shots from that machine gun was directed at us. I fell to the ground immediately, although I was not injured, and then I got up and began to run down Dembińskiego Street. Then I saw that on the corner of Dembińskiego Street and Rogalskiego Street, near the timber yard, there was another machine gun on a stand. I turned right and continued along Dembińskiego Street; they were shooting at me with the machine gun. I got shot on the left side, the bullet pierced the flesh and the wound took six weeks to heal. I got to a house on Dembińskiego Street (I don’t remember its number) on all fours.
After a moment I saw that soldiers in German uniforms were leading a group of civilians with their hands up along Dembińskiego Street in the direction of ponds. I recognized my wife and a priest who had been in the basement with us. I joined the group. We were taken to the ponds and told to kneel down; the priest had to stand apart. They put a machine gun on a stand in front of us. Those civilians who were already there when we came were joined to our group. Men were separated from women and another machine gun was placed in front of the women. The “Ukrainians” began to take jewelry and other valuable belongings from us. A young “Ukrainian” took a group of four men three or four times and took each of them beyond the hill, from where I could hear a machine gun shooting, and afterwards the “Ukrainian” was coming back alone. Then the “Ukrainian” came back to us and began to form another four, and chose me among others. A that moment an officer called him and said something to him, and then no more men were led away.
We were all taken under escort to the Bielański Forest, and in the evening to the Central Institute of Physical Education. At night we were guarded by the “Ukrainians”. I saw that the guards were searching the room with a torch and choosing young women from the crowd. On the following day, as I heard, all the women came back, but they said they had been raped.
We were then taken to the Marian monastery, where we were joined to a larger group of civilians from Marymont who had been gathered there. Then a segregation took place, young and healthy people were separated and sent to the Pruszków camp. As I was injured, I remained in the group of those unable to work, and almost the entire group from the house at Dembińskiego Street stayed as well.
On 15 September, after the bombardment by foreign planes, I was allowed with other people unable to work to leave Warsaw and go in the direction of Młociny and Wawrzyszew. Along with me, the following inhabitants of our house who escaped execution on 14 September left then: my wife Janina Rogalska, Pietruchowa with her daughter and a sister-in-law, and one other woman whose name I don’t remember. Apart from us there were some other people whose names I don’t know, but who had been in the basement with us.
Later I learned that Jan Rogalski, Maria Arkita, her daughter, and several other people who had been in our basement, survived by hiding somewhere. Later I heard that on 14 September the German troops were executing also those people who were leaving a house at Marii Kazimiery Street 3, by the barracks on the side of Marii Kazimiery Street.
During the exhumation actions of the Polish Red Cross, an exhumation in Marymont was carried out, in 1945, and two graves were uncovered near our house. My wife then recognized the bodies of our relatives, Mieczysław and Janina Gąsiorowicz, and many others. In a grave at Opalińskiego Street, the corpse of the priest who had been in our basement was found. During the exhumation people were saying that some 70 people had been executed then on 14 September, upon leaving our basement.
At this the report was closed and read out.