Warsaw, 8 November 1947. A member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, acting 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 | Stefan Ryszard Czugajewski, codename “Orzeł” |
| Parents’ names | Jan and Katarzyna née Kowalczyk |
| Date of birth | 6 January 1928 in Warsaw |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Czerniakowska Street 176, flat 9 |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Education | student of the 2nd course of the Warsaw University of Technology |
During the Warsaw Uprising, I took part as a cadet corporal in the action of the group of Capt. “Kryska” in Powiśle.
A day before the suppression of the uprising in Powiśle, on 24 October 1944, along with my friends, my brother Jan Czugajewski, domiciled now in Warsaw, Józef Makowski and his brother Tadeusz Makowski, currently domiciled in Gdańsk, and “Anton” and “Leszek” whose names I don’t know, I got to the rear of German troops closer to the Vistula. We left the house at Idzikowskiego Street 4 and entered a sewer on the corner of Solec Street and Zagórna Street, as we wanted to reach Moktów through a sewer joining the storm drain. However, we confused the sewers and after two days we reached Mączna Street.
After two or three days of hiding in various basements we were in a basement of the house at Czerniakowska Street 164 (on the corner with Mączna Street). I don’t remember the exact date, but one day in the morning I assumed a vantage point by the window of the basement that looked out onto Czerniakowska Street. I saw a Gestapo man (with skull and crossbones on his hat) standing with a dog on the corner of Czerniakowska Street and Fabryczna Street. Shortly afterwards the SS men, who were scattered about, began to throw grenades into the basements on Czerniakowska Street. One of them reached our basement, fortunately not killing anyone. At that time only those who were hiding could have been in the basements, as the populace had been displaced on 16 or 18 September.
Some 20 minutes after the grenade had been thrown by the above-mentioned men, I saw through the window a group of some hundred men leaving Zagórna Street under the armed escort of the SS men. The group passed the window some 30 meters away. I saw ten or twelve soldiers from the Berling army, a dozen soldiers with the AL [People’s Army] bands and a smaller group of soldiers with the AK [Home Army] bands, the rest were men in plain clothes, without bundles. The majority of them were young or middle-aged, one of them had gray hair and was about 60 years old. Near a square on the even side of the street, opposite the house at Czerniakowska Street 185 (the second gate from Przemysłowa Street), the group was stopped, and then I heard volleys of shots and saw men falling down. The shots were coming from the direction of the square, judging from the way men were falling down. I didn’t see those who were shooting for myself. Listening to the shots I had an impression that they had light machine guns. They were executing small groups that had been brought closer to the square.
I watched the execution for about half an hour, then I left the window, but I could hear shooting for an hour. My friends who were in the basement with me did not see the execution. As I wanted to avoid causing a nervous breakdown, I didn’t tell them anything. Later we saw the bodies of the executed. After an hour and a half I came to the window again and I saw that a group of men brought by the Germans for forced labor to Powiśle from aleja Szucha (I knew the group by sight) was taking the corpses to the gate of the house at Czerniakowska Street 185.
After several days the Germans found our lair, a gunfight ensued and then we escaped to another place.
As we were running away, we passed several times by the corpses deposited in the gate of the house at no. 185, and then I recognized by their uniforms soldiers from the Berling army and soldiers with AK and AL bands who had been led to the execution. The corpses were already decomposing, and I don’t know what happened to them afterwards.
There were about a hundred victims. I don’t know the names of the executed.
From where they were brought for the execution, I do not know.
I don’t know from which unit were the SS men who carried out the execution,.
On 18 or 19 October 1944 (I don’t remember the exact date) the Germans seized our group. “Leszek” and “Anton” were shot on the run. Along with the rest of my friends, I managed to run away after many interrogations by the Gestapo.
At this the report was closed and read out.