FRANCISZEK WŁODARCZYK

10 December 1945, Warsaw. Investigating Judge Alicja Germasz heard the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Franciszek Włodarczyk
Age 41
Parents’ names Szymon and Rozalia
Place of residence Warsaw-Pelcowizna, Modlińska Street 26
Occupation rector of St. Hedwig’s parish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none

During the Warsaw Uprising, I lived in the parish house of Our Savior’s parish at Marszałkowska Street 37, being a curate. On 4 August 1944, in the afternoon, many people passed through the parish house and the yard, escaping from some of the houses on Marszałkowska Street. These people told us that the Germans were setting fire to all the buildings, from Unii Lubelskiej to Zbawiciela squares, and forcing people out. Among those arriving were the daughter of the owner of the G. Anca pharmacy and an employee of the said pharmacy, who said the same things as the others, but didn’t provide any specific details about the house at Marszałkowska Street 21.

On 5 August, in the afternoon, the Germans came to the parish house. Judging by their uniforms, I believe they were soldiers, and they told us to leave the house. They took a group of some 20 people (priests, sextons and attendants) to the house at Marszałkowska Street 35, on the opposite side of the street, and told us to lie down with our faces to the pavement. About a hundred people were already lying there, men and women. We were lying thus for about an hour and nobody was particularly preoccupied with us. An hour later, the Germans told us to get up and marched us to Litewska Street (the women had already gone by then). A group of Germans and “Ukrainians” was waiting on the corner of Litewska and Marszałkowska streets. They told us to lie down again with our faces to the pavement in the direction of Litewska Street.

Since I was lying on the ground, I didn’t see what was happening on the other side of Marszałkowska Street and on Oleandrów Street.

I would like to add that when we approached Litewska Street, I saw the G. Anca pharmacy burning; in one of the burnt window or door openings I noticed two men who were kneeling or else were suspended, I cannot tell which, face down. They seemed to be dead.

When we were lying on the ground, the Germans and the “Ukrainians” prowled around, calling us names and kicking us. About an hour later, we were told to get up one by one and were arranged along Litewska Street. Some people stayed on Marszałkowska Street, but I don’t know what happened to them.

We were taken to the Gestapo on aleja Szucha. Each one of us was interrogated separately. I was questioned about where I had been and what I had been doing since the outbreak of the Uprising. The following day, I was released with the other priests from Our Savior’s Church. We returned to the parish house where we remained until the surrender of Warsaw.

During that time, people from the outside no longer enter the parish premises and we didn’t know what was going on in the neighborhood.

The report was read out.