MARIA WIERZBOWSKA

On 10 March 1948 in Wrocław, Judge Jerzy Majewski from the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland interviewed the person named below as a sworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Maria Wierzbowska
Date and place of birth 7 December 1894 in Lwów
Names of parents Stanisław and Anna
Place of residence Wrocław, Marcinkowskiego Street 8
Occupation Doctor
Nationality Polish
Criminal record none

During the occupation, I was the director of the Father Boduen house – the Care Center for Children in Warsaw. During the Uprising, on 6 August 1944, the Germans captured the Center. [This was] an SS unit commanded by SS senior squad leader (Oberscharführer) Maier. On 12 August, between 7.00 and 8.00 p.m., a large group of people was brought to the courtyard of the Center. This numbered some 50 people from the house at Aleje Jerozolimskie 103. A small group of women was detached therefrom and marched to the gate of the Center. The men were taken to the other side of Nowogrodzka Street, to a building belonging to the Center (no. 80). They were stood near the wall and both them and their suitcases were carefully searched. They were then ordered to raise their arms and face the wall. At this point, I withdrew to the gate of the Center and after a while heard the sound of gunshots, accompanied by the command “Der nächste!” There were some 40 shots. The women taken to the Center were kept under guard in the administrative office. They (eight young women) knew nothing about the execution. They took them in turn, purportedly for interrogation. The SS-men threw the bodies of the murder victims into a building in Nowogrodzka Street and immediately set it on fire. The fire blazed through the night, and when it started dying down in the morning, it was rekindled.

The execution was carried out by a group of SS-men from the unit occupying the Father Boduen Center. The group was commanded by Maier, who gave the order to shoot. Some 40 men were executed then. All of them were residents of the house at Aleje Jerozolimskie 103.

In March 1945, the staff of the Father Boduen Center recovered 80 body parts from the ruins of the burnt down house at Nowogrodzka Street 80.

From among the detained women, residents of the house at Aleje Jerozolimskie 103, the SS-men released three. I do not know what happened to the others.

The execution described above was also witnessed by Dr Cecylia Paliwodzianka, resident in Poznań, Asnyka Street 1.

I also know that the same group of SS-men commanded by Maier had occupied the building of the State Institute of Hygiene at Nowogrodzka Street 82, in which Professor Ławrynowicz and a few members of staff were present. The SS-men set fire to the building. In 1945, the body of Professor Ławrynowicz was found there.

The report was read out.