JANINA ŻELAZOWSKA

15 January 1945, Warsaw. Investigative Judge [the name is missing, signed A. Ge] interviewed the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false statements and of the significance of the oath, the witness was sworn and testified as follows:


Name and surname Janina Żelazowska
Date of birth 26 October 1908
Parents’ names Jan and Emilia
Place of residence Bolecha Street 88 (Koło), Warsaw
Occupation Polish Red Cross worker
Religious affiliation Catholic
Criminal record none

As a Polish Red Cross clerk, I was present at the exhumation carried out in March 1945 by the Health Department of the City Board on the premises of the Staszic Foundation (Wolska Street 4). Human remains of about 300 people were found in the Foundation’s garden in the area of the first greenhouse (in the direction from Okopowa to Karolkowa streets). There were parts of burnt human bones, the remains of charred human bodies, and human ashes lying on the coke with which the floor of the greenhouse was covered. The remains were moved to the collective grave on the premises of St. Lazarus’ Hospital. Zofia Lewandowska (who lives at Wolska Street 4) told me that during the Uprising the Germans first killed and then burned about 300 people on the Foundation’s property. During the Uprising Lewandowska, who was also present at the exhumation, had been staying on the premises of the said Foundation. She gave me a number of names of people who lived on the Foundation’s premises and who lost their lives during this execution. [The witness also drew a sketch of the Staszic Foundation.]

(sketch)

I wish to add that three or four well-preserved male bodies were found in the uncovered trenches near Okopowa Street. The bodies were also identified by Zofia Lewandowska and buried in the area of St. Lazarus’ Hospital.

The exhumation report is to be found at the Polish Red Cross.

Read out.