Warsaw, 20 May 1946. Investigating Judge Halina Wereńko, delegated to the Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, interviewed the person specified below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the significance of the oath, the judge swore in the witness, who testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Tadeusz Grzelski |
| Marital status | married, with a 2-year-old child |
| Names of parents | Adam and Józefa n ée Zawadzka |
| Date of birth | 4 October 1912, Warsaw |
| Occupation | deputy head of the Land Surveying Department at the Warsaw Reconstruction Bureau |
| Education | land surveyor |
| Place of residence | Nowy Świat Street 2, flat 7 |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Criminal record | none |
During the German occupation, I worked at the City Surveying Bureau, which, after the Polish government took over in 1945, was transformed into the Land Surveying Department and delegated to the Warsaw Reconstruction Bureau.
During the Warsaw Uprising, I lived at aleja Niepodległości 132/136, flat 37. On 2 August 1944, a dozen or so SS-men from the unit stationed at the Stauferkaserne came to our house. At that time, all residents were in the basements.
The SS-men rammed the gate from the direction of Narbutta Street, came up to the first basement where I was sitting, and, grenades in their hands, shouted: “ Raus!” Confusion then arose because being convinced that the SS-men would start to shoot, nobody wanted to go first. I took my 11-month daughter from my wife and I came out first, while the others followed. Our house was big: it had eight staircases, so there were around 300 people in the basements. The women outnumbered the men.
When we came out, the SS-men were calm. I noticed that there were SS-men posted every 15 or 20 meters all the way from the house where I lived to the barracks in Rakowiecka Street, that is to say from Narbutta Street down Kazimierzowska Street to Rakowiecka Street. All around, in Narbutta Street and Kazimierzowska Street, houses were on fire. Our group moved between two rows of SS-men to the Stauferkaserne courtyard, where people had already been gathered from the burning houses in Narbutta Street and Kazimierzowska Street. Later, I learnt that people from an entire block, all the way up to Madalińskiego Street, except for the house at aleja Niepodległości 130, were displaced by the Germans and taken to the Stauferkaserne, while the residents from further areas of Rakowiecka Street were placed in the so-called Flak Kaserne – Mokotów (the former barracks of the 1st Anti-Aircraft Artillery regiment in Rakowiecka Street, near the junction with Puławska Street). The residents of the area from aleja Niepodległości in the direction of Wołoska Street were taken to the Stauferkaserne. There were insurgents operating beyond Madalińskiego Street.
Again regarding 2 August 1944, our group and others stood in the yard of the Stauferkaserne. I was told to give my child to a woman, so I gave it to my wife. Then, the women were separated from men, with the men remaining where they were and the women being taken to the building.
(In the course of the interview, the witness compiled a site plan of the Stauferkaserne. This plan is enclosed to the present report).
The building marked “a” on the plan was at that time occupied by SS-men. In the building marked “b”, the Germans and Volksdeutschs were accommodated and then, over time, taken in vans to Germany. In the building marked “e”, from the first floor up, lived the SS-men, while Poles were kept on the ground floors of the buildings marked “e” and “d”.
On 2 August 1944, after a few hours, the SS-men released the previously detained women, telling them to go home. After the women were released, the men were still kept in the yard. Patz, the commandant of the Stauferkaserne, SS officer with a rank corresponding to captain, came to us and gave a speech, saying that we were to be treated as hostages and that unless the Uprising ended, we would all be executed. After the address, a group of men standing next to building “b” was taken to the building “d”, while the group opposite, standing next to building “d”, was taken to building “e”.
Altogether, there were around 600 men, divided into two more or less even groups. On the ground floor of building “d” there was one big room (which I believe used to be the SS-men’s canteen). In building “c”, there were four rooms on each side of the corridor and one bathroom, plus in every room, there were two or three beds, without mattresses. There were no beds in room “d”.
On the first day, we were not given any food. Later, I learnt that the SS-men selected roughly 15 men from room “d”, including a young orthodox priest, and executed this group by the wall of building “b”. Later, I saw traces of blood there. Next day, men from room “d” moved the corpses of the 15 murdered men to the grounds of the prison in Rakowiecka Street, where they were buried. Those who buried the corpses included Henryk Rydz (currently residing at aleja Niepodległości 132/136), the caretaker of our house, and Mr. Marczewski or Marczyński (resident of aleja Niepodległości 132/136. I do not now the flat number, but it can be provided by Mr. Rydz, the caretaker), who will be in a position to testify as regards the liquidation of the inmates of the prison in Rakowiecka Street. This was carried out on 1 August 1944 and on the next day, a group of men from the Stauferkaserne buried the corpses. A couple of prisoners managed to hide before the execution and four of them were brought to the Stauferkaserne at the end of August: three of them were executed on the spot, while one stayed with us, a man by the name of Sowiński, (I do not know his first name). On 8 September 1944, he was hanged by an SS-man from a tree in the grounds of the barracks. The executions of the “hostages” were voluntarily performed by the Germans, SS tank crewmen. I need to emphasize that 16 tanks were stationed in the barracks, all of them being sent into the field every day. The information about who hanged Sowiński was provided to us by SS-men of Slovakian nationality, who were kind to us. There was an address following the Sowiński event, given by a Silesian SS-man (I do not know his name), who said that we were ungrateful, because in return for everything the Germans had done for us, we should work “until sweat and blood were trickling down our mugs”. He also accused Sowiński of trying to turn the SS-men against the great Führer, for which action he was hanged.
