Warsaw, 24 March 1949. A member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Norbert Szuman (MA), heard 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 | Anna Pacholska, née Frukacz |
| Date and place of birth | 16 July 1901, Ulesie, Piotrków county |
| Names of parents | Kacper and Waleria, née Kamińska |
| Occupation of the father | farmer |
| State affiliation and nationality | Polish |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Education | five grades of elementary school |
| Occupation | housewife; husband’s occupation – locksmith |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, aleja Niepodległości 132, flat 82 |
| Criminal record | none |
| In 1942, through the agency of the | Arbeitsamt, I got a job as a cook in the house at |
Puławska Street 26 in Warsaw, which was occupied by the SS.
At Puławska Street 26 there were only the flats of the SS men, they had their offices somewhere else, I think in aleja Szucha. From 1942 until the uprising, only a few Germans lived at Puławska Street 26, including non-commissioned officer Matl, and deputy to the commanding officer Penisch. Apart from them, non-commissioned officer Eduard Seifert worked in the kitchen, and non-commissioned officer Andreas Loho (?) was a supplies officer.
Sometimes officer Plenk would arrive for inspection – I don’t know his rank, but he wore glasses, was of middle height, stout, about 40 years old.
I was working in the staircase closer to the house at Puławska Street 24, and the officers lived in the staircase closer to the house at Puławska Street 28. “Henryk” was caretaker in that staircase, and Władysław Tomasik was caretaker in the one where I worked. Apart from the group of officers and non-commissioned officers who were in charge of managing the house, the residents often changed. As far as I know, they were always SS men.
As I lived in Wola and worked at Puławska Street, only on an external basis, I got a pass with a photograph which was issued by the same unit which, taking up the house at Puławska Street 26, issued me the certificate dated 14 October 1944 – SS-Kar.Ausb.u.Ers. Abt.8 (the certificate is attached herewith).
When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was at my workplace together with my daughter Joanna Pacholska-Pichowa (currently residing in Elbląg at Krakowska Street 16), who worked as a maid in the house at Puławska Street 26, and my other daughter – Helena Pacholska, who had come to me before the outbreak of the uprising.
At the outbreak of the uprising, there were few Germans at Puławska Street 26 – about ten, I think. The others, some several dozen, had left for Germany a few days before the uprising.
However, almost simultaneously with the outbreak of the uprising, 50 SS men arrived on bicycles. Reportedly, they came from the race tracks in Służewiec. Some time later, still on 1 August, further reinforcements arrived – German police, “Ukrainians” – and the cook ordered me to prepare 350 dinners for 2 August. The house at Puławska Street 26 was under fire from two sides – from Puławska Street and from Madalińskiego Street. I cannot tell whether the Germans made any sorties from our house. A few times I saw them moving their wounded.
The Germans at Puławska Street 26 were commanded by Dickmann, whom the Germans called Hauptsturmführer. Dickmann was killed during the uprising, in September, I think. Saffert, who I believe had the rank of Obersturmführer, was his deputy.
I know that during the uprising, though I cannot give an exact date, some hundred Germans under the command of Saffert went for a few days’ action to Powiśle.
I cannot provide any substantial details concerning other German actions.
I know that during the uprising, though I cannot give an exact date, during a failed assault of the insurgents on our house, the Germans took captive a few wounded insurgents. They were placed in the courtyard, where, as I heard from the Germans, they were interrogated. One of the captives was taken somewhere in a car – I witnessed this – the Germans claimed that he was taken to aleja Szucha. The remaining insurgents were executed in the courtyard, or rather finished off, as they had already been wounded as a result of the failed assault. The Germans were saying among themselves that the execution had been carried out by Obersturmführer Saffert himself.
When the uprising in Mokotów was dying out and the insurgent forces were growing weaker, the Germans from our house started going out for actions. However, I cannot tell where they were going or what these actions looked like.
In September, still during the uprising, some of the Germans from Puławska Street 26 left for Czechoslovakia, allegedly for some town near Prague. These were the SS men who were replaced in our house by German policemen from the area of the Sejm [Polish parliament].
I left the house at Puławska Street 26 with both daughters on 15 October 1944. The Polish women and caretaker “Henryk” were released at the same time. The Polish men, who had been brought during the uprising from Rakowiecka Street for labor, were taken to Rakowiecka Street. I don’t know anything about their fate.
At this the report was concluded and read out.