LEOKADIA CZECHOWSKA

Warsaw, 5 October 1949. A member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Irena Skonieczna (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 Leokadia Czechowska, née Biegańska
Date and place of birth 26 August 1900, in Kamionna, Siedlce county
Parents’ names Józef and Rozalia, née Świderska
Father’s occupation laborer
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education rudimentary
Occupation housewife
Place of residence Warsaw, Racławicka Street 115, flat 24
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was in the house at Mołdawska Street 10. Throughout my stay in Rakowiec, which lasted until 30 August 1944, this area was occupied by the Germans. There was no fighting at all in this area, we could move about our allotments freely, and go into the fields to dig up potatoes or vegetables.

More or less in the middle of August, “Ukrainians” came to Rakowiec; allegedly, as I heard, they had been stationed in the burnt-out tramcars standing in Grójecka Street. I also heard that the “Ukrainian” soldiers would assault people leaving the city, robbing them of their valuables, primarily gold. It was also said that the “Ukrainians” would drag out young women and rape them. I had seven daughters, the eldest of whom was 21 years old. When I learned this, I hid them all in the cockloft of our house. Late in the evening one day I heard someone banging on our door. Since the door was not very strong and the man could have broken it down with ease, I opened it. A “Ukrainian” entered, armed. When I started screaming for help and crying out, he fired off a warning shot. Next, he dragged out my eldest daughter, Zofia. She returned home not more than an hour later.

On 30 August I left our house with my family and went to the “Kolonia,” an estate that had been occupied by a German, one Schneider, and in which my daughters had been working since the beginning of the German occupation. We left our land when we learned that the entire population of Rakowiec was to be evicted.

A few days later, while looking out from the estate, I saw the Germans setting fire to the houses in Mołdawska Street; they gathered the people and drove them on foot in an unknown direction, but I heard that the destination was Pruszków.

At this point the report was concluded and read out.