ALBIN MIANOWSKI

Warsaw, 14 December 1949. Irena Skonieczna (MA), acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, heard the person named below as a witness, who testified as follows:


Name and surname Albin Mianowski
Date and place of birth 18 October 1915, Kuligów, Radzymin county
Parents’ names Andrzej and Wiktoria, née Kowalewska
Father’s occupation farmer
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education elementary school
Occupation electrician
Place of residence Warsaw, Smolna Street 14, flat 15
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was at home at Smolna Street 14. For about four days of the Uprising, Smolna Street was held by the insurgents.

I seem to recollect that on Sunday morning at around 10.00 a.m. the Germans entered our street; I think they were Wehrmacht soldiers from the [National] Museum. They were accompanied by one of the caretakers from the museum. The Germans ordered everyone to leave their houses, threatening that anyone who failed to obey this order would be shot. It was then that I and my family, together with my neighbor, Mieczysław Wróblewski (currently resident at Smolna Street 20), together with his family, as well as a few people from other houses in Smolna Street, escaped through property at Smolna Street 22 to Pierackiego Street, and from there to Okólnik Street. For this reason I am unable to provide any details concerning what happened at the museum.

After more or less three days, I went with my family to the bunker at Pierackiego Street 11. We stayed there until 6 September. During this time, while walking to my house for food, I met Tadeusz Cieszkowski (resident at Smolna Street 16, flat 2), who had been released from the museum after four days, for a ransom.

I heard that the Germans used the men detained in the museum to perform various types of work, and also as cover for their tanks.

On 6 September I was deported from Warsaw together with the entire population of this area to the camp in Pruszków.

After Warsaw was liberated, towards the end of January 1945, I returned to my house at Smolna Street. I did not see any traces of a mass execution. Mr. Roman Kołnierzak, the caretaker of Smolna Street 11 (currently resident somewhere in Skolimów with his father), had returned to the area before me. He works for the Ministry of State Security as a plumber.

After the eviction of civilians from Pierackiego, Smolna and other neighboring streets on 6 September 1944, Rydzewski, a lung patient, continued to reside there. He was an employee of the electric power station (currently resident at some point along the Grodzisk – Warsaw line, and before the Uprising at Smolna Street 22), and was accompanied by his common- law wife, Sabina Raźna, who – as I heard – worked at the German kitchen. Maybe she could say something more.

At this point the report was concluded and read out.