STANISŁAW KAPUTA

Warsaw, 25 March 1950. Janusz Gumkowski, acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, interviewed the person named below, who testified as follows:


Forename and surname Stanisław Kaputa
Date and place of birth 22 May 1915, Warsaw
Names of parents Jan and Jadwiga, née Limanowska
Father’s occupation laborer
State affiliation Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education 5 grades at elementary school
Occupation laborer
Place of residence Poznańska Street 3, flat 3
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was in Adamczewski and Krausse Factory at Grodzieńska Street 21/29, where I had stayed as a factory guard together with a few other men. On the morning of 7 August 1944 people from Targówek, Szmulki and other parts of Praga descended on our factory, intent on plunder. The facility manufactured soap, various kinds of cosmetics, lacquer, and shoemaker’s accessories. The factory guard was helpless. The factory was plundered day and night until 9 August. German gendarmes (I do not know from where) drove up a few times and fired warning shots, dispersing the robbers and loading the articles that had been carried out by them onto cars. In spite of this, the people managed to rob a substantial amount of property. Around noon on 9 [August], the gendarmes appeared again. They surrounded the entire factory premises, and some of them ran inside. They went through the various buildings, dragging out the people. The women were herded into the laundry room, while the men were gathered near the dispatch ramp (the witness is unable to point out the location on the plan). The soldiers asked their commander what they were supposed to do with the men. Presumably on his order (I do not know German) these men, some 30 in all, were taken to the square behind the boiler house and executed. I heard a few short bursts from machine guns. Suddenly, the factory started to burn. I do not know who set it ablaze, but I would suppose that it was the Germans. The gendarmes ran out to the street, and some time later drove off. The women from the laundry room also managed to get out into the street. The guards from our factory, including me, attempted to put out the fire. The factory burned for a good few hours. We managed to save the residential buildings abutting the factory, as well as the factory offices. After the fire was put out, I went to the execution site. There, I found a small number of charred bones, because the bodies of the victims had burnt. The remains of the victims of the execution conducted on 9 August 1944 on the premises of the factory at Grodzieńska Street 21/29 were collected and buried by their families.

This crime was also witnessed by Bronisław Lauferski, a porter at Adamczewski Factory, who resides somewhere in Grochowska Street.

I did not hear about any other crimes committed in our area.

At this point the report was concluded and read out.