EDMUND BIEJAT

On 21 September 1946 in Warsaw, Investigating Judge for Cases of Exceptional Significance, Józef Skorzyński, acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, interviewed the person named below as a witness, who testified as follows:

My name is Edmund Biejat, I am 54 years old, Roman Catholic, I live in Warsaw at Poznańska Street 16.

From October 1939 until 1 August 1944 I was the Director of the Disciplinary Office of the Polish Municipal Board of the City of Warsaw. Subject to the competence of the Disciplinary Office and of the Office’s Disciplinary Commission were all public service workers, both from administrative departments and municipal companies.

Approximately in mid-1940, when on behalf of the German occupational authorities supervision over the Polish municipal board was exercised by Leist, the so-called plenipotentiary of the head of the district of the City of Warsaw, acting in the capacity of deputy city captain of the City of Warsaw, matters pertaining to all employees of all public service companies were removed from the competence of the Disciplinary Office. This state of affairs continued until the end of November 1941, when – for reasons unknown – these matters were returned to the Disciplinary Office. At the same time the Office received around thirty cases concerning abuses allegedly committed by municipal tramway ticket controllers regarding the sales of tickets. These allegations were based on the anonymous reports of observer controllers. When upon the demand of the Disciplinary Office these controllers were forced, after some wrangling, to come forward and testify, and when – after their statements had been verified – it turned out that they had not provided their true personal details and addresses, we questioned the evidentiary value of their testimonies, and thus most of the cases were dropped, and in some instances petty penalties of admonition or reprimand were administered for insufficiently diligent performance of professional duties. Right after that, Leist issued a regulation again excluding the disciplinary matters of public service company staff from the competence of the Polish municipal board, and we were asked to provide a list of the names of all employees of the Disciplinary Office.

After the Personnel Office had sent the requested list, the following persons were arrested on the night from 28 February to 1 March 1942: myself, my deputy Advocate Michał Skoczyński, and the disciplinary spokesman Advocate Wacław Szyszkowski. Spokesmen Olgierd Missuna and Lucjusz Domański avoided arrest, since they could not be found at their homes. Probably due to an error or omission, spokesman Jerzy Bielski was not arrested at that time either. He was arrested three months later and sent to Treblinka, although at that time he held the office of director of the Disciplinary Office. The reason for our arrest was that the office was acting to the detriment of German interests, performing acts of sabotage and eliciting false testimonies from witnesses.

The fate of those arrested varied. Advocate Skoczyński’s release was the most straightforward, since during the critical period he had been on a one-year unpaid leave. I managed to avoid being sent to Treblinka because I was transferred from detention to hospital, where I had my appendix removed. In the meantime the case against me was covered up with the help of a German attorney. Advocate Szyszkowski, who had been sent to Treblinka, only managed to get out of there after a few weeks thanks to the persistent efforts of his family and friends. Missuna remained in hiding until the end of the occupation, and Domański, who was incidentally apprehended at a friend’s house, was sent to Auschwitz, from where he returned after the occupation. I should add that supervision over public service companies was carried out by a German named Dürrfeld, reporting to Leist, who was notorious for his exceptional hatred towards Poles.

It is difficult for me to answer the question of what Leist’s role in the arrests of the Disciplinary Office staff members actually was. I only know that Leist knew about the arrests and apparently must have approved of it.

I have read the report.