I must also add that when the women were released from the Stauferkaserne on 2 August 1944 and were going down Narbutta Street, the SS-men opened fire on them from the barracks watchtowers, where machine guns were placed. The 5-year-old son of Mrs. Kołodziejska from aleja Niepodległości 132/136 died then; she still lives at the same address.
On 3 August, we were kept inside the buildings the whole day. In the evening, around 5.00 or 6.00 p.m., we were each served two square slices of moldy military hardtack biscuits and a cup of unsweetened coffee. During the day, SS Lieutenant Etzel visited the rooms where we were. He was civil and he collected requests from the hostages. We demanded that our food rations be increased, as a result of which on the next day we were served a double portion, i.e. four hardtack biscuits for the day.
Already on 3 August, by the entrance to the barracks, the SS-men segregated men on the basis of their documents. Consequently, all those employed by German institutions or under German authority were stood by building “d” and put in building “e”, while the rest (employees of private companies etc.) were put in building “d” and then taken for labor; polishing shoes, washing pots, building barricades etc.
On 4 August, the SS-men demanded volunteers from building “c” for labor. Voluntary labor had continued until 10 August and afterwards people were selected for work. On 4 August, a rumor spread that the Germans were going to allow women to bring us lunch between 12.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m. Already on that day, we were taken to the yard in front of the gate and the women brought soup for their families and strangers alike. On 5 August, the Germans brought a group of around 30 or 40 men from Rejtana Street, Pilicka Street and the neighborhood, since the insurgents had retreated farther south, and I heard that the residents of Słoneczna Street and the neighborhood were being taken to aleja Szucha.
Around 27 and 28 August, the residents of the streets branching off Rakowiecka Street, that is to say Fałata Street, Kielecka Street, Opoczyńska Street, Łowicka Street and św. Andrzeja Boboli Street were brought to the front of the barracks and then taken under guard to the Western Railway Station [Dworzec Zachodni].
Until 20 – 25 August, women were allowed to bring us soup, but this came to an end then, because all residents from the neighborhood of the barracks were displaced. Then, a kitchen was set up for us. Initially, we were given food only if there was anything left in the German kitchen, and then a kitchen specifically for Poles was created, where coffee was prepared in the morning and in the evening, as well as soup. This was supposedly based on meat but actually, it was based on giblets, since the Germans themselves had eaten the cows and goats that they requisitioned from the residents of Mokotów. Barley soup and pea soup were cooked alternately.
Since 5 August, there had been no mass execution in the barracks. On 8 September 1944, Sowiński was hanged in public, which I have described above. At the beginning of August, elderly persons were released in groups every day, at the time when we would go out to the yard in front of the barracks for lunch. They would release people who were over 39 years of age. Initially, those who had been released were to report to the barracks around lunchtime. Around 20 August, this came to an end, because all residents of the barracks neighborhood were driven out of Warsaw. Age was the reason why the caretaker of our house, Mr. Rydz, was released.
I do not remember the exact date, but I believe it was on 9 August that an interpreter told us that a list would be compiled of the intelligentsia members for the Gestapo in aleja Szucha. I do not know why the list was not drawn up and on the same day at around 3.00–4.00 p.m., a two-seater van with 12 armed Gestapo men in helmets drew up at the inner yard next to building “c”; all people from this building were taken to the inner yard and grouped in threes. One of the Gestapo men walked along the row and selected people based on his impressions. He picked out 40 people that way. Apparently, he was trying to select members of the intelligentsia. Those selected were told to return to their rooms and take their things, after which they were loaded on a van and taken away. I do not know what became of this group. I have not seen any of these people since. Together with this group of 40 people, the Gestapo took the 20 men who had been brought to the barracks on 5 or 6 August and accommodated in a separate room, and with whom we were prohibited to communicate. I do not know where this group had come from. It comprised young men as well as those decidedly old. I do not know the names of any of them.
The SS officer responsible for the security in the barracks, the “grey eminence” (I do not know his name), told us via an interpreter that the group of 20 people was definitely executed in aleja Szucha. However, he was not able to find out about the remaining 40.
In room “d”, Engel, a lawyer, was the interpreter. He struck a deal with the Germans and in exchange for money, he effected the release of a lot of men during lunchbreaks in the yard.
