APOLONIA CHOIŃSKA

Warsaw, 9 January 1945. Acting Investigating Judge Antoni Krytowski, delegated to the Warszawa-Miasto Branch of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, interviewed the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the obligation to speak the truth and of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Forename and surname Apolonia Choińska, née Domańska
Age 33 years old
Place of residence Warsaw, Hutnicza Street 17, flat 2
Occupation laborer
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was with my husband in our home at Hutnicza Street 17. Shortly after 5.00 p.m., i.e. when the first shots were fired as a sign that the Uprising had started, eight German soldiers with rozpylacze [submachine guns] barged into our flat, or rather into the entrance hall in which we and other people had gathered. First, a burst of shots was fired in the corridor, and then we were ordered to walk out into the courtyard. There the men, ten in all, were detached from our group, but when we started crying and lamenting, fearing that the Germans would kill them, the Germans declared that the men would only be taken for work and that they would return the next day. Immediately thereafter, they were led away towards Gley factory and executed by its wall.

We found their bodies on the next day. Many, or indeed the majority of the bodies had numerous bullet wounds, which means that they had been executed with automatic weapons. My husband, Władysław, was among those executed, as were the following people whom I knew personally: Stanisław Biegaj, aged 34, a paver, I think; Józef Średnicki, aged around 40, a carpenter; Bolesław Rasztawicki, aged 37, a locksmith; Mieczysław Król, aged around 38, a painter; Jan Kaczmarczyk, aged around 46, and Jan Masłowski, aged around 34, a laborer. They also executed three insurgents who had come to our house a short time before the Germans arrived and who ran in from the street seeking shelter.

On 1 August 1944 another execution was conducted at księcia Ziemowita Street 42. I saw the bodies of the victims, and among them that of Franciszek Cieślik. In total, six people were executed there.

Three days after the execution I managed to steal away my husband’s body and I buried him near the church at Ziemowita Street. After they were exhumed, my husband’s body and those of the other victims were buried in Bródnowski Cemetery.