Maria Matuszczak, Warsaw, Berezyńska Street 17, flat 3
Details pertaining to the evacuation of the Child Jesus Hospital in Warsaw.
During those unforgettable days of August 1944, the premises of the Child Jesus Hospital in Warsaw became the site of unheard of atrocities perpetrated by Hitlerite bandits. A pack of drunken “Ukrainians”, having first terrorized the German authorities of the hospital, were literally running wild. Sick women were pulled from their beds and nurses passing by were attacked; dreadful, bestial rapes were committed, often ending in the death of the hapless victim. Even those women who had given birth two or three day earlier were not spared.
On 26 August, a “hero” from the Vlasov Army, with the help of his “noble” subordinates, formally threw all the Germans who had been present on the hospital premises out from the gate, and decreed on his own accord that an immediate evacuation was to be carried out within 20 minutes. Amid the groans of the gravely ill, of wounded people who had just had their limbs amputated, and pregnant and postpartum women, a tragic column of specters in hospitals gowns and blood-soaked bandages was formed. Those who were better off carried the gravely ill; mothers with several-day-old babies in their arms fainted due to exhaustion and blood loss.
The Polish hospital authorities, doctors and nurses with the white flag of the Red Cross marched at the head of the column.
At 10.20 a.m., the grim procession turned from Starynkiewicza Street in the direction of Sucha Street. At that moment, an unexpected event occurred. The Ukrainian “escort”, who were to lead us to the Western Station, ran ahead of the column on their motorcycles and a few minutes later came back straight at us, guns in hand, shooting at us with their machine guns. Dr Stankiewiczowa, who was carrying the emblem of the Red Cross, was the first to fall; she received a serious wound to the stomach. Horrible screams from the wounded people ensued. A great commotion broke out. The disabled and post-surgical patients – deprived of the supportive arms of their companions and trampled on – were quickly strewn about on the road and pavements. This macabre game continued for several minutes. Then a column of “German saviors” arrived and forbade further shooting.
I was an eyewitness to the above-described events because, from 14 August 1944, I had been lying sick in ward 8c and was evacuated together with the hospital.
On 20 August, on the premises of the Obstetrics Hospital of Prof. Czyżewicz, six “Ukrainians” raped a 19-year-old nurse before my very eyes.
Witnesses:
Zofia Czamańska, residing in Milanówek, Krasińskiego Street 24
Antonina Czajkowska, residing in Zakopane
Irena Puterman, residing in Radość
Władysława Nassilska, residing in Łowicz
In addition, the following persons might have witnessed some of these events: Dr Massalska, Dr Stopczyk (Aleje Jerozolimskie 75), and all the nurses.