Warsaw, 18 April 1946. Examining judge Halina Wereńko, delegated to the Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, interviewed the person named below as a witness. The witness was advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the significance of the oath. The judge took an oath therefrom, after which the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Helena Adolfina Monika, née Czyżkowska Kłosowicz |
| Marital status | divorced |
| Date of birth | 11 March 1911 in Pohulanka, Province of Warsaw |
| Parents’ names | Bolesław and Józefa, née Krygier |
| Occupation | office worker at the Ministry of Recovered Lands |
| Education | Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Department of Graphic Arts |
| Place of residence | Pruszków, Sienkiewicza Street 2, flat 12 |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Criminal record | previously convicted pursuant to Article 1 of the Decree of the Polish Committee of National Liberation, dated 17 [30] October 1944 (on the Protection of the State), and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of six years; the sentence was reduced on the basis of the Amnesty Act to one year of imprisonment, suspended for a period of two years following the granting of clemency by the President of the Republic of Poland, for belonging to the Home Army after 17 January 1945. |
I took part in the Warsaw Uprising from 1 August 1944 as a nurse in the "Chrobry" Battalion, under the pseudonym "Monika". From 18 August I moved to the front line and, armed, took part in the fighting. On 23 August, when our commander, major "Zdan", was injured, I returned to the field hospital by my own request. I started work as a nurse at the insurrectionary field hospital at Długa Street 16.
On 1 September, when the insurrectionists withdrew to the Śródmieście district, all of the female nurses from Długa Street 16, with the exception of myself and sister "Łukasz" (whose surname and present address I do not know), accompanied them to that district. Expecting the rapid advance of German units, sister "Łukasz" and I decided to house all of our patients at a single point, at Długa Street 7, in the former building of the Ministry of Justice.
I would like to stress that all of the less severely wounded left for Śródmieście together with the insurrectionary forces. With the help of the civilian populace, I carried 43 wounded from the hospital at Długa Street 16, and also eight wounded from the hospital at Długa Street 10, to the hospital at Długa Street 7. Some 430 people were gathered in the hospital at Długa Street 7, including those who had been located there previously.
Endeavoring to give the hospital the character of a civilian institution, I drew up new lists, and thanks to this I remember precisely that the number of patients would have been around 430; the majority were men, but women and children were also present. Having drawn up the new lists, I destroyed all traces that could have indicated that a military hospital had been functioning at Długa Street 7 – namely, I burned all of the old lists, clothes, etc., during the night from 1 to 2 September. At around 07:00 I noticed that the civilian populace had spread white sheets over the barricades. Around 08:00 I heard people speaking in German in the hospital courtyard. At the time I was in room 7 on the first floor, where "my" wounded from Długa Street 16 and 10 had been transferred. A detachment of armed SS men burst into the hospital. One of them, revolver in hand, entered the room in which I was standing and said in Polish: "Damned bandits". He ran through the two adjacent rooms and then exited. Next, the SS men passed through the room in which I found myself in groups of four or five. After a while an SS officer came around and, with the assistance of an SS soldier who spoke Polish, turned to me with a question: "Are these insurrectionists?". I responded that they were civilians. He then asked who was responsible for the hospital, and I said that I was responsible for these two rooms. Then, calmly, he inquired about the condition of the patients and whether I had a sufficient quantity of medicines and foodstuffs. I told him that we had nothing. To which he responded that he would supply dressings and foodstuffs within an hour.
Peace reigned during this hour, and the Germans withdrew from the hospital premises. But exactly an hour later, a few dozen Kalmuks and as many SS men burst into the courtyard and entered the hospital premises. I heard the first shots on the ground floor, near room 7. After a while the same Polish-speaking SS man with whom I had spoken previously ran into the room and ordered the entire hospital staff to exit immediately and proceed to the courtyard. There were three of us female nurses: myself, sister "Łukasz", and Danuta Siemiaszko (she currently resides in Wrocław or near that city), who was a civilian and following the withdrawal of insurrectionary forces had volunteered to stay at the hospital. Sister "Łukasz" and Siemiaszko left, while I remained until an SS man put a gun to my head, whereupon my wounded commander asked me to leave the room.
