MARIA ROGALSKA

Warsaw, 17 December 1949. Trainee Judge Irena Skonieczna, acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, interviewed the person mentioned below, who testified as follows:


Forename and surname Maria Rogalska, née Rogalska
Date and place of birth Gostynin, 11 January 1889
Names of parents Ignac and Katarzyna, née Jakubowska
Father’s occupation carpenter
State affiliation and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education can read and write
Occupation supported by her son
Place of residence Dobra Street 87, flat 32
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was at home at Dobra Street 96, corner of Nowy Zjazd Street. On the evening of the first day of the Uprising, at around 10.00 or 11.00 p.m., a German soldier entered our gate and said that he had to wait until morning on the premises of our house, and that if anyone shot at him the entire building would be blown up with dynamite. There were no insurgents in our house. Some 20 men were hiding in the shelter in the courtyard, to the right of the gate. The next morning, at around 5.00 a.m., the German who had stayed the night in our courtyard under the vigilant eye of the caretaker left; although there were no insurgents in our house, we were afraid that someone from outside could shoot at him. After maybe one hour, Germans in grey uniforms barged into the house; most were wearing envelope hats, while some had helmets. These Germans had come from Schicht’s house. The gate to our house was closed. The Germans started hammering on it. Before the female caretaker could run up with the keys, one of the Germans shot through the gate (it was iron with a pattern design) at a man standing inside. The caretaker’s young grandson, maybe 12 years old, ran out behind her, and the German shot at him, too. The Germans ordered everyone to leave the building. Together with my son, Franciszek Łusarzewski (currently living with me), who unusually was not in the shelter that day, we left with the first group of people. At the time, mostly women, and a few elderly men, left the building. The majority of the men stayed in the shelter. We proceeded to the house at Dobra Street 90. I had just entered the gate when I heard rifle salvoes. The men from this house ran up to the attic (the house was high, with five storeys) to see where the Germans were shooting. When they came back down, they told us that the Germans were executing men near the trash cans in the courtyard of the house no. 96. There were men in the shelter who had found themselves at that place completely by chance. None of the residents of our house was there. I did not know any of the surnames of the men who told us about the execution in the courtyard of the house at Dobra Street 96. One of them lived on the second floor in the same stairwell as Mrs. Kluz (currently resident at Bednarska Street 8, flat 5). Maybe she could provide some surnames.

I returned to Warsaw after the Uprising, on 2 February 1945. I then found a great many burnt human bones and skulls in the basement of our house.

At this point the report was concluded and read out.