STANISŁAW STRZAŁKOWSKI

Warsaw, 16 January 1950. Trainee judge Irena Skonieczna, acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, interviewed the person named below, who testified as follows:


Name and surname Stanisław Strzałkowski
Date and place of birth 14 January 1903, Żulin, Węgrów county
Parents’ names Szymon and Marianna, née Lipek
Father’s profession farmer
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religion Roman Catholic
Education 3 classes of elementary school
Occupation driver
Place of residence Miedzeszyn Nowy, Zielona Street 8
Criminal record none

When the Uprising broke out, I was at home at Leszczyńska Street 10. Until 5 September 1944 the area of Powiśle was occupied by the insurgents. My wife, Elżbieta Strzałkowska, had worked from the very beginning of the Uprising as a nurse at the insurgent hospital set up under the management of Dr Staszewski (currently resident in Bydgoszcz, where he works at the municipal hospital) at Drewniana Street 8, in the school building.

On 5 September the Germans occupied our area and I therefore moved to the hospital at Drewniana Street. A great many people from various streets of Powiśle had gathered there. The Germans occupied Drewniana Street. The entire healthy population was walked in the direction of the Bristol Hotel, and from there – as I heard – to the Wola district. Only the severely wounded, Dr Staszewski with his wife and daughter, I – dressed as a nurse (my wife had left, for she wanted to find my daughter, Alicja, who had been taken away), Piątek – a 13- year old girl, and a few other people, some 32 or 31 in total, remained at the hospital.

Until 28 September the Germans would frequently come to the hospital. On 27 September some SS-men entered the hospital. They looked around the area, talked to Dr Staszewski, and left. The next day, at around 1.00 p.m., the very same Germans returned. They ordered all the healthy people to leave the basements and then arranged us – 10 in all – by the wall of the school in the courtyard. Three SS-men descended the stairs. Two of them walked from one pallet to the other, shooting at the wounded. I counted the shots. I had counted 19 when a German from Bristol, who had sometimes visited us, arrived. I started listening in to what he was talking about with the non-commissioned officer from the execution group. I deduced from their conversation that they were discussing what to do with myself and Dr Staszewski – apart from us, the group standing in the courtyard comprised only women. Initially the non-commissioned officer wanted to shoot us, but the German from the Bristol saved us from death. We continued to stand in the courtyard. The three SS-men who had executed our wounded proceeded to property no. 7 at Leszczyńska Street. Once again I heard shots. I knew that three paralysed elderly people – two women and one man – had remained at Leszczyńska Street, looked after by two servants. Clearly the Germans had shot them. They then set the house on fire.

After the Uprising it was impossible to find any traces of the victims of this execution.

The Germans led us along Topiel and Oboźna streets, through the University and up to the Bristol, from where – in a larger group of people – we proceeded through Ossolińskich and Wierzbowa streets, Teatralny Square and Senatorska, Elektoralna, Chłodna and Wolska streets to the church.

Dr Staszewski and I managed to get to the Wola hospital on Płocka Street. The next day I got out of Warsaw to Włochy together with carts carrying wounded people.

In the course of the execution held on 28 September 1944 at Drewniana Street 8, some 25 people were killed, among them some wounded and a few healthy persons who did not walk out into the courtyard when the Germans so ordered.

At this point the report was brought to a close and read out.