MARIA GUTOWSKA

Warsaw, 11 June 1945. The testimony of citizen Maria Gutowska, born on 3 July 1909, residing at Jagiellońska Street 12, flat 67.

Concerning: the mass execution held at Kępna Street near the municipal slaughterhouse on 12 November 1943 (I do not remember the exact date).

At 8.00 the Germans began putting patrols out on the street. At around 10.00 a small car arrived with four Germans dressed in leather coats. One had a piece of paper in his hand, and they were looking around. It seemed as if they were choosing a spot for an execution. At this moment they sent one of the Germans to the roof of the slaughterhouse. Next there arrived a patrol in helmets, who were arranged in a line four men deep. The vehicle conveying the prisoners drove up at around 12.00. The tailgate opened and the gendarmes led the prisoners out in twos, handcuffed. They were blindfolded and their mouths were tied up with rags, some torn from tapestries, while others from tarpaulin. One man from the first group of six had a red scarf tied around his head. The gendarmes led each group of two prisoners onto the pavement by the wall. When they had arranged the first six, they twisted their faces to the left. The gendarmes moved back, a command was given and a salvo rang out. Each prisoner received two shots to the heart and two to the head. 24 of the gendarmes participated in the shooting. There were six such groups of four. Only five prisoners were led out in the last group. Following the execution, one more prisoner was brought forward and placed on the pavement near the dead bodies, whereupon a gendarme shot him with his revolver.

Next, the doctor from the slaughterhouse (I knew him by sight) and two other men came to the scene, and they looked at the bodies. A vehicle then drove up in reverse, and five men – dressed the same as the prisoners – got out and threw the bodies onto the vehicle. They washed the pavement and the wall with water, and also sprinkled sand over the pavement.

The vehicle drove off, and the German patrol left. The civilian populace then set up an altar and laid flowers.

I too approached the execution spot, and picked up one of the masks, which was lying in the bloodied gutter. The mask was drenched in something. But it was also drenched in blood and water, so that I was unable to guess what the other substance was. I have this mask to this very day.

I witnessed the entire course of the execution, standing in the fifth-floor window of my dyeworks at Jagiellońska Street 12, flat 74, at the corner of Kępna Street. My eyesight is good, so I was able to see everything precisely. Two neighbours accompanied me – one was Ms Zofia (I don’t remember her surname), and the other Ms Mazur. Both live in the same house.

I have testified truthfully. I have read the report before signing it.