Shoemakers’, tailors’ and other kinds of workshops were set up in the barracks. In the second half of August or at the beginning of September 1944, these workshops were activated and non-skilled workers were accommodated in room “c”. Skilled workers had better conditions. Engel, the lawyer, was the interpreter in room “d” and received food rations for this room, taking the best articles for himself and putting them in a suitcase. One day, the Germans searched his things and found the food and the money. They arrested him and then quietly executed him at night, burying him themselves on the premises of the Warsaw School of Economics. By chance, I witnessed Engel’s exhumation. Also Sowiński had been buried in the grounds of the School. At the beginning of August, when the women were bringing us food, one day, they were denied entrance because on the previous night, the insurgents had built a barricade in aleja Niepodległości near Narbutta Street and sealed off Kazimierzowska Street. The women were not allowed to get in and bring us lunch, and at 3.00 p.m. they were told to gather in front of the barracks. They were to go as a delegation to see the insurgents, with banners, and tell them that unless the barricades were taken down, all men from the Stauferkaserne would be starved to death. The women went to see the insurgents and talked to a senior officer. In response to the Germans’ demands, they brought a letter in an envelope and handed it to commandant Patz. I never found out about the contents of the letter. On the next day, the women were allowed to bring us lunch, but the barricades had not been dismantled.
At the barracks, we worked during day-time and at night. The following were the working hours: wake-up call at 7 a.m., work between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., lunch between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. (soup from the cauldron), work between 4 p.m. and 5.30 p.m., supper between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. and night work between 8 p.m. and midnight or 1 a.m. The following day, work again began at 7 a.m. During night work, we usually built barricades. A couple of times, the Gestapo came and took a group of men to build barricades in the aleja Szucha area, but they were always driven back. As far as I know, two men were killed while working under fire. Day- time work involved loading vans during the evacuation of warehouses. Food, materials and various items, also barracksetc. were transported to the Reich. We loaded the barracks onto wagons. We took beautiful wardrobes, sealed with nails, from the National Library. We loaded items from private flats, unoccupied following the displacements, into wardrobes and then everything was sent to Germany as part of a “winter aid scheme.” There was signage on each wardrobe, which indicated to which factory these items were to be sent.
The commandant of the camp was Patz, who, as I have already mentioned, was civil to us. We were mostly given a hard time by SS non-commissioned officers in September 1944, when we were sealing the end of Rakowiecka Street from the direction of aleja Niepodległości with tram cars: the SS men kicked us and beat us with iron bars. I do not know the names of these regular soldiers.
At the end of September, after the surrender of Mokotów, all skilled workers from room “d” were forcibly transferred to Germany, to the town of Neuzelle, near Kullmark.
On 16 October 1944, when only a small group of Germans remained (others had left), the Russians laid down heavy fire and we transferred to Włochy near Warsaw, from where we would travel to the city to work every day.
I was released on 27 October 1944. In Włochy, the stance towards us got considerably milder. There were around 60 of us, and as our families came to collect us, we were released. My wife came to collect me.
I hereby submit to be available for inspection the certificate of release, which reads as follows: SS: Pz. Gren.A.u.E. Btl. 3 Kompanie Etzelt, en 27.10.1944r Bescheinigung Es wird hiermit bescheinigt, dass der Pol. Tadeusz Grzelski geb. 4.10.1912, vom 3 August 1944 r bis zum heutigen Tage beini SS-Pz. Grer der Konsum genessen Scheften “Społem“ in Krakau, entlassen /-/ illegible signature SS-Unterscharführer Kompanie-trupp huhrer, round seal with a swastika in the following circumscription: Waffen SS, SSPZ gren Ausb u Bl. 3.
In the barracks the punishment for any violation was flogging. Each room where the Poles lived had its leader, a Stubendienst, and there was also an interpreter, who took orders directly from the Germans and passed them to the room leader. The Stauferkaserne was dissolved, as I heard, on 20 November 1944, as volunteers went to the Reich for labor and the others were released.
From the windows of the barracks, I saw how in September 1944, the Germans rushed evacuated Warsawians down Rakowiecka Street, with some people walking barefoot, in bathing suits. The wounded were carried by their comrades.
I need to add that at the junction of Rakowiecka Street and Kazimierzowska Street, there was Bielski’s drugstore. I do not know Bielski’s first name. Bielski had dealings with the Germans and was released from the barracks early on. It was said that he secured the release of Poles for huge sums of money and then shared the proceeds with the Germans. I saw how he was carrying medications from the drugstore at the junction of Narbutta Street and Kazimierzowska Street to his store. Eventually, at the end of September, he went to Nadarzyn in a German vehicle, like other people who had been in the Germans’ confidence.
From the Slovakian SS-men, I heard that on the first day of Mokotów’s surrender, von dem Bach gave the order to execute all male Poles found in the area occupied by the insurgents. This order was revoked on the next day.
Let me also add that the group of Poles that I worked in loaded the National Museum collections onto vans, packed into boxes, and these vans then transported the boxes to the Western Railway Station [Dworzec Zachodni].I do not know where they were sent subsequently. I remember that one of the items packed was Siemiradzki’s painting, “Nero.”
Please return to me, when no longer needed, the document certifying my release from the Stauferkaserne which I have submitted for scrutiny.