HALINA JABŁOŃSKA

On 21 May 1946, the investigating judge Halina Wereńko heard as a witness the person specified below. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the importance of the oath, the witness was sworn and testified as follows:


Name and surname Halina Jabłońska née Chróścicka
Parents’ names Wincenty, Franciszka
Date of birth 26 February 1909
Place of residence Warsaw, Hoża Street 8, flat 15
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Occupation Clerk
Education Higher; University of Warsaw
Criminal record none

On 14 December 1943, I was an eyewitness to an execution which I saw from the windows of the St John of God Hospital. The execution was carried out behind the Ghetto wall at Bonifraterska Street, opposite Sapieżyńska Street. Over a hundred people were executed then (104 to 107).

At noon hour (11.00 a.m.–12.00 noon), the first group of prisoners was brought in a covered truck. They were blindfolded, had plastered mouths and had their hands tied behind the back. They were tied in twos. The SS men were bringing the victims in three pairs to the wall where they were executing them. All the prisoners were without overcoats and headwear, and many without jackets and shoes. Some people wore paper suits (maybe women). The prisoners were standing still, with visible effort, staggering, only two of them protested. The reluctant ones were promptly hit on the back of their heads by the escorting SS men. The execution was being carried out by a German police squad. The execution site was hidden by the house offset, but the firing squad was visible; after a volley it was being immediately ordered about- face, and then single shots could be heard – killing the victims who had not died already. The prisoners who were unloaded from the truck were waiting by the wall. After each execution of three or four groups of six, a few civilians were loading the corpses onto the truck.

After the execution of the victims, the truck with their corpses went on Bonifraterska Street along the Ghetto wall to the exit gate at Franciszkańska Street, in the direction of Śródmieście, under the escort of the police and the SS. The firing squad stood in a semi- circle on the execution site, smoking cigarettes and talking. At about 1.00 p.m., a second group of prisoners was brought in a similar car.

After the execution, the execution site was cleaned and the trodden ground was raked. During the execution, Bonifraterska Street, Sapieżyńska Street, Muranowska Street and Krasiński square were surrounded by the German police, and the trams were stopped.

The report was read out.