KAROL OLSZOWSKI

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


Name and surname Karol Olszowski
Date and place of birth 15 June 1877, Niewiadów
Parents’ names Władysław and Karolina, née Zabłocka
Father’s profession farmer
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religion Roman Catholic
Education university
Profession economist
Place of residence Podkowa Leśna Wsch., Brzozowa Street 1.
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was in my house at Górnośląska Street 22. The area right up to Aleje Ujazdowskie and Trzech Krzyży Square was occupied by the Germans. On 2 August 1944, I may be mistaken by a few days, the first house in this area was burned down, at Wiejska Street 2 on the corner with Piusa XI Street. All of the residents of this house, with the exception of maybe one or two people, had previously been murdered. I later heard that this was the Germans’ revenge for the fact that a gendarme standing at the parliamentary hotel had been shot at from this house.

I stayed in my house until 7 August. During this time searches were carried out there with great frequency. And if they were conducted by German soldiers alone, unaccompanied by an officer, terrible things would happen. They would rape the women and rob anything of any value.

Since the windows of my flat opened up onto the street, I was a witness of the evacuation of the Ujazdowski Hospital. I do not now remember the date of the evacuation. In any case, it was held between the second and the fifth day of the Uprising.

The sight was brutal. From morning until evening, a procession of female nurses and walking wounded walked by, the latter carrying beds on which lay the severely wounded. Throughout this time the Germans would try to speed up the evacuation. The hospital was set on fire.

On 7 August 1944 the Germans entered the premises of our house and ordered everyone to leave the building. They allowed us to pack only one small suitcase. They took the men to the parliamentary building, while the women were told to go down to Czerniakowska Street.

Our group, numbering some 120 men, was located in the corridor connecting the lower and upper chambers of Parliament. More or less 30 – 40 other men were placed in two rooms near the corridor. The men detained in the parliamentary building came from the following streets: Wiejska (houses standing near the Parliament), Matejki, Piusa XI (houses only up to Aleje Ujazdowskie ) and Górnośląska, up to the hostel.

Some young men, more or less up to 40 years of age, were used to perform difficult and dangerous work, such as building barricades. Every day a few of those who left for work would be killed and a great many wounded. The dead were buried by the Poles at the rear of the parliamentary gardens. The men held in the parliamentary building were also forced to bury dead Germans. The older men would only be allowed to leave their rooms twice daily, each time for 15 minutes. We slept on wire nets taken from beds, which would be spread out on the floor each evening. Since the area was completely separated from the other German outposts, there was the risk that we would run out of food for such a large number of people.

From around 20 August we were sent to Pruszków in groups numbering some 15 persons each. I left with one of the first groups – the third, I think.

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