ZYGMUNT RZEŹNICKI

Warsaw, 9 May 1968. Assistant Public Prosecutor Zbigniew Grędziński, delegated to the District Commission for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes in Warsaw, heard the person named below as a witness, without an oath. After being warned about the criminal liability for giving false testimony, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Zygmunt Józef Rzeźnicki
Parents’ names Franciszek and Stefania
Date and place of birth 10 January 1910, Warsaw
Place of residence Warsaw, Wileńska Street 5, flat 41
Occupation mechanic
Criminal record none
Relation to the parties none

During the occupation, I lived in Warsaw at Wileńskiej Street 5, flat 41. I still live in the same place. On the first day of the Warsaw Uprising, that is, on 1 August 1944, some Nazis from the Wehrmacht shot one of the residents of our building, Mr. Dąbrowski’s sister, who was seventy years old at that time.

I don’t remember the name or surname of the murdered woman.

These Nazis from the Wehrmacht killed this woman when she was looking out the window. I didn’t see her being killed, but I knew about it from the other residents. I saw, however, this murdered woman being taken out of the apartment and buried in the yard.

On 1 or 2 August 1944, from the building where I lived, I heard gunfire coming from the Orthodox church. We could hear groaning coming from the church. Therefore, myself and a few other people whose names I don’t recall at the moment, went to the neighboring building and from there we began to observe the place from where the shots were coming. From this building I heard the groaning very clearly. I looked out and noticed that there was a group of people lying on the ground by the church and some of them were groaning. Several dozen people lay there. Then I saw a German car pass by carrying Nazis from the Wehrmacht front units. I personally saw the Nazis who were in the Wehrmacht throw two grenades at the group of murdered people as they lay. Regardless, I am sure that it was Wehrmacht soldiers who murdered those people at the church, because only Wehrmacht soldiers were in this area at that time.

On 3 August 1944, some Nazis dressed in German military uniforms came to the courtyard of the building where I lived. They were soldiers from the Wehrmacht and the Gestapo. They told all the men to go out into the yard. One of the Nazis spoke Polish with a Silesian accent, probably a German from Silesia. From our building the Nazis took a few men with shovels and we were ordered to walk in the direction of the church. I was among those men who were taken.

We were led to the vicinity of the church. The Nazis split us into two groups. One was ordered to dig a pit, and the other to carry corpses. I worked in the group that dug the pit. I saw in person a large number of people who had been murdered lying in a heap nearby. Men and women had been murdered, but most were men. The corpses had started to decompose and gave off an unpleasant smell.

I don’t know where the people that the Nazis murdered came from.

A few dozen people were murdered, but it is difficult for me to give the exact number of victims. We buried the corpses in the dug-out pit. Our work involving the burial of these murdered people was supervised by the Wehrmacht and Gestapo soldiers.

We worked on the burial of these victims for about two to three hours. After this work, the Nazis escorted us to back the building at Wileńska Street 5.

In addition to the men living at Wileńska 5, some men who lived at Wileńska 7 and 3 also took part in the burial of the victims.

I have read this report personally and I hereby sign it as being truthful.