JOANNA ZDANOWICZ

Warsaw, 28 November 1949. Mgr. Irena Skonieczna, acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, heard the person named below as a witness. The witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Joanna Zdanowicz née Murawska
Date and place of birth 22 May 1925 in Warsaw
Parents’ names Henryk and Józefa née Neufeld
Occupation of the father merchant
State affiliation and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education graduate of the Faculty of Medicine
Occupation physician
Place of residence temporary: Kraków, Pijarów Street, Hotel Francuski [French Hotel], room no. 8 permanent: Warsaw, Tamka Street 5, flat 1
Criminal record none

From 15 or 16 August 1944, I don’t remember the exact date, I was on Klarysewska Street at the house no. 55. On 2 September, at around 1.00 p.m., the Germans began to take over Sadyba, but first they bombed it by plane. As far as I can tell, Sadyba was being captured from the Wilanów side by German troops in air force uniforms who were coming in tanks. The German tanks stopped at the field (the witness draws a rough sketch of the crime scene). At first the Germans threw a small grenade into the basement where the inhabitants of our house were gathered, but it only slightly injured a few people. Then the Germans began to shout at us to leave.

They formed a group of 25–35 people by the wall of the house facing the field. We were surrounded by machine guns from three sides. As I speak German, I asked the soldiers what they planned to do with us. They told me that we would be taken to the Dominican monastery in Służew. However, a moment later they began to shoot at the civilians gathered. Everyone fell. Shortly afterwards, the Germans moved to the next villa on Klarysewska Street, and again we heard screams and shooting.

I was injured. My left wrist, my right leg and my buttock were shot through. Nevertheless, I wanted to leave the execution site as quickly as possible, since it seemed to me that the Germans would soon come back. I therefore went with my ex-husband, Andrzej Brandeburski (who may currently living at Szustra Street 38), and another man who had a pharmacy at Szustra Street 3 before the Uprising, in the direction of the black tar road. Even earlier, Lucjan Pakulski (I don’t know his address, but I think Michał Baran, who may be living at Szustra Street 38, might know it) and Mr. Zajczyk, who was later killed, crawled out from under the bodies of the dead and injured people. We crawled to the dirt road. There, we encountered four German soldiers on a lookout. These Germans told us to go the Dominican monastery. As I was seriously injured, I was sent from the monastery to the Holy Spirit Hospital in Konstancin. I met Michał Baran there, and he told us that the Germans had indeed come back to the execution site to kill any survivors. This was confirmed by an exhumation carried out there in the spring of 1945.

The Germans also carried out similar executions of civilians in other houses on Podhalańska Street.

On 2 September 1944, at Kalrysewska Street 55, the following people were executed, among others: Wanda Polkowska, Janina Haladin, Professor Pękalski, Zajczyk and Andzia – his maid, Maria Baran, her daughter Irenka, Anna Brykalska – a 70 year old lady, the Rudkowski family. In total, 44 people, all permanent residents of the house.

At that the report was concluded and read out.