Warsaw, 5 April 1946. Judge Halina Wereńko, delegated to the Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, interviewed the person named below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the significance of the oath, the judge took an oath therefrom under Article 109 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname: | Maria Janina Przybyłko, née Hinsinger |
| Parents’ names: | Karol and Maria Lewińska |
| Date of birth: | 18 June 1892 in Runbach le Frane, France |
| Occupation: | saleswoman at the company ’Konrad, Jarnuszkiewicz’ |
| Education: | primary school |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Czerska Street 6, flat 42 |
| Religion: | Roman Catholic |
| Criminal record: | none |
During the German occupation I lived together with my husband, Zygmunt Jarosław Przybyłko, at Raszyńska Street 21. Since 1941 my husband had been working at the company ’Konrad, Jarnuszkiewicz’, initially as a Deputy Director, while from 1942 as the Technical Director.
On 5 November 1943 at night we heard the rumble of a motorcar outside our windows. When I looked out onto the street, I saw that a motorcar had stopped in front of the entrance door to the house in which we lived. Five men got out, four in uniform and one in civilian clothes, all of them armed with revolvers and machine guns, who started pounding on the entrance door. After a while, when the door was opened (as I later learned, the door was opened by the female administrator, who had first been asked about the surnames of tenants), we heard a banging on our apartment door. My husband went to open the door. Four armed gendarmes entered (if I remember correctly, there were two officers and one civilian who spoke Polish). I ran to the kitchen, where in a recess between […][…] I hid a few coins that we possessed (gold roubles). One of the gendarmes followed me. After the gendarmes had left, I found that the coins had vanished. When I returned to the dining room (with the same gendarme behind me), the officer and civilian were sitting at the table, and the latter was writing down an inspection report (they were asking only for personal details). The other two were conducting a search, looking into wardrobes and drawers, […], however somewhat casually, suitcases and a briefcase, etc. Finally they ordered my husband to dress and leave, while I remained at home. When I begged them not to take my husband and said that he was innocent, one of the officers stated that my husband would be interviewed and, if it turned out that he was indeed innocent, released.
Next morning when I went to the factory to inform them of my husband’s arrest, I learned that engineer Komornicki, who was also working for the company ’Jarnuszkiewicz’, had been arrested on the same night. I had no communication from my husband.
On 6 and 7 November, at my request, the signing clerk of the company ’Jarnuszkiewicz’ – and currently its Commercial Director – Wiesław Szlimski (residing at Grzybowska Street 25) intervened at the Gestapo, where he was informed after two or three days, when he had been vetted, that my husband would be released, or that some information would be provided regarding his fate. On 8 November Szlimski communicated with the director of the company ’Haberbusch i Schiele’ (Oppenheim, who intervened on behalf of Schiele, who had also been arrested), and through his agency got in touch with a Viennese woman by the surname of Wykropa (then residing at Mokotowska Street 38), who was the secretary of the head of the SS for the Warsaw district, Dr Hahn, and agreed to intervene in the case of my husband. She received 2,000 zlotys from Szlimski for initial expenses, however she did not take care of the matter.
On 10 November 1943 I saw my husband’s surname on a list of hostages (totalling around 60) put up in the city. On 14 November he figured amongst those executed by firing squad. Since public executions had been held on 12 November (as was commonly known) at Nowy Świat Street and Kępna Street, I think that my husband perished in one of these.
Around 16 November Mr Szlimski turned to the Viennese woman, Wykropa, with a request that she bring about the release of my husband’s body. She replied that the body had already been cremated.
I would like to add that I don’t know whether my husband worked for an underground Polish organisation. Furthermore, the list of hostages and the list of those executed also included – among others – Józef Komornicki from the company ’Jarnuszkiewicz’.
The report was read out.