WŁADYSŁAWA JAROSIŃSKA

Warsaw, 31 May 1946. Judge Antoni Knoll, delegated to the Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, in the presence of court reporter Janina Gruszkowa, interviewed the person named below as a witness, obtaining the following testimony:

[My name is] Władysława Jarosińska, daughter of Łukasz and Józefa née Jasińska, born on 18 December 1884 in Rozprza, district of Piotrków, religion – Roman Catholic, housewife, criminal record – none, resident in Warsaw, Okrężna Street 97.

On 2 September 1944 at 7.00 I left home together with my daughters, for we were afraid that the bombs that were being dropped in large numbers, combined with the fact that the Czerniakowski Fort was located in close proximity of our house, might lead to our house being bombarded too. We walked along Chochołowska Street in the direction of Podhalańska Street and stopped at the house at Podhalańska Street 25, where we were allowed to enter the shelter. There were already thirty-odd people in the shelter. The air raids started around 9.00. Two hours later, Vlasovtsy soldiers burst into the shelter and drove all of us outside.

There, standing in a tight group, we found ourselves, on the one hand, within range of the fire from the uprising units, which were firing from the Czerniakowski Fort in the direction of Służewiec, and on the other of Germans shooting from Służewiec towards the Czerniakowski Fort. Almost immediately, some of our group fell to the ground wounded. One of the ladies in the group, a certain Szczerkowska, ran up to a German officer; seeing this, I followed suit with my daughters. Szczerkowska said something to the German officer, but what it was I do not know. He let her pass, however he refused to let us go and turned us back to the group. At this moment he saw that my daughter had a ‚Cyma’ watch. Without thinking twice, my daughter tore off the watch and gave it to the soldier. He took the watch and showed us the door leading back to the shelter. We hid there, along with the female cousin of Józef Grudziński and his son. Seeking a hiding place, we got under the stairs. Some time later Grudziński came in, but there was no room, so he hid under the [couch?] in the corridor, however the Germans found him there and shot him dead on the spot.

Above us, beneath the stairs, there was a hole torn in the wall through which we could observe the backyard and the street. I myself did not look through this hole, only my daughter Jadwiga did, and she is currently outside Warsaw. Before we managed to go down to the hideaway, we heard three bursts of machine gun fire, after which only the groans of a 15-year old boy, Kowalski, could be heard from the backyard.

Having carried out this execution, the Germans proceeded to the next property and continued shooting people dead.

We remained in the shelter until 5 September, when the Wehrmacht arrived. Having gathered all of the people remaining in the area, the Germans were supposed to march us to Pruszków, but because we managed buy ourselves out yet again, the soldiers let us go free, and thus we were able to make it to Konstancin.

Some twenty-odd people were killed during the execution at Podhalańska Street 25, amongst them: Gołębiowska with her sister and two children, aged about 4 and 6; Kowalski with his wife and 15-year old son; Józef Grudziński and the spouses Wę[…]owie. As I emphasised above, they were shot with machine guns. If I remember correctly, no grenades were thrown during this execution. In the course of the shooting, the victims were not arranged in rows; shots were fired at the entire group. During the night from 2 to 3 September, we heard a quarrel in the backyard. Grudziński’s sister, who knew German, told us that the Germans were undressing the bodies of the murdered and stealing their valuables. Stripped of their possessions, some of the bodies were thrown into a cesspit. As I heard, 18 people were later found in the cesspit. I was not present when the bodies were recovered from the cesspit.

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