WANDA RYGIEL

Warsaw, 31 January 1947. Judge Janina Skoczyńska heard as a witness the person specified below. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Wanda Rygiel
Date of birth 26 February 1897
Place of residence Warsaw, Niemcewicza Street 9, flat 137
State affiliation and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education higher pedagogical courses
Occupation teacher

At the outbreak of the uprising I was in the house at Niemcewicza Street 9. That house was taken over by the Germans as early as on 2 August 1944. On 10 August I was forced from my house along with the entire civilian populace, and we were marched to the so-called Zieleniak, a vegetable market on Opaczewska Street. It took us about two hours to get there. We were surrounded on both sides by Vlasovtsy, who were constantly preoccupied with stealing our valuables. We were being stopped every now and then on our way and divested of all valuable things we had with us. The German soldiers who were also there watched this robbery with apparent approval.

Many people had already been gathered in Zieleniak, some twelve thousand more or less. The place was so crowded that it was virtually impossible to find an unoccupied spot to sit down on. In Zieleniak we were robbed anew, again by the Vlasovtsy, under the approving eye of the Germans. I stayed in Zieleniak from the evening of 10 August until the morning of 11 August. During the night I saw that drunk Vlasovtsy were picking pretty young women from the crowd, approaching them with revolver in hand and threatening to shoot them, they were taking them a few steps to one side and raping them before the eyes of the gathered crowd.

On 11 August 1944 in the morning we were taken first to the Western Railway Station and then to the Pruszków camp, from which I was deported to the Auschwitz camp. At the Western Railway Station I saw that the Germans from Selbstschutz were choosing younger men from the crowd. People suspected that they were being taken to be executed.

The report was read out.