Warsaw, 14 May 1949. A member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Norbert Szuman (MA), interviewed the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Stefania Izabela Pol |
| Date and place of birth | 13 September 1898, Dzierzążnia, Płońsk county |
| Names of parents | Józef and Malwina |
| Father’s occupation | office worker |
| State affiliationand nationality | Polish |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Education | secondary school leaving exam |
| Occupation | office worker |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Grębałowska Street 11 |
| Criminal record | none |
When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was on my way from my flat at Grębałowska Street 11 to the first-aid post in Pelplińska Street, where I worked as a nurse until the post was wound up at 2.00 a.m. that night. I then returned home and around 7.00 a.m. on 2 August reported for work to the insurgent hospital organized at the “Nasz Dom” [Our Home] on aleja Zjednoczenia. From then on, throughout the entire Uprising, I worked at this hospital as a nurse. I worked both in the hospital and outside the premises when so instructed.
As regards the first days of the Uprising, I remember that when I was returning with the wounded during the fighting between German troops and the insurgent units that had returned from Kampinos and were occupying the area between Żeromskiego, Daniłowskiego and Kleczewska streets, the female nurses were fired upon by the Germans, as a consequence of which one of them was killed and two others wounded, even though they wore Red Cross emblems.
When treating the wounded at the hospital, I met the victims of rape committed by the so-called Cossacks. So on one of the days before 17 September, I do not remember the exact date, a woman aged around 30 was brought to the hospital (I do not know her surname). Her husband reported that she was four or five months pregnant and had been raped multiple times right in front of him and their two children, as a consequence of which sherequired immediate surgery.
I know from the accounts that were passed around at the time, and also from information provided by witnesses and victims of rape, that such occurrences were then very numerous, and that girls and young women were constantly under threat. Indeed, even the hospital was frequently visited by Cossacks, usually drunk and mainly at night. However, no rapes were committed on the hospital premises.
From the very first days of the Uprising, local residents were exposed to the regular plunder and pillaging of their homes by Cossacks, and sometimes even by Romanians and Germans. After some time, I do not remember the exact date, but it was before the mass displacement of civilians conducted on 17 September, German soldiers, but mainly Cossacks started to set houses on fire, first and foremost in the vicinity of Podczaszyńskiego Street, aleja Zjednoczenia, Żeromskiego Street and Marymoncka Street. These acts of arson were part of a systematic and completely unjustifiable campaign of destruction. The residents of the burning houses were moving from street to street, mixing in with refugees from Marymont. The troops chased away people who were returning to their homes. On 17 September they ordered everyone to assemble in the courtyard of our hospital, from where the civilians were taken to the camp in Pruszków. The following were exempt from the evacuation order: our hospital, the Polish Red Cross post at Lipińska Street, the old people’s home set up at Kasprowicza Street, and also the home for small children and their mothers.
Regarding the period after the evacuation of civilians, I remember the following incident. Just before the capitulation of Żoliborz some Cossacks arrived at the hospital, one of them in a German uniform, and requested medical aid for some wounded people who, as they said, were lying between Żoliborz and Bielany. The hospital management delegated three young female paramedics, whom I joined as a volunteer. The Cossacks led us to the house at Zuga Street 23 or 25, located opposite the elementary school in which Cossacks – completely drunk – were stationed. They grabbed the young paramedics and started to rape them. AsI was not being guarded, I managed to jump out of the window and inform the hospital authorities of the event. They immediately notified the Germans, who however did not do anything with the Cossacks, explaining that they were too weak. One of the paramedics returned to the hospital at night, the second was found in the morning by her mother, while the third returned to the hospital around 8.00 a.m. – all of them were severely battered, and had been raped repeatedly.
I remained in Bielany until the evacuation of the hospital, i.e. 3 October 1944, when we were sent to Pruszków.
At this point the report was concluded and read out.