Warsaw, 26 January 1948. Judge Halina Wereńko, a member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, interviewed the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Janusz Leonard Szwejk |
| Names of parents | Szymon and Leokadia, née Górecka |
| Date of birth | 10 November 1913 in Warsaw |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Emilii Plater Street 10, flat 8 |
| State affiliation and nationality | Polish |
| Education | secondary |
| Occupation | office worker |
When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was in my coffin-maker’s parlor at Senatorska Street 31, next to St. Anthony’s Church. Until 6 August 1944 there were insurgents in Senatorska Street. Their positions were under fire from the direction of the Brühl Palace and Alberta Street (from the houses).
On 6 August at around 10.00 a.m. the first SS unit entered Senatorska Street, advancing from the Saski Garden. This unit threw out the civilians from the shelter under the presbytery and the corridor connecting the presbytery with the garden and backyard. At the same time, other German units threw out residents from houses in Senatorska Street on the even-numbered side. The people were marched to Wola, to St. Adalbert’s Church.
On 7 August before noon a unit of soldiers, wearing German uniforms and speaking Ukrainian or Russian, arrived to the area. They set fire to the houses on Senatorska Street (the even-numbered ones, vacated on 6 August) and displaced residents from nos. 31, 33 and 35. Among others, Father Tan (currently in Grodzisk), Father Pyżakowski, Father Trzeciak and others were taken from the premises of the church. This group was led to the Luxembourg Gallery, where Father Trzeciak and a sexton by the name of Mieczysław (I do not know his surname) were executed. The others were taken through the Saski Garden to St. Adalbert’s Church. Only civilians remained on the church premises, mainly women who were hiding in the catacombs, as well as a group of people who had found refuge in a shelter beneath the gardener’s house, behind the church, and some 15 wounded women lying in theside chapel, near the main altar. These women were civilians who had come to the area by complete chance, been wounded, and then carried to the church.
When the Germans came, I hid on the premises of the church, so I know about the murder of two people in the Luxembourg Gallery only from accounts of others.
In the second half of August, I do not remember the exact date, a unit of soldiers in German uniforms who spoke in Russian or Ukrainian turned up in our area. These soldiers led out some 30 women with children and a few men from the house of Father Trzeciak (this was a part of the group that had been hiding in the catacombs, some of them were still present there). Only one new mother did not leave the house; I do not know her surname, nor do I know what happened to her afterwards. The soldiers then barged into the chapel where the wounded women were lying, and shot them. The church and presbytery were set on fire. Having left the church premises the German soldiers set fire to the houses on the odd-numbered side of Senatorska Street.
It was Jan Pasterski who informed me of the fact that the people had been taken from Father Trzeciak’s house and the women shot in the hospital. He hid with me and had witnessed these events (he is currently resident in the village of Bukówno, Radzanów on the Pilica municipality, Radom county). While I was in the corridor leading to the church steeple, I heard a salvo at the time.
In September 1944, when I was in the chapel, I saw traces of incineration, but no human remains.
A group of civilians continued to hide in the catacombs of the church for some time still, but I do not know the number. Pasterski and Pęczkowski brought in food for them.
In September (I do not remember the exact date), I heard explosions coming as if from the church. I was in the steeple at the time, and I do not know the details. But I was later told by Pasterski that the German soldiers threw grenades into the catacombs and thus killed those who were hiding there. It was said that the people did not leave the catacombs when ordered.
I did not go down to the catacombs later.
I left Warsaw on 29 November 1944.
At this point the report was concluded and read out.