Warsaw, 10 February 1948. Judge Halina Wereńko, a member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, interviewed the person named below as a witness, without taking an oath. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Maria Ołdak, née Zawadzka |
| Parents’ names | Mieczysław and Józefa, née Siedrecka |
| Date of birth | 14 May 1882, district of Olhopol |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Education | secondary |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Grójecka Street 206 |
| Citizenship and nationality | Polish |
| Profession | housewife |
When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was in my apartment at Trębacka Street 10 in Warsaw. The rear of the house led out onto the courtyard of the Grand Theatre. In the first days of August 1944, a group of some 70 people, including residents of our house and the city populace, found shelter in the bunker beneath the Theatre. During this time, the insurrectionists held positions at the town hall and visited us at night, looking for food.
I first saw the Germans on the evening of 7 August, at Lourse’s cake shop, on the corner of Trębacka and Wierzbowa streets. In the early morning of 8 August I was awakened by the cries of men, warning us that the Germans were coming. Some ten men: Jan Tokaj, Jan Binkowski, Romczyk, Jan Szczerbakowski, Czesław Szczerbakowski, Władysław Choraszkiewicz, Kasztanowski, Fabianowicz and others then escaped, hiding in the central heating chimney, while others ran headlong, so that only two were left in the bunker. I heard the German soldiers, while proceeding to the bunker, shoot one of these men dead (I don’t know his surname), and then enter the bunker. I used the tunnels to escape in the direction of the house at Trębacka Street 10.
Seeing soldiers in the courtyard, I stopped on the third floor, in the dressing room of the Theatre. Shortly thereafter, I looked through the window and saw that the houses at Focha Street 6 and 8 were afire. I didn’t see whether other houses were burning, too. From the dressing room window, I could only see the houses at Focha Street 6 and 8. German soldiers (I cannot specify their unit) led a group of some one hundred people, of whom approximately 50 were male civilians, through the wicket of the gate of Focha Street 5/7, and led them down to the bunker beneath the wing of the Theatre adjacent to Focha Street. After a while I saw that the soldiers were bringing in men in threes, standing them face forward towards the opera box doors on the first floor, opposite the stage, and then shooting these men. The soldiers spoke in German. Having been shot, the men fell into the house.
I tried not to look at the execution, and therefore I cannot give the number of those shot. Amongst those shot were two boys, who could have been no older than 14. When the execution came to a close, I saw that the soldiers walked between the bodies, laughing when anyone moved and finishing them off. Shortly thereafter (I can’t specify the time – I didn’t have a watch) I saw through the window that the German soldiers were once again leading in a group of some one hundred civilians through the wicket, directing them as before to the wing of the Grand Theatre at Focha Street. In a short time, another group of men was marched in and executed in the same way as before.
I don’t know whether any more groups were taken to the Theatre on that day; I didn’t look through the window, nor did I look at the house. However, a few more times that day I heard salvoes coming from the house, as in the previous executions. Next day, I did not leave my hiding place and did not hear any shots. In the evening I ran to my apartment (Trębacka Street 10). While hiding with my husband and Matławski in the cellar of our house, I heard people speaking in German, Ukrainian, Russian and another language, unknown to myself, in the courtyard.
On 27 August we were discovered by Germans in air force uniforms. We were taken to St Wojciech’s Hospital in the Wola district, from where we were sent on a transport to a transit camp in Pruszków.
At this point the report was brought to a close and read out.