On 28 January 1948, Major Dr. Cyryl Gubarewski, domiciled at 6 Sierpnia Street 29, employed at the Central Clinic of the Ministry of National Defense at 6 Sierpnia Street 31, appeared on summons before the Warsaw District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland and made the following deposition in the presence of Andrzej Janowski, a clerk of the Warsaw District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland:
On 12 August 1944, just after the evacuation of the St. John of God hospital to the Old Town, I went from the house at Inflancka Street 1, where I had been at the outbreak of the Uprising, to the insurgents’ hospital at Długa Street 7. I stayed there until approximately 25 August, working as a physician. Dr. Tarnowski, codename “Tarło,” was chief of hospitals in the Old Town.
I remember the following physicians from Długa Street 7: Dr. Stroński (I don’t know his current address), Dr. Krause (I don’t know his address), Dr. Falkowski (who brought the paramedical staff with him, including Sisters of Charity, from the St. John of God hospital), a woman doctor whose name I don’t know, but I know that she currently works at the Child Jesus hospital, Dr. Zawadzki, a gynecologist, and Dr. “Roman.” The following physicians came to work at the hospital at Długa Street 7 from outside: Dr. Jan Mockałło (currently employed at the Ministry of Health), Dr. Cyprian Sadowski (who was probably working for the sanitary authorities then, and now, as far as I know, is a spa doctor in Ciechocinek), and Dr. Apfelbaum-Kowalski (short, thin, aquiline nose, greyish hair), whom I always saw with a certain lady. I don’t know what happened to him.
The number of injured in the hospital upon the defeat of the Old Town can be estimated, very roughly, at 200. When I was working at Długa Street 7, I visited the “Crooked Lantern” hospital at Podwale Street 25, where there were about 100 injured. A physician whose name I don’t know cooperated regularly with this post.
On the opposite side of Podwale Street were several paramedical points for smaller numbers of less seriously injured people, including a little hospital in the “Black Swan” house at Podwale Street 46, which has some 30–40 slightly injured patients. No physician was cooperating regularly with these posts.
There were also some hospitals or paramedical points on Długa Street, the odd-numbered side, but since I didn’t go there, I cannot say anything about either the staff or the number of patients, nor am I able to provide any details concerning the paramedical point at Kilińskiego Street 1/3.
I also heard about a bigger paramedical point or hospital in the Spiess building on Hipoteczna Street. I don’t know any details.
About a week before the defeat of the Uprising in the Old Town, I moved to the hospital in St. Hyacinth’s Church at Freta Street 10. There were up to 100 injured people in the church itself. I worked there along with my brother, a pharmacist, and several people from the auxiliary staff whose names I don’t know. Because of bombing, there was a risk of the church collapsing, and so three days before the end of August, the injured were transferred to several locations behind the church, including a long corridor where there was already a hospital run by Dr. Szumigaj. Apart from him, there was a woman doctor, Dr. Szumigaj’s friend from the St. John of God hospital; a doctor whose name I don’t know; a young doctor and another one who mainly attended to the injured in the chapter house. As for the auxiliary staff, I cannot provide any names, I remember only one qualified nurse, allegedly a doctor’s daughter, who was a closer acquaintance of Dr. Szumigaj. I suppose that there were over 200 injured in the entire hospital.
On 1 September 1944, I went with Dr. Szumigaj, who was slightly injured, to the hospital at Długa Street 7. That same day, he went back to the hospital at Freta Street 10, and I remained at Długa Street 7.
The following day, 2 September, in the early morning, the hospital at Długa Street 7 was captured by German troops. I recognized by their uniforms that they were SS-men. The Germans walked around the hospital premises and although they didn’t perpetrate any acts of physical violence, they were calling us names such as “bandits” etc. Then they ordered (commanded by a young, thin SS-man, I didn’t notice his rank) the paramedical staff to gather in the courtyard. I managed to look out the window and saw the Germans setting fire to the houses on the even-numbered side of Długa Street, one by one, from the direction of Freta Street, using flamethrowers. Those gathered in the yard were verbally abused by the SS-men, I was kicked, we had our Red Cross armbands ripped off. At one point the less seriously injured and those who wanted to be perceived as such began to join us. Before noon, the people in the hospital courtyard, that is the paramedical staff and some injured people (15–20 people in total) were marched under an SS escort to Zamkowy Square. I carried a girl with a stomach wound, my brother (a pharmacist) helped a man with a chest wound to walk. We were led out through an exit onto Podwale Street. The streets were completely empty – there were neither civilians nor injured people. I didn’t see [anyone] from the other hospitals. When we reached Zamkowy Square – on our way, we were stopped only once by an SS-man who seemed to be against evacuation and, judging by his gestures, was in favor of executing us – we walked on. We had a kind of break at Zamkowy Square. During that time we were robbed (on pain of being executed) of watches and other valuables by soldiers in German uniforms who were speaking Russian. The Germans watched it all without any reaction.
We were marched further along Mariensztat Street and then along Bednarska Street to Krakowskie Przedmieście Street, where we were stopped opposite the green square in the vicinity of the Carmelite church. One of the SS-men escorting us told me to take the injured girl whom I was carrying to the hospital near the church. I took the opportunity and hid there with my brother. It was the maternity hospital which had been evacuated from Karowa Street.
Since I was forced to hide, I wasn’t able to learn the names of the doctors or auxiliary staff working there. Nor was I able to find out what was happening there.
A few days later, I managed to get to Milanówek with the evacuated hospital.
I cannot provide any details concerning the subsequent fate of the hospital at Długa Street 7.
As for the hospital at Freta Street 10, I learned in conversation with the above mentioned qualified nurse that many acts of violence were perpetrated there and that the Germans shot the young physician.