Warsaw, 1 June 1948. Judge Halina Wereńko, a member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, 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 | Helena Rafacz, née Kowal |
| Date of birth | 17 January 1892, Zborów, Złoczów county |
| Names of parents | Mikołaj and Katarzyna, née Bertel |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Education | secondary school |
| Occupation | unemployed |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Gdańska Street 2 |
When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was in the professors’ dormitory at Nowy Zjazd Street 5. I was living there with my husband, Józef Rafacz (born in 1890), a Professor at the University of Warsaw. At the time, the following professors also lived at the dormitory: Cybichowski with his family, Tretiak, Wajgel, Baley, Koss, Michejda, Roszkowski, and a group of civilians who had wandered into our house. The insurgents did not conduct any operations from our house. A German detachment (unit undetermined) was quartered at Schicht’s house at Nowy Zjazd Street 1.
In the afternoon of 3 August 1944, at around 4.00 – 5.00 p.m., two German soldiers arrived at our house. They walked through nearly all of the flats and left. On the same day at around 10.00 – 11.00 p.m. I heard cries downstairs and the sound of shots being fired at the closed gate. Professor Roszkowski was seriously wounded during this incident. It turned out that soldiers were trying to gain entry and were shooting at the gate. It was opened and some five German soldiers (unit undetermined) entered the property. Behaving brutally with shouts of “Raus” they ordered everyone to leave the house. We went out into the street between the Nowy Zjazd embankment and the front of our house. Professor Cybichowski however, remained inside, while Professor Baley went out into the courtyard, from where he managed to get to Mariensztat Street. In the street the men were separated from the women. One of the Germans, in uniform, declared that the men from our group would be executed by firing squad in retaliation for the death of a few soldiers from Schicht’s house. The men were taken to Schicht’s house, with the exception of Professor Roszkowski who was severely wounded, Professor Michejda who had a leg ailment, and Professor Koss, due to his advanced age. This group also included my husband, Professor Rafacz, Professor Tretiak with his son, Professor Wajgel with his son-in-law, Wiechrzlejski, Orzęcka’s son-in-law … the mentally ill son of Professor … there could also have been a few more men, but I do not remember exactly. The Germans now lost interest in the women.
After the Uprising I met the wife of Professor Tretiak, who told me that after leaving the professors’ dormitory she proceeded to the building of the Charitable Society at Krakowskie Przedmieście Street, where her son had gone after being taken to Schicht’s house together with my husband. He told her at the time that he had escaped from Schicht’s house. Later on, as Professor Tretiak’s wife told me, her son had been executed by the “Kalmyks” in Saski Square. Currently, the wife of Professor Tretiak lives in Laski, where she works at the Center for the Blind. I have no information concerning the fate of my husband nor that of the men who had been taken with him to Schicht’s house (apart from the son of Professor Tretiak).
After my husband had been taken away, I remained in the vicinity of our house and walked from house to house in Mariensztat Street more or less until 10 August 1944 (I do not remember the date). Once during that time, in the evening, I saw German soldiers, grenades at the ready, walk up from Schicht’s house to the basement of a house at Mariensztat Street (I do not remember the number) in which civilians were hiding, pour some flammable liquid inside, and then throw the grenades into the basement without first telling the people to leave. However, none of the people were injured at the time.
Later on I managed to get through to the seminary at Krakowskie Przedmieście Street 52.
At this point the report was concluded and read out.