Warsaw, 12 September 1945. InvestigatingJudge Mikołaj Halfter interviewed the person named below as a witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the significance of the oath, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Józef Zydanowicz |
| Date of birth | 12 January 1909 |
| Names of parents | Wincenty and Anna |
| Place of residence | Kraków, Czarnowiejska Street 49, flat 12 |
| Occupation | electrical engineer at the municipal electric power station |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Criminal record | none |
During the Warsaw Uprising, on 7 August 1944, I was in the basement of the house at Elektoralna Street 2. On that day at dusk, some German soldiers came to the premises and ordered all the men to leave the basement, ostensibly for two hours in order to take down a barricade. I and some other men (around 50 in all) obeyed this order and left the basement. The soldiers took us to the Żelaznej Bramy Square, and from there to a point in Mirowska Street that is situated opposite the square between the covered market halls. There were some 20 bodies lying in the roadway. We were ordered to move the corpses to the square between the covered market halls. While carrying the bodies with the others, I noticed that all were bodies of middle-aged men. Blood was not flowing from them, but it had not yet congealed. I saw that the corpses had been shot in the head from various directions, and that the faces of some of them were deformed, as if – from what I could gather – they had been hit by large caliber bullets. After we had moved the bodies, we were ordered to take down a barricade erected on the tramway track from Żelaznej Bramy Square to Żelazna Street. After we had removed a part of the barricade and thus had made possible the passage of tanks, we were led away in the direction of Żelazna Street, where we were stopped in the roadway and ordered to keep our arms raised. We were asked on a few occasions whether there were any Volksdeutschers or Reichsdeutschers among us. Next, we were searched; the Germans took our watches, wedding rings and all other valuable items, including cigarettes. After the search we were kept in the same spot. We stood there with out arms raised for an hour or so, or maybe an hour and a half. Not far from us were groups of soldiers, numbering some 200 men. They were speaking in German and Russian or Ukrainian. When we asked that they release us, they responded with laughter and sneers. One of them told us that we would be made to lie down. As we waited, he repeated his statement a number of times, assuring us that the time was drawing close. After a while the first groups of three (we stood arranged in threes) were led under escort into the covered market hall that was closest to Żelazna Street. I soon heard individual rifle shots. Next, three other threesomes were led into the hall. I was in the second line. When we were directly in front of the entrance, one of the soldiers escorting us fired his rifle, whereupon the man on my left fell to the ground before me, blocking my path. Consequently I stumbled and fell. Nevertheless, I immediately got to my feet and ran after the two other men from my group. I did not observe what happened to the man over whom I stumbled. After I raised myself and caught up with my companions, who at the time were entering the hall through the second internal gate, I noticed a door leading off to the right and immediately jumped through it. I saw a hallway in front of me. I ran further and saw stairs leading to the upper floor. It was dark at the time, but the darkness was penetrated by the light reflected from the burning fires. I got the impression that my escape had been noticed, for I heard a shout to my rear, but no one shot at me. I ran to the gallery, some of its wooden components still aflame, and remained there. A while later, when I was looking for a hiding place, I heard a voice; someone was asking me in a whisper to conceal myself better. I became aware that a person was hiding behind the burnt boards. I replied that he himself was well hidden. I remained there, seeking a passage that I could use for my escape. The sound of single rifle shots continued to come from the interior of the hall. After some time there was a pause and I looked down from the gallery into the hall. I saw a large round pit in the floor of the hall, with a diameter of approximately 6–7 meters, in which a very large fire was burning. It was so large, in fact, that the flames reached a height of a few meters above the floor of the hall.
Further, I observed that soldiers were leading a man to the edge of this pit. I saw him cross himself and then heard a shot – he fell into the flames. I would like to add that the shot was fired in such a way that the soldier put the barrel of his rifle to the back of the man’s neck and fired. I witnessed a few more such scenes. I noticed that after being shot, the people would not fall into the pit immediately, but after a few seconds. Having seen several of these murders, I stopped looking into the hall, but I still heard the sound of a great many gunshots, sometimes interspersed with groans and wailing, which gradually fell silent. I thought that these were the cries of people who had fallen into the fire but were not dead yet. Judging by the number of shots, I assume that all of those who had been taken with me from the basement of the house at Elektoralna Street 2 were killed there. I remained in the gallery for some time still, at least an hour after I ceased hearing shots and people’s voices. Next, unobserved, I escaped through the ‘small ghetto’ in the direction of Grzybowska Street, and from there to Złota Street 3, where I stayed for a month.
I would like to stress that the insurgents did not have any defensive positions in Elektoralna Street, and therefore the Germans had no grounds to suspect that we, the residents of the house no. 2, were actively engaged in fighting them.
Furthermore, I would like to add that during our period of work, both when moving the bodies and taking down the barricade, we were continuously prodded and hit with rifle butts, blindly, and kicked for no reason by the escort. They also abused us and called us “Polish bandits.”
The report was read out.