Warsaw, 18 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 | Witold Zenowicz |
| Date and place of birth | 23 November 1905 in Ostrowiec |
| Parents’ names | Jan and Wanda née Waga |
| Occupation of the father | clerk |
| State affiliation and nationality | Polish |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Education | secondary |
| Occupation | deputy notary public |
| Place of residence | Podhalańska Street 25, flat 2 |
| Criminal record | none |
From 15 August to 3 September 1944, I was in Sadyba, at Podhalańska Street 25. A few days before the Germans entered this area, so at the end of August, the fort in Sadyba was bombed. If I am not wrong, some ten people were killed, including Uprising commanders. Among others, doctor Szczubełek was killed there. I suppose that there were no women or children in the fort, as it was occupied up by insurgent troops.
On 2 September in the early morning, before 7.00 a.m., the Germans launched a heavy attack on Sadyba, at first with air bombs. This attack, just like many previous attacks, was launched from the Dominican monastery in Służew. I left my house with my wife, children, in-laws, brother-in-law and a domestic helper, and we went in the direction of Siekierki. We stayed in a villa on Jodłowa Street. We spent the night there with some dozen people, who were on the run just like us. The following morning, at around 6.00 a.m., we realized that no civilians were left in Sadyba. Therefore, we went in the direction of Wilanów, avoiding the fort. We went through German trenches to Powsińska Street. There, in the vicinity of the St. John statue, an open car with Germans stopped in front of us. A German General was sitting next to the chauffeur; I think it was von dem Bach since I knew him from photographs and besides I heard from other people that it was him. When my mother-in-law asked how we could go to Wilanów, the general kindly showed us the way.
I don’t know right now why the car with the general which was driving behind us passed us and stopped in front of our group? Not far from us the Germans executed a woman. Maybe von dem Bach had come to watch that execution?
When we came back to Warsaw on 31 January 1945, we notified the Polish Red Cross that there were human bodies in our septic tank and buried in our garden. The exhumation probably took place in March 1945; the corpses of some 30 people were uncovered then. I knew the following people from among the executed: the Gołębiowski family (mother, a 6-year-old girl, a 4-year-old boy) and a sister of Mrs. Gołębiowska – Orłowska; the Kowalski family (father, mother, and a 14-year-old son); the owners of the property at Podhalańska Street 23 named Bugień; an inhabitant of the said house whose name I don’t know; inhabitants of the house at Podhalańska Street 31 – last name Wędzonek. The rest were either residents of nearby villas or refugees from Warsaw. In the shelter of the adjacent villa were the corpses the director of the Społem company, Hubrych, his daughter and their domestic help. Most of the corpses were naked. Up to house number 13 on Podhalańska Street (the house of Captain Łopatto), most of the inhabitants of Podhalańska Street and houses in its immediate neighborhood were killed on 2 September. The following people were killed, among others: the Modzelewski family (five people), owners of the property at number 22; the Rutkowski family (three people), inhabitants of a house on Klarysewska Street, the second house counting from Podhalańska Street; Jagodzińska with a child, an inhabitant of house number 31 on Podhalańska Street; and Aret – inhabitant of house number 17 on Podhalańska Street. On the premises of the property at Podhalańska Street 24 there had also been a mass execution and a dozen people were killed there, including the owner of a house on Chochołowska Street, doctor Montrym and his wife.
I cannot give the total number of civilians executed in that area on 2 September 1944. If I remember correctly, Świętochowski, an inhabitant of a house on Okrężna Street (I will submit the exact name and address in the near future), was an eyewitness of these crimes. Mrs. Jarosińska (currently domiciled at Okrężna Street 93) and Mrs. Grudzińska also managed to survive.
As for the women (I don’t remember their number) exhumed from a grave on the lawn in front of the house number 25 on Podhalańska Street, I heard that they were previously buried in the shelter in our garden, and the fact that I was finding female garments when filling up the shelter confirms this. Besides, I heard that one woman was stretched out on a wire netting and stabbed to death. However, no trace of that crime is to be found.
At that the report was concluded and read out.
[a site plan was appended]