MARIA JAKUBOWSKA

Warsaw, 18 March 1949. Judge Halina Wereńko, a member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Warsaw, interviewed the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the obligation to speak the truth, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Maria Wanda Jakubowska, unmarried
Date and place of birth 22 July 1924 in Warsaw
Parents’ names Feliks and Zofia Stanisława, née Korczak
Father’s occupation office worker
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religion Roman Catholic
Education intermediate school leaving exam and secondary trade school
Occupation accountant
Place of residence Warsaw, Puławska Street 71, flat 81
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was in my flat at Puławska Street 71. From the very beginning of the Uprising I stayed in the bakery that opened onto the courtyard, and for this reason I don’t know whether any insurgents passed through our area during the first few days. On 3 August 1944 the Germans set fire to the front of our house, while a few hours later, at 6.30 p.m. or 7.30 p.m., I don’t remember exactly, German soldiers burst into the courtyard of our house. They barged into the bakery and led the people gathered there out into the courtyard. I exited together with my father, Feliks Jakubowski. In the courtyard I saw that our tenants had been arranged against the wall opposite the bakery, to the right of the front entrance. A few German soldiers stood near the bakery, holding their weapons. I don’t remember whether they had light machine guns or other weapons. I turned my back to the courtyard and fell unconscious. When I came to, it was dusk, and there were no German soldiers in the courtyard. I determined that my right leg had been shot through below the knee, through the calf muscle, and that I had been wounded in my right hand near the index finger; furthermore, the skin of my right forearm was chafed.

(The witness showed two round scars on her right calf, which – as she herself stated – were the bullet entry and exit wounds; she also showed a small scar on the inside of her right hand, near the index finger).

I saw bodies all around me, against the wall and next to a stack of bricks. Apart from me, a few severely wounded people had survived the execution.

The residents of our house later told me that 27 people had died at the time.

I also saw people running away from the buildings; evidently they had hid there during the execution. One of the fleeing men, I don’t know his surname, helped me get to Ludowa Street 9. There I received first aid, although my wound was only covered with gauze, and in consequence an infection set in and I developed a fever of 40°. A proper dressing was applied only on 5 August at the I Health Care Center at Puławska Street 91. My mother found me soon after. I was seriously ill for a few weeks.

When I regained the ability to walk, we got through to our house and remained there until the capitulation, that is 27 September. On that day, I and a group of tenants from our house, accompanied by some other people, were led out by the Germans along Belgijska, Puławska, Różana, Kazimierzowska, Madalińskiego and Wołoska streets, and through the fields to Służewiec Race Track, from where we were driven on foot to Włochy, and transported from there by train to Pruszków. From Pruszków we were sent to Lubań (Lauben), to a forced labor camp.

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