Warsaw, 25 May 1948. A member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Judge Halina Wereńko, heard as a witness the person specified below; the witness did not swear an oath. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Aleksander Idzikowski |
| Parents’ names | Antoni and Katarzyna née Sobolewska |
| Date of birth | 3 February 1927 in Warsaw |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Education | elementary school and two classes of vocational school |
| Occupation | electrical fitter |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Wilcza Street 44, flat 38 |
I spent the Warsaw Uprising in the PWPW [Polish Security Printing Works] at Sanguszki Street 1, as a member of the insurgent unit PWB 17/S [PWB: Underground Banknote Printing Works], which was stationed in the PWPW.
On about 7 August 1944 (I don’t remember the exact date), I was injured at my post in both legs and the head, so I was taken to a sanitary post on the premises of the PWPW which was run by Dr Petrynowska. At the end of the fighting for the Works, the sanitary post became almost a hospital, still run by Dr Petrynowska. From among the sanitary staff, I remember: Maria Kowalska, a paramedic “Basia”, Małgorzata Smogorzewska, “Lili”, and others whose names I have forgotten. As the military situation on the premises was getting worse, the less seriously injured were evacuated to Stare Miasto proper [Old Town]. Along with them, a large group of civilians who had been hiding in the PWPW basements left the premises. In effect, on 27 August, that is, a day before the Germans troops seized the PWPW, a group of some one hundred people remained on the premises, consisting of seriously injured people and a small group of civilians. The injured were lying mainly in the building of the paper mill, in the so-called bale room. There were some 40 injured people there and the sanitary staff with Dr Petrynowska. A second group of people, including me, were in the president’s shelter on the second floor. There were 38 civilians (I counted them myself), including me. On the other floor there were six–eight injured civilians (all very seriously). In the president’s shelter, there were: Jerzy Rybak (a PWPW employee, over 40 years old) and his wife (I don’t know their current place of residence), Ga[...]ra (who was killed in Germany), Janina Różańska, Eugenia Horoszkiewicz, Helena Falska, Joanna Milewska with her family – all were deported, nobody has heard from them since – and my parents; my mother, the only one to come back, now lives with me.
On 28 August, the German troops entered the Works. I recognized Germans in SS uniforms and “Ukrainians” in German uniforms. Some of the “Ukrainians” had broad and stiff dark green epaulets. Actually the SS men came to the president’s shelter first, searching us casually and without any harassment (what was going on in the bale room then, I don’t know as I could not see it). About half an hour later, the “Ukrainians” entered the shelter alone, and, beating the civilians, led them from the second floor in the president’s shelter to the inner yard of the Works. The injured, who were on the first floor of the shelter, were not disturbed. In the yard, the “Ukrainians” robbed us of valuables and forced us to work (preparing the premises for occupation) in the Works and the surroundings. None of us was working in the bale room or in the president’s shelter, but I saw that the “Ukrainians” and the Germans were searching the premises and the building of the Works, and then I heard many shots. The action against the insurgents was still underway, the German soldiers were even shooting at targets.
On the night of 28/29 August, after midnight, the German soldiers led our group, consisting of 38 people from the president’s shelter and about 30 people brought to work from outside the Works, to a school in the Traugutt park. There were many people there, the school was crowded. On the premises of the school, there were various German troops, I saw SS men, “Ukrainians”, tank soldiers – there were tanks on the premises – and even Cossacks, who were standing by the school. I spent the night there.
In the morning, I was brought by the Germans (I didn’t recognize the division) to the PWPW in a group of some 40 men. The Germans had yellow uniforms like the SA, red bands on the left arm, with black SB letters on a white disc, and hats with red trims just like the SA. Those with whom I came into contact spoke idiomatic Polish. We were handed over to the SD men who were in the Works. They ordered us to search the rubble for corpses of people who had died during military action, and to put them in bomb craters in the yard; we buried some corpses also in the pits on the territory of the so-called okrąglak [round building], where the archive had been. Then our group was split in two: one was directed to the bale room, and the other to the president’s shelter. I went to the bale room. When I entered it, I saw the corpses of some 40 people, mostly women. All the bodies bore traces of a recent and sudden death. Some of them had lacerations, some small-caliber gun wounds. Stalks from the German stalk-hand grenades were lying in the entrance. We were taking the corpses to a pit by the water tower. We were putting a corpse on a blanket carried by four men. Four groups of four men each were working in the bale room. As each group carried out some ten bodies, and there were four groups, I think that there were some 40 bodies in the bale room. Among those killed, I recognized the bodies of Dr Petrynowska and Lt. Biały, who was lying alone at the exit to Wójtowska Street. After we threw the bodies in, we filled the pit with rubble. Then, near the archive, we joined the other group that had been working in the president’s shelter, and we learned from them that they had been removing bodies from the president’s shelter.
They did not mention the number of corpses.
From the archive, we were taken again to the school in the Traugutt park. There were various cars in front of the school. I saw that the German soldiers were putting some people in one of the cars (even helping them to get in) – the majority of them were old and weak. I noticed then that a priest (unknown to me) was warning some woman with a child not to get in, since – as he put it – it was a “death car”. Where the car was going, I do not know.
After a night in the school I managed to join a group of people who were being led out. Before that I had heard that some German was looking for Rybak. The group which I had joined was taken by the German soldiers to the Pfeiffer factory at Okopowa Street 58. I met my father there, who told me that he had been assigned to a group which was to stay in Warsaw and work. My father has not come back to this day, and despite many efforts, I did not learn any details concerning his fate.
On the premises of the Pfeiffer factory I didn’t notice any special marks or events, apart from a segregation of the young from the old, irrespective of sex. An acquaintance of mine – Kardejewicz – was assigned to the group of the old ones, and I know that nobody has heard from him since. From my group, some one hundred people were separated out as being old at that time. After a few hours we were taken to the St Adalbert Church at Wolska Street. I spent three days there.
I learned from my mother, whom I had met there, that the Germans had executed a group of men as Jews. My mother heard shooting after the group had been led out of the church. On the second day after my arrival I met Jerzy Rybak and his wife. He was seated apart from the rest. I learned from him that he was going with the Germans to the PWPW premises. After three days in the church, I was taken to the Pruszków transit camp, and there, as I was injured, I was released to the territory of the so-called [General] Government.
Presently, as the result of inappropriately healed wounds from the Uprising, I suffer from cramps in my left leg, from the knee to the hip.
At this the report was closed and read out.