STANISŁAW GĘDZIKIEWICZ

Warsaw, 9 March 1948. A member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Judge Halina Wereńko, heard as a witness the person specified below; the witness did not swear an oath. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Stanisław Ludwik Gędzikiewicz
Parents’ names Jan and Helena née Zmidowska
Date of birth 9 August 1881 in Zawiercie
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education Academy of Fine Arts in Paris
Place of residence Warsaw, Kozietulskiego Street 37
Occupation architect with the municipal board
Nationality Polish

During the Warsaw Uprising, on 13 August 1944, I got injured in both legs, and my left tibia was shattered. At first I was in a hospital at Długa Street 7. In the second half of August, I was transferred to a hospital at Freta 10. I was placed in the corridor opposite the door to a garden.

When the insurgents left that territory (I don’t remember the date), the German patrols began to come to our corridor. Three paramedics were with us then, but I don’t know the names of these women. At one point I heard a woman shouting “rape”, but I don’t know any details.

I saw that two German soldiers were coming with flamethrowers. I didn’t see the moment when they set the building on fire, but in the evening there was a fire spreading from the St Hyacinth church. The less injured made it to Stara Street themselves, and those who were more seriously injured were assisted by the paramedics. At one point, there was only one seriously injured person in the burning corridor apart from me. I began to crawl to the exit, and a paramedic helped me to get to Stara Street. I didn’t notice whether the other seriously injured person whom I have just mentioned left the corridor. I think that on the following day (I’m not sure), a group of paramedics and a few injured people – among them my friend Goderski – left Stara Street. On the next day a German patrol came and demanded that all the injured leave Stara Street, as the front line was going to be there. Then a small group of those who could walk left in the direction of Mostowa Street.

How many people left then, I cannot tell, as I am short-sighted and I was gravely ill then. A group of several dozen seriously injured people remained on Stara Street, and the majority were women.

I don’t remember the date, but in the early morning two or three days after the departure of the injured, I saw a German soldier tell some healthy man who had joined our group at night to step out of the group of the injured, and took [him] to a gate leading to the premises of the Warsaw Benevolent Society. Shortly afterwards I heard two shots. On the same day, about noon, some German officer came with a group of men carrying stretchers. They began to take away the injured. I was among the first ones to be taken away, to Wybrzeże Gdańskie, opposite Mostowa Street. After several hours we were transported to a seminary by the Carmelites church.

I don’t know whether all the injured were taken from Stara Street. On the following day I was taken to the West Railway Station, and then to Milanówek, where my family took care of me.

At this the report was closed and read out.