ANNA SKRZYPICIEL

Warsaw, 11 June 1946. Judge Antoni Knoll, acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, interviewed the person named below as a witness, who testified as follows:

My name and surname is Anna Skrzypiciel, daughter of Bronisława and Felicjan Górski, born on 24 July 1883 in Warsaw, religion – Roman Catholic. I am a hairdresser by profession, and I reside at Grochowska Street 277, flat 23 in Warsaw. I am married, and do not have a criminal record.

On 5 August 1944 I was led out of house at Marszałkowska Street 33 together with the other tenants, according to the list below:

List of persons detained on 5 August 1944

Skrzypiciel Tadeusz

Odolski Jan

Kowalewski Stanisław

Milewski Józef

Zaniewski Kazimierz, Zaniewski Tadeusz

Swiatłowski, Terlecki Leszek

Milicer Józef, Korganow Marek, Kordecki Adolf

Łagowski Władysław, Siwek Henryk

Stonowski Stefan (I do not remember the surname too well)
Kochanowski Henryk, Zaremba Franciszek

Polmowski Ambroży, Jabłkowski Moryliusz and many other people who were lodgers and had been at home when the Uprising broke out.

Persons who were present on the premises of houses nos. 31, 31a and 35 were evicted along with us. I lived at no. 33. We were evicted from our houses at around 12.00 a.m. –1.00 p.m. Immediately after the eviction of residents, the houses mentioned above were set on fire. I would like to add that all of the people who were on the premises of the presbytery (on Marszałkowska Street) were removed at the same time – priests included. The women were arranged in fours on the left side, and the men on the right. We were directed towards aleja Szucha through Marszałkowska and Litewska Streets, while the men were ordered to lie face down on the ground in front of the house at Marszałkowska Street 31. Amongst these men was my husband, Tadeusz Skrzypiciel, 71 years of age, and son-in-law, Jan Odolski, aged 39. I never saw them again.

When we reached aleja Szucha, tanks drove up (I do not remember the number) and the Gestapo selected a number of the women and placed them on the tanks. There were some 10 women atop each vehicle. I was told by the caretaker of the house herself that on one of the tanks she had seen a friend of mine, Miss Irena, whose surname I cannot recall at the moment. Gestapo men dressed in female clothes arranged themselves between the women. They said that they were going up to the front. I would like to stress that while we were being led along Litewska Street, my daughter asked one of the “Ukrainians” what would happen to us. The Ukrainian said that nothing untoward would happen to us (that is the women), but that our husbands would be taken care of. While we were being led, they stole our watches and jewellery.

We stayed at aleja Szucha until the next day, i.e. 6 August, when we were told to “go to hell” and back “to your bandits”, but whereas they had said that they would not shoot at us up to Zbawiciela Square, nevertheless, we were shot at. After reaching Zbawiciela Square, we went into 6 Sierpnia Street, to no. 9 I think, and from there – after some time – we proceeded through the courtyards to the Catholic House (Mokotowska Street 13). While we were in the Catholic House, two men came in – one young and dressed in a leather coat, and the other older; my daughter talked with both of them. I do not remember the exact course of their discussion, but I do recall the younger man saying that he had seen my son-in-law, Odolski, standing sadly in the basement of the Gestapo building smoking cigarettes. We were herded on foot from the Catholic House to Śniadeckich Street, to some school, while from there – on our own – we got to Marszałkowska Street 73, where we stayed until the end of the Uprising. After the War had ended – in May 1945, to be precise – I met Jadwiga Gorgolewska (currently resident at Aleje Jerozolimskie 95 or 97 – Pala House), who had been abducted in the street and worked in the Gestapo building as a cleaner. She told me that she had seen my husband two weeks later in the officer’s mess, where he worked as a barber. The following residents from amongst those abducted from the house at Marszałkowska Street 33 were executed (I know this for a fact, because their bodies were exhumed and identified): Kazimierz and Tadeusz Zaniewski, Henryk Siwek, and Franciszek Zaremba. The group of people who were then released from aleja Szucha also included engineer Plebański (I do not know his name nor current address, but before the Uprising he lived at Marszałkowska Street 31). I knew him as a good Pole. He owned an estate near Warsaw and the Germans would go there for hunting. At a critical moment in aleja Szucha, as Plebański’s sister informed me, he was recognized by a chauffeur who had driven Germans to the hunts, and therefore let go. I do not know the address of Eugeniusz Pągowski, the son of the proprietor of the Edis cake shop. I have heard that he lives in Radość.

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