In the courtyard I saw that the hospital staff, in white gowns, was standing near the wall on the left side (when entering from the gate in the direction of Kilińskiego Street). There were four men and some 14 or 15 women. More or less 40 or 50 of the less severely wounded were standing in the middle of the courtyard. A few of the wounded were lying on stretchers at the main gate from the side of Długa Street. A group of SS men were standing by the gate, armed with rifles and revolvers, and they suddenly started shooting at the wounded gathered in the centre of the courtyard, and also at those who were lying on stretchers. Shots rang out simultaneously from the first and ground floors. The group of wounded who were lying on stretchers at the main gate included a cousin of the chief doctor of the Kedyw group – Colonel "Tarło" – pseudonym "Bobik". While the wounded were being shot at, I was standing close to the main gate and saw how the SS men would pour petrol from bottles on those who had fallen and set them alight. I also saw an SS man approach "Bobik" (who had not been hit), throw petrol over him from a bottle, and set him on fire. "Bobik" then shouted to me: "Monika, save me!". Wanting to save my commander, I rushed past the SS men who were shooting at me and ran blindly to room 7 on the first floor and screamed: "Those of you who can save yourselves – run now!", and ran to the stretcher on which my commander was lying.
I would like to add that all of the wounded were lying on the floor on stretchers.
Right behind me ran the wife of one of the wounded men, in a white nurse’s gown, who was also helping us – Janina Różalska – to save her wounded husband. At this moment the Polish-speaking SS man, whom I now recognised, burst into the room and looked around at what we were doing. Różalski, who could not lift himself, said to him in German: "Please shoot me", whereupon the Gestapo man shot him. Różalska ran up to the SS man and said something to him; he then shot her. At this moment I was nearing the door, carrying my wounded commander in my arms. I found nurse Siemiaszko, and she helped me take him down the stairs. The stairs were crowded with SS men who shot straight down at the wounded lying in the ground floor room. Together with our commander, we passed the SS men and went out into the courtyard; the field hospital was no more, while some of the wounded were still standing in the middle of the courtyard, and more or less 20 bodies were lying around, some of them aflame. A group of SS men stood near the centre of the courtyard, among them an SS captain, who was called by his surname, Szulcman. Physical appearance: a tall blonde man, reddish, red-faced, stout. At this time our wounded were leaving the buildings. The abovementioned officer and another officer standing beside him would order the severely wounded to move links (left), towards the left wall, which they were told to face, whereupon the SS men would shoot them. When Siemiaszko and I reached the group of officers carrying our commander, Szulcman, whom I mentioned previously, looked at him and said: – Links. My commander, being severely wounded in the leg, broke free of my grasp and wanted to proceed, but I pushed him in front of me and, covering him with my body, led him to the exit to Kilińskiego Street. While I was pushing my wounded commander before me, a terrible silence descended and not a shot was fired. From Kilińskiego Street we walked through the rubble to Podwale, together with a group of some 50 people who had been standing in Kilińskiego Street, made up of hospital staff and some of the wounded that they had managed to take with them. We reached Zamkowy Square escorted by SS men. I did not see anyone else exit our hospital after I had left.
Our SS escorts stopped us twice near Podwale. The first time was near a destroyed tank; one of the SS men clambered onto the vehicle and said in Polish: "You were always pious, so pray, because this is your final moment", while the second stop occurred by the wall of a demolished building, where some "Ukrainian" walked between our group – arranged in a line five people deep – and stripped us of our valuables. I was robbed by an SS man who said in German: "You insolent Polish gob" while taking my watch off of my hand. No body searches were performed, and these I was most afraid of, for I was carrying the battalion’s documents strapped to my stomach; my commander remained in charge of the unit, albeit from a distance, and therefore I had them on my person.
