TADEUSZ MAJCHERCZYK

On 22 May 1948 in Siemianowice Śląskie, Jan Markowski (PhD), Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, acting in the capacity of chairman of the District Committee for the Investigation of German Crimes in Katowice, interviewed the person named below as a witness, without taking an oath. The witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Tadeusz Majcherczyk
Age 42 years
Parents’ names Teofil and Józefa, née Kaczmarska
Place of residence Siemianowice Śląskie, Bytomska Street 25, flat 6
Occupation office worker
Criminal record none

During the Warsaw Uprising – from 1 August 1944 – I was the commander of the 1st

Storm Company of the "Łukasiński" Battalion, and fought with my unit in the Old Town until 3 August. Next, I was ordered to the Wola district, from where I returned to the Old Town as the commander of the "Bank Polski" redoubt. There we thrice repelled German tank attacks, and during two of them the Germans drove Polish women and children before the tanks; most unfortunately – due to the extreme importance of the redoubt, the loss of which would have been tantamount to the loss of the entire Old Town – I had to give the order to open fire.

On 17 August I took command of the "Chrobry I" Battalion, and was promoted to major. While serving in this capacity I was severely wounded in the leg, chest, and head when a tank exploded, and retired to the hospital at Długa Street 16. The hospital, however, was bombed on 1 September and had to be evacuated, while I – being unfit for transport through the sewers – was carried to Długa Street 7. There, in light of the inevitable capture of the location by the Germans, "Monika" got rid of all the uniforms and prepared civilian clothes. And indeed shortly thereafter, at 10:00, the first German soldiers burst into the hospital, closely followed by others – gendarmes, SD men and Vlasovtsys. Suddenly, we heard shots coming from the lower storey, and "Monika" appeared in the room, saying that we must leave immediately, for the Germans were shooting the wounded. I, thanks to the assistance of "Monika" and another sister, Danuta Siemiaszko, proceeded downstairs and walked around the courtyard in which the wounded were being murdered, escaping with "Monika", Danuta, a group of doctors, and ten or eleven nurses, together with some of the wounded. At this point I must add that the Germans doused the bodies in petrol and burned them on the spot.

When the Germans entered, there were some 400 wounded in the hospital. I don’t know the surnames of any of the criminals. Along the way we ran into some German and Vlasovtsy soldiers, who immediately shot those of the wounded who could not go any further and had collapsed from exhaustion.

When we reached Zamkowy Square, "Monika" and Danuta continued to provide assistance to the wounded, while I was sent to the seminary, in which the wounded were cared for by the Carmelites.

[After the report had been read out] I confirm that this is my testimony.