HELENA BISKA

6 February 1950, Warsaw. 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 as a witness, who testified as follows:


Name and surname Helena Biska, née Bączkowska
Date and place of birth 22 May 1917, Warsaw
Parents’ name Teofil and Julia, née Łapińska
Father’s occupation Artisan
State affiliation and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Catholic
Education Secondary
Occupation Housewife
Place of residence Warecka Street 5, flat 5, Warsaw
Criminal record None

At the moment of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising I was at my home at Górskiego Street 6. I stayed there with my family until the end of August or the beginning of September. Around that time, a bomb damaged the stairs of our house and it was impossible to get out of the basement into the flat. Then I and my family moved to acquaintances of ours at Warecka Street 5. In the afternoon of 8 or 10 September (I cannot remember the exact date), the insurgents began unexpectedly to withdraw from our neighborhood. Their retreat was very rapid and those who hadn’t managed to flee the previous day fell into German hands. The Germans ordered us to leave the house. We came out into the street and the soldiers – Wehrmacht – escorted us through Nowy Świat Street to Ordynacka Street. At the corner with Kopernika Street they separated the young men and women from the rest of the group. There were also inhabitants from Kopernika Street and from some streets of the Powiśle district. After the separation of the youths, the rest was escorted to the University. I don’t know what happened to the young people whom the Germans had selected ostensibly for work. My twenty year-old brother Władysław and twenty four year-old sister Zofia were among the group of young people taken by the Germans.

From one young man who returned to the University and who had been taken with my brother we learned that my brother had been shot. Some young people returned to us to the University, but they were again detached from us when we continued our trip after two days spent at the University at Ossolińskich Street. At night the Germans pulled out young women from the University and raped them. The women returned in the morning. Then we were led through the Theater Square and streets whose names I don’t remember to Wolska Street, from where we were escorted by the Ukrainians to the church in Wola. The following day both women and men (some were kept there a little longer in order to do some work) were taken to the Western Railway Station and then to the camp in Pruszków.

On our way to the church in Wola the Ukrainians also picked women from the group and raped them.

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