We were led to the corner of Mariensztat Street and Zamkowy Square, where the Gestapo men executed the severely wounded members of our group. Our group might have numbered some 30 wounded, and approximately 20 people from the field hospital. I could not see how many were shot at the time, for my attention was focused on the wounded commander. The execution lasted up to half an hour. The bodies were burned on the spot. Suddenly, one of the SS men standing at the corner of Mariensztat Street and Krakowskie Przedmieście Street gave an order in German: "The two ladies and the man – approach". They were beckoning me. I thus walked up with Siemiaszko and the commander. At that moment, a non-commissioned SS man approached from Krakowskie Przedmieście Street. As I later learned, he was Doctor Müller; he ordered the shootings to stop and instructed the SS men to hand over their personal field dressings. At the time there were some 20 people in our group. I noticed that four of the female nurses had been executed by firing squad. Müller dressed my commander’s wound and gave us stretchers and a group of six Poles who had been working on tearing down a barricade in order to take him to a hospital that had been set up for civilians during the Uprising; this was located in the Carmelite seminary at the church administered by this Order. The area had been in German hands throughout, and was free from destruction. Dr Müller kept Siemiaszko and myself with him in order to attend to the wounded who were lying by the wayside. I learned of the fate of the group of about 20 people who had been saved from being shot by Müller from staff at the hospital in the Carmelite seminary. That group had been led to the Wolski Hospital at Płocka Street and taken from there to the transit camp in Pruszków. I cannot specify the number of wounded who survived.
At 18:00 I went to the Carmelite seminary, where I found my commander. I occupied myself with organising the hospital, for Dr Müller had promised that he would make it possible for me to bring in the wounded who might still be hiding in the cellars of the Old Town. The hospital at Długa Street 7 was foremost on my mind. On 4 September, having obtained a permit from a Wehrmacht colonel, Schmidt (whose unit was quartered in the cellars of the building of the Council of Ministers), to send a medical escort in order to collect the wounded from Długa Street 7, I dispatched a group of seven male and female nurses. Six people – five men and one woman – were brought in from the cellars of the hospital at Długa Street 7. I don’t remember the surnames of these wounded. Over the period of a week we transferred wounded from the electric power station, gasworks, Wybrzeże Kościuszkowskie Street and Ludna Street.
I remained at the Carmelite seminary until 23 September, when on colonel Schmidt’s orders the hospital was evacuated on carts to Płocka Street 26. I myself, together with my commander and few of the patients, went by car to Włochy, where I placed the wounded in hospitals, whereupon I, my commander, Siemiaszko, and a wounded man who had been carried from the hospital at Długa Street 7 on 4 September – pseudonym "Jastrzębiec" (whose surname I shall determine and provide to the citizen judge) – hired a cart and made our way to Pruszków, to my parents.
My commander’s name is Tadeusz Majcherczyk, and he lives in Siemianowice near Katowice; I will provide his exact address shortly.
Since on 1 September 1944 I had just arrived at the hospital at Długa Street 7, I cannot give the surnames of the hospital staff, nor of the persons who survived. These may be provided by major Stanisław Sokołowski, the Deputy Director of the Army Hospital in Ciechocinek. As regards the wounded who survived the liquidation of the hospital at Długa Street 7, I can only give their pseudonyms: sister "Jolanta", "Grażyna" – a woman liaison officer carried from Długa Street 7 on 4 September, "Jastrzębiec", "Zdan". I don’t remember the surnames of the wounded. Amongst those murdered, I can list the following: Antoni Różalski, Dąbrowski, a Home Army lieutenant and a policeman before the War, and also the following pseudonyms: "Wilczek", "Bobik", "Śmiały", "Szofer", "Jacek".
I would like to add that at a critical moment, in Mariensztat Street, Siemiaszko introduced me to Dr Müller as a surgeon, and I acted in this role at the Carmelite seminary-cum-hospital.
At this point the report was brought to a close and read out.