STEFAN GRZYBOWSKI

Warsaw, 17 September 1949. A member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Norbert Szuman (MA), interviewed the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Stefan Grzybowski
Date and place of birth 30 January 1899, Rzejowice, Radomsko county
Parents’ names Józef and Zofia, née Kik
Father’s occupation farmer
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education Dental Academy
Occupation dental surgeon
Place of residence Warsaw, Marszałkowska Street 4, flat 1
Criminal record none

When the Uprising broke out, I was at home at Marszałkowska Street 4. From the second or third day of the Uprising I would look through the window of my flat and see people coming out into the street, mainly men, from houses in Marszałkowska Street (on the odd-numbered side); the Germans and Vlasovtsy soldiers drove them on foot towards Unii Square and aleja Szucha. I also saw, as did the other residents of our house, from the attic – on the sixth floor – that pits had been dug up in the open-air kindergarten on Bagatela Street; some people were standing nearby (but we couldn’t make out who these people were) and we could hear screams. On the fourth day of the Uprising, the Germans started burning down houses on the odd-numbered side of Marszałkowska Street. Up to 11 August all the houses on the even-numbered side and the house at no. 1 Marszałkowska Street were being pillaged and destroyed by the Vlasovtsy soldiers. They also committed rape, as was made abundantly clear by the cries of women that could be heard in the evenings and nights. I also heard of individual shootings of both men and women.

On 11 August 1994 two SS-men, armed, appeared at the door of my flat and ordered me to leave the building within 15 minutes under threat of execution. People had gathered at the exit onto Marszałkowska Street, some 400 – 500 in all. I noticed that these were the residents of nearby houses from the even-numbered side, right up to Litewska Street. These people, escorted by some 20 SS-men and Vlasovtsy soldiers, were led along Rakowiecka Street to aleja Niepodległości. After this they ordered us to proceed along the designated route to Okęcie, to the rallying point.

At this point the report was concluded and read out.