WOJCIECH CAŁCZYŃSKI

Warsaw, 1 July 1946. The investigating judge Halina Wereńko, delegated to the Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, heard as a witness the person specified below. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the importance of the oath the witness was sworn and testified as follows:


Name and surname Wojciech Andrzej Całczyński
Date of birth 17 March 1927
Parents’ names Feliks and Janina née Fijałkowska
Occupation student of the Post-secondary school of Land Drainage
Education first class of a post-secondary school
Place of residence Warsaw, Mokotowska Street 61, flat 30
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record one

At the end of September 1943, I was detained by the German field gendarmerie on Towarowa Street in Warsaw when they were ordering passers-by to produce identity papers, because I did not have my worker’s identity card (Ausweis).

I was taken to the headquarters of the German Gendarmerie on Piłsudski Square, where they took my papers, and then to the Gestapo headquarters at aleja Szucha 25. There they asked me why I didn’t work. I told them that I was sick and that previously I had been going to school. The interrogation was mild, I spent the night in the “tram,” that is, the cell on aleja Szucha, and the next day they took me to Pawiak prison, where I was ordered to stand by the wall in the yard, along with three other boys caught without identity papers at the same time.

In the evening, after nine hours of standing, we were joined with a group of Gypsies who were coming back from work under escort, and we were all marched to the labour camp in the building and on the site of the former military prison at Gęsia Street, at the junction with Zamenhoffa Street.

At that time Jews and Gypsies were being placed there indefinitely, and Polish people for no longer than eight weeks and always for lesser crimes such as lack of identity papers, being out after curfew, smuggling etc. After eight weeks detained Poles would either get a job in Warsaw (if their families took care of this) or go to a post at Skaryszewska Street from which they were deporting people for forced labour in Germany.

Jews who were in the camp lived in shacks built along Gęsia Street, I don’t know if they extended as far as Okopowa Street. They were not being kept in the former prison buildings. These workers were usually young, I didn’t see any old people or children, most of them were from Greece. It was after the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, and Polish Jews discovered hiding among the ruins were being murdered on the spot. I heard during my stay in the camp that a Jewish family who had left the ruins and approached the camp were shot on the spot.

I had spent three weeks in the camp when my father, with a lot of effort and money, managed to get me out illegally, that is to say I was released without the consent of the Gestapo from aleja Szucha who had earlier decided that I should be placed in the camp.

After I had left Pawiak for the labour camp at Zamenhoffa Street, I was led through the gate at Zamenhoffa Street. At first I was placed in a transit cell in the building on the side of Zamenhoffa Street. I was assigned number 1550, divested of my clothes and given a dark green uniform such as those worn by Russian prisoners, the Kalmyks, and a striped prison hat. The uniforms were the same for all people in the camp. After I had changed my clothes I was led to a cell on the second floor of the building on the side of Zamenhoffa Street, already occupied by 15 men.

After three days in the camp I was made to work. Different groups from the camp were working in different parts of the city. I was clearing debris in aleja Szucha, opposite the Gestapo headquarters (aleja Szucha 25).

The food was enough.

When I came to the camp, Rosmus was the commander, but I don’t remember his name, rank or unit. After a few days, so I heard from my fellow inmates, he was executed on the order of the Underground State.

I don’t remember the name of Rosmus’ successor. I remember he was an elderly, quiet man.

The guards in the prison were wearing SS uniforms, but they spoke Ukrainian: where they came from, I don’t know.

Apart from these, four Polish policemen were working as interpreters in the administrative office, but unfortunately I don’t know their names. I have not met any members of the camp staff recently.

I have to point out that soon after I left the camp, I don’t know the exact date, the labour camp was moved from Zamenhoffa Street to Litewska Street, but it retained its character, that is, it was still for people detained for not having identity papers etc. I think that the camp might have been moved around December 1943.

What happened at Gęsiówka [popular name for the camp at Gęsia] after that time I cannot say.

The report was read out.