JÓZEF KAŁUŻNY

On 16 July 1946, the member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poznań, Deputy Prosecutor A. Lehman, interviewed the person specified below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Józef Kałużny
Age 33 years old
Names of parents Franciszek and Wiktoria
Place of residence Poznań, Limanowskiego Street 12, flat 2
Occupation medical doctor
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none

At the moment of the Warsaw Uprising outbreak, on 1 August 1944, at 5.00 p.m., I was on a number 3 tram on Rakowiecka Street. When we heard shots, we all, that is, the tram passengers, went firstly to the gate of the house at number 5 on Rakowiecka Street.

On Friday, on 4 August, around 10.30 a.m., SS soldiers threw out all the residents of the house on Rakowiecka Street, from which, after dividing the men from the women, we were led to the courtyard of the Flak Kaserne barracks. We found dozens of men there. During our stay, groups of men from neighboring streets were constantly pouring in. In the afternoon, a procession of more or less two thousand men went under Wehrmacht escort to the Stauferkaserne. There, Volksdeutcher were separated before the higher-ranking SS officers. Next, we were led back to Flak Kaserne. Having arranged us in a row, we were led out through the exit on Puławska Street to the Gestapo. We had not reached Unii Lubelskiej Square, however, when we were turned back to Flak Kaserne and placed in a military prison in those barracks. It was said that the Gestapo was overcrowded and there was no place for us.

On the next day, on 5 August, all men over 60 years old, doctors, and chemists were released without any interrogations. From among the doctors, Dr Kalwaryski, a specialist in internal diseases and a psychiatrist, and Dr Weyno, stayed with me. I went with Dr Kalwaryski in the direction of Unii Lubelskiej Square after our release. There we were accosted by the “Vlasovtsies”, and after robbing us of all our valuables including watches they took us to the Gestapo on aleja Szucha. Many men and priests (reportedly from Church of the Holiest Saviour) stood in the Gestapo courtyard by the wall, facing the wall, with their hands up. There were around 150 of them. A general interrogation was taking place in the courtyard, which was limited to the following questions: from which street, where did he work, did he take part in the uprising. The interrogations were happening in Polish and German (with an interpreter), and they were being conducted by higher-ranking SD officers. Around 9.00 p.m., we were all led into cells located in the basements. On the following day, on Sunday 6 August, around 11.30, interrogations were taking place in a room adjoining the cell at lighting speed. The questions were identical to the day before.

As far as I was concerned, I expressed my astonishment at how one authority could not respect another authority; since one authority released me, why was I being stopped by another one. Without any […] SD officer with me. The interrogator ordered me to be sent to isolation. I was standing in a long corridor and was able to watch what was happening around me. I saw how the interrogated men were leaving with their personal luggage through a long corridor in the direction of the exit. Some were deprived of their luggage, which the soldiers (SD) divided among themselves. I have to remark that the cell were so overcrowded that we had to stand one next to another. There were 60 of us in my cell. At the time when I stood by the wall in the long corridor, more and more men were coming, so that there were 12 of us at the end. In the afternoon, they led everybody to one of the small cells, where we remained until the next day, until 4.00 p.m. We received a meal for the first time in that isolation; everybody placed in the cells got one.

When we were released on Monday, we were led out to the courtyard again, and there they deliberated what to do with us. Eventually, they decided to direct us to Pole Mokotowskie, adding the words: “go after your women”. At that time, one of the SD officers came to us and said in Polish: “I’m advising you to escape from here as fast as possible, lest they change their mind”. While we were being led out along Litewska Street to Marszałkowska Street, to the German barricade, the officer escorting us again spoke to us in Polish, trying to present to us the tragic character of the uprising for the Germans in view of the approaching Soviet armies. When we went on Pole Mokotowskie, walking on Oleandrów Street, we got into such a heavy shoot-out that two of us died. A part of us went, crawling, onto Pole Mokotowskie, whereas six of us turned back and, falling again into the “Ukrainians’” hands, we were led back to the German barricade. An honorary Finnish consul was to remain there, asking to be interned, the rest, however, that is three companions and I, went to Marszałkowska Street in the direction pointed by SD officers on the barricade. We were told which direction to march in, threatened with execution if we walked in a different direction, and […] “go to your brother bandits”. We moved cautiously behind the trees on Marszałkowska Street in the direction of Zbawiciela Square under heavy shooting from a machine gun from the building of the Ministry of Military Affairs. Not knowing what the situation was at all, we saw a Polish banner, tucked into a barricade on 6 Sierpnia Street in the direction of Lwowska Street, and we stormed in there.

I have to remark that I myself was not a witness to scenes of execution or other ways of murdering people, and I cannot give any testimony on this subject.