WŁADYSŁAWA JAROSIŃSKA

Warsaw, 30 November 1949. Mgr. Irena Skonieczna, acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, heard the person named below as a witness. The witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Władysława Jarosińska née Jasińska
Date and place of birth 18 December 1884 in Rozprza
Parents’ names Łukasz and Józefa née Ruplewska
Occupation of the father carpenter
State affiliation and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education four grades of elementary school
Occupation living with children
Place of residence Okrężna Street 97, flat 2, Sadyba
Criminal record none

On 2 September 1944, during an air raid, at around 7.00 a.m., I went with my daughters to Podhalańska Street 25, as it seemed to me that this house was safer than other places. At around 11.00 a.m., Germans in grey uniforms entered Podhalańska Street, coming, I think, from the direction of Służew. First they executed the inhabitants of the house at Chochołowska Street – doctor Montrym’s house – about 12 people. Then they entered our yard. People were gathered in the basements at the time. The Germans ordered all of them out into the yard. We were standing there in a group of 30 people. Mrs. Szczerkowska and her 8-year-old daughter stepped out and presented some papers, and were then released and let go. Then I also wanted to get out of the yard with my daughter, Cecylia Filipińska (currently domiciled at Okrężna Street 97, flat 7). My daughter had a wristwatch which she gave to one of the Germans. He let us hide in the basement. My other daughter, Jadwiga Kurpawska (domiciled at Okrężna Street 97, flat 2), went there with us. We were followed by a cousin of Grudziński’s with his son Tadzik. At that point the Germans began to shoot at the people gathered in the yard with a machine gun. After some time the shooting ceased and the Germans moved to the next houses. Then we hid under the stairs in the basement corridor. Mr. Grudziński, who was also there in the basement, wanted to hide with us, but we explained that if the Germans found us with a man, they would execute us all. The Germans actually returned to the basement. They found and executed Grudziński and the Wędzoneks, a couple who was also hiding somewhere in the basement.

We stayed in our hideout for two days and three nights. On Tuesday morning, so on 5 September 1944, the Germans searched the basements again. They did it very often while we were there. That day I went out and told one of the soldiers, a man from Silesia who was speaking Polish, that we had hidden there from the bullets. He took us to the fort where the rest of the civilians from Sadyba had been gathered. From there, people were being sent to Pruszków. However, the five of us managed to pay our way out with the jewelry we had. The Germans led us to Wilanów.

Crimes such as those in the house at Podhalańska Street 25 were committed by the Germans in all the houses on Podhalańska Street up from the Łopatos’ villa, I don’t remember the house number. I cannot give the number of people executed in particular houses. I also heard about an execution on Klarysewska Street, in the big grey house whose number I don’t know, the second house counting from Powsińska Street.

At that the report was concluded and read out.

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