KAROL SZATKOWSKI

Warsaw, 4 February 1946. Judge Stanisław Rybiński, delegated to the Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, interviewed the person specified below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations, and of the significance of the oath, the judge swore him in, after which the witness testified as follows:


Forename and surname Karol Szatkowski
Date of birth 13 June 1887
Names of parents Juliusz and Józefa
Occupation Director of the Traffic Department of the Municipal Trams
Education secondary, technical
Place of residence Warsaw, Wojciecha Górskiego Street 3
Religious affiliation Roman-Catholic
Criminal record none

I witnessed a public execution of Poles carried out by the Germans in the vicinity of Młynarska Street 2, or rather in the area of the Hoser garden. Throughout the German occupation, there was only one public execution at that place in Warsaw.

I do not remember the date of this execution. It might have been on 21 October 1943. It was a beautiful autumn day. At about 10 or 11 a.m., I was working in the building of the Municipal Trams, in the Traffic Department. At that time, a caretaker came in and, following the orders issued by the Germans, warned us against going outside or coming up to the windows. At the time, I was standing at a window which faced Wolska Street and Młynarska Street and I noticed a procession of vehicles coming from Wolska Street into Młynarska Street in the direction of our building. First off about five cars arrived; then two trucks with German gendarmes wearing green uniforms, as usual; next, a covered vehicle came, and then yet another truck and two cars. When the procession came to a halt, the gendarmes holding machine guns secured the exit of Wolska Street and Młynarska Street, and some of them climbed the brick wall surrounding the St. Stanislaus hospital in the Wola quarter. Next, the firing squad consisting of 20 gendarmes and a commanding officer stood in the middle of the street facing the fence surrounding the Hoser garden; then, they took two or three steps backwards. After that, the truck, which had previously stopped in the yard, arrived and stopped with its rear facing the firing squad. Out of the vehicle came the first man, wearing brown civilian clothes; he was clearly young since his movements were sprightly. He was blindfolded with a triangular black piece of material, and his hands were tied up behind his back. Then, another four people wearing the same black bands over their eyes were taken out, with two of them being tied up to each other, and the other two being tied up separately. All of them were wearing their own clothes, rather than prison garments, and socks without boots. These five people were taken by the gendarmes to the fence of the Hoser garden and placed with their backs facing the fence and their faces towards the firing squad. After the arrangement had been completed, a command to open fire was shouted. The firing squad fired a salvo. The victims of the execution fell to the ground. Two officers came up to them and one kicked each of the lying people, trying to turn them over; then, he fired one shot to finish off one of the lying victims. Later, the gendarmes took out another group of five victims, put them next to the lying corpses and executed them in the same way. These new five victims of the execution were also wearing civilian clothes and bands over their eyes; and all were men. When the ten men had been executed a truck arrived with its tailgate open and its floor covered thickly with sawdust; it came up to the pavement next to the lying people. The three people wearing civilian clothes put the corpses in the truck, after which the entire procession of cars departed.

At that time I did not know the names of the executed people; neither did I learn what they were later. I do not know the surnames of the people who conducted the execution, theGermans. At that time, we, the employees of the Municipal Trams, supposed that the execution was the occupier’s reaction to the previous killing of some Volksdeutsche in the vicinity of our building. Then, a few months before, a man called Denel had also been killed, a former employee of the Municipal Trams – who had started to receive quick promotions with the help of the Germans, and who had treated the Polish employees of the Municipal Trams badly.

The witness interview report was read out.