STANISŁAW ŚLIWOWSKI

Warsaw, 23 November 1949. Irena Skonieczna (MA) interviewed the person named below, who testified as follows:


Name and surname Stanisław Jan Śliwowski
Date and place of birth 8 February 1928, Warsaw
Parents’ names Maksymilian and Ludwika, née Asthajmer
Father’s profession locksmith
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religion Roman Catholic
Education intermediate school leaving exam
Profession wireman
Place of residence Strzelecka Street 8, flat 40
Criminal record none

On 3 August 1944 I was taken to the National Museum together with the Polish civilians from the house at Książęca Street 1. When our group arrived at the Museum, I heard that some 6 thousand people were already there. These were the residents of Smolna Street (the upper part), Nowy Świat Street, houses up to Smolna Street, and houses standing across from the Museum. At the time, all of these houses were ablaze.

We were kept in the Museum for nearly a week, practically without food, for the Germans – SS men – only gave us ten small biscuits each. The Germans would use men from the Museum "for certain purposes", as they said, leading them out in groups of 50. None of the men thus taken ever returned to the Museum. I was taken in the third group, also numbering 50 men. Escorted by two SS men, we were led to the corner of Bracka Street and Aleje Jerozolimskie. Here, in the rain, the SS men ordered us to lie down for a few hours. On the opposite side of Aleje Jerozolimskie was an enormous pile of civilian bodies; some had been murdered, while some were wounded. It is very difficult for me to specify their number, but I would think that some 80 men lay there. The Germans ordered a few men from our group, myself among them, to go in the direction of some other German who was calling from Krucza Street, and to bring over the wounded. We did not find any wounded Germans, and were then instructed to carry wounded Poles. So, two other men and I carried a wounded man from the pile of bodies at the corner of Bracka Street and Aleje Jerozolimskie towards the Museum, where a Polish Red Cross and German first-aid post had been set up. At the corner of Nowy Świat Street there was an ammunition bunker. The Germans ordered us to lay the wounded man down and carry ammunition to a tank. Next, the tank proceeded in the direction of Bracka Street, to the corner of Widok Street. A few men from our group were placed on the tank. I walked alongside. In total, there were some 20 of us Poles covering the tank. The Germans fired a few rounds from the tank. The tank was not fired upon by the insurrectionists. However, the people providing cover for the tank panicked. The men sitting on the vehicle and surrounding it started to run towards the other side of the barricade erected across Bracka Street. The Germans started shooting after the escapees. I fell next to the tank. After some time the tank, having expended its ammunition, turned back. It was accompanied only by three men, myself included. One of the men was wounded. I didn’t know their surnames. Walking next to the tank, we arrived at the corner of Nowy Świat Street. Here we picked up a wounded man lying at the corner of Nowy Świat Street and proceeded towards the Museum. The Germans behind us were shouting something, but we wanted to get out of the area as fast as possible and did not turn around.

I don’t know what happened to the severely wounded man who we brought in. We were the only men out of all the groups taken from the Museum to return. Thereafter I stayed at the Museum, but was never taken again, for I hid. Other men continued to be taken to perform various front-line work. I heard that barricades were frequently erected from paintings and other objects taken from the Museum. The Germans also robbed the Museum of all objects that were of any value.

Due to the lack of food, the Germans began to let people go from the Museum. Initially, this applied to women with children and girls more or less up to 15 years of age, and subsequently to all women and older men from approximately 40 years and up. All Volksdeutschers were also let free.

At the time I was suffering from a sickness of the joints and wanted to leave the Museum as quickly as possible. We were allowed to go to a doctor. However, many people wanted to see him. Since I had a certificate that had been issued in Busko-Zdrój, where I was staying before the uprising, facilitating my return to Warsaw, and it transpired that this document was very similar to those given to Volksdeutschers, I joined their group and thus managed to get out of the Museum. In the street I walked over to the group of women and managed to get through to my house.

I did not witness any other German crimes during the uprising. I did, however, hear that some of the men who remained in the Museum were executed by firing squad on the opposite side of Aleje Jerozolimskie.

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