Warsaw, 14 November 1947. 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 Kowalska, Miss |
| Parents’ names | Walenty and Cecylia, née Furmanek |
| Date of birth | 9 January 1920 in Warsaw |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Chmielna Street 122 |
| Citizenship and nationality | Polish |
| Education | secondary |
| Occupation | office worker at the Revindication Office |
During the Warsaw Uprising, from 1 August 1944, I was stationed as a nurse at an independent post located in the State Securities Printing House at Wójtowska Street, Home Army cell "B.17". The commander of the post was major "Pełko". The German garrison at the State Securities Printing House had been strengthened with 50 gendarmes just before the Uprising. The insurrectionists launched attacks from both outside and within, eliminating the garrison on 2 August. Due to its location and reinforced concrete structure, the building of the Printing House had considerable importance for the insurrectionists. Already in the beginning of August it was bombed by German aeroplanes and shelled by their artillery from the Praga district, and also by an armoured train and tanks, resulting in some of the above- ground and underground rooms caving in.
Initially, the first-aid post was located in the Printing House’s dispensary, while after the bombings it was transferred to the cellars of the main building. Whereas at first we would dress the wounded and send them to the John of God Hospital, as the influx of wounded fighters and civilians from neighbouring areas increased, the dispensary grew to the size of a hospital. There were a few wounded Germans, among others the commissar of the State Securities Printing House (Stephan), who died. The civilians were sent to the president’s bunker. The first-aid station – and subsequently the hospital – was headed by Dr Hanna Petrykowska, who had at her disposal a group of female nurses. When the Germans captured the Town Hall, qualified medial personnel under Dr "Judym" withdrew from there to our facility. In the end, the first-aid post headed by Petrykowska had some 10 female nurses. Apart from myself, these included (among others): 1) Barbara Putkowska, residing in Bielsko; 2) Zofia Jakownik, currently working at the State Securities Printing House in Łódź, at Dowborczyków Street 18; 3) Janina Gajda, employed at the Printing House in Łódź.
The German attacks on the Printing House became steadily stronger, and came from the direction of the Citadel and the Wisła. Due to the increasing destruction, towards the end of August the hospital was moved from the cellar beneath the main building to the cellars along Zakroczymska Street.
On 23 August the Germans launched a concentrated attack, which resulted in the residential building of the Printing House at the corner of Rybaki and Sanguszki streets being taken. During fierce fighting some of the personnel were evacuated along with the wounded to the Old Town. The dispensary proper was located in a part of the building occupied by the Germans; the buildings had been bombed. The constant moving around of the wounded necessitated by the ever more dangerous strategic situation and the damage sustained by the buildings due to the bombing made it impossible to determine the number of wounded present when the Germans entered the hospital premises. In the main, the wounded were located in the building at Zakroczymska Street.
On 27 August the Germans captured other blocks of the Printing House in Sanguszki Street. During the night from 27 to 28 August they captured the barricade at Zakroczymska Street and the higher floors of the Printing House, so that the insurrectionists occupied only the last underground corner block at Wójtowska and Zakroczymska streets; this was where the patients, Dr Petrykowska, myself, and nurses Putkowska, Firlej, and two others whose surnames I don’t know were located. On 28 August before noon, together with Dr Petrykowska and the other nurses, we were preparing dressings in the president’s bunker, where a dozen or so wounded and the civilian refugees had been gathered, some 50 people in total. Next, together with Dr Petrykowska we proceeded to the cellar located in the same wing of the building, where there were some 30 severely wounded insurrectionists and civilians. As far as I know, there were no more wounded in this part of the building. We heard the sounds of fighting, and then German voices close by.
Suddenly, German soldiers appeared at the cellar’s exit and started throwing grenades into the cellar in which we had gathered with the wounded. Immediately after the first grenade was thrown, Dr Petrykowska approached the ladder set up at the entrance and started calling loudly in German: – Hier ist Lazarett, nicht schisssen! (This is a hospital, do not shoot!). Despite her calls, grenades continued to be thrown, immediately setting the hospital equipment located in the cellar on fire. The other nurses and I started to douse the fire. While we were busy extinguishing the flames, nurse Firlej was killed by grenade shrapnel. After some time another piece of shrapnel hit Dr Petrykowska in the stomach; I saw her walk up to a chair deeper in the cellar and collapse into it. I took her place, crying out that this was a hospital and that they cease firing. The grenades continued to fall and the fire grew in intensity.
I don’t know for how long the grenades were thrown. Suddenly, the German soldiers – whose unit I could not determine – appeared at the ladder and asked me who was in the cellar. I told them that there were only wounded there. The German soldiers ordered everyone to leave the cellar. In response to their summons, three young insurrectionists (I don’t know their surnames), nurse Putkowska, and Niesiołowska (whose present address I don’t know), who was accompanying her wounded mother, exited. The soldiers ordered us to go with them. When I asked what would happen to the wounded left in the cellar, they told me that they would be collected and the "they will be better off".
I never met any of the wounded left in the cellar and I have not heard that any of them have turned up. Later, while in the transit camp, I met a former employee of the Printing House, one Rybak, who was in the president’s bunker on 28 August. He recalled that once the Germans had occupied the building, they ordered him, as an employee of the Printing House, to show them the rooms and passages in the buildings. He said that when he was showing the Germans around, he saw many dead bodies in the cellars.
I don’t know Rybak’s current whereabouts.
When I returned to Warsaw in February 1945, I didn’t find any human remains on the premises of the State Securities Printing House. I heard rumours that the bodies had been buried.
The Germans led me and six other people who had left the bunker to Traugutt’s cross, located nearby, at Sanguszki Street. While standing there during a German attack from the direction of the Citadel, I saw men taking down a barricade under fire; these men were civilians. Next, we were led to the school at … Street, which was a transit point for residents evicted from the Old Town. There was already a group of civilians at the school, and among others I saw the same men who had been taking down the barricade at Sanguszki Street; a few of them had serious wounds. When I requested to do so, the Germans allowed me to tend to their wounds – but only using my bare hands, for they did not give me any dressings.
The German soldiers in the school had SD insignia on their uniform sleeves. Many "Kalmuks" were also milling around, and they would steal the refugees’ valuables saying: "Give us what you have, for you don’t need anything".
Amongst the civilians was a woman (I don’t know her surname) who said that the "Kalmuks" had raped her. A transport was formed. Our group was loaded onto a truck and taken to Pfeiffer’s factory. Here two other nurses and I were separated from the group, the fate of which I do not know. I have not met anyone from the group, nor have I heard that any of them had returned. The SD were quartered at Pfeiffer’s factory.
My friends and I were interrogated, particularly regarding the sewer passages from the Old Town, and then employed to do the cleaning; we were interrogated again on a few occasions.
After a week, we were sent to St. Adalbert’s Church in the Wola district, and from there to the transit camp in Pruszków.
At this point the report was brought to a close and read out.