STEFAN NEYMAN

Warsaw, 25 March 1950. Janusz Gumkowski, acting as a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, interviewed the person named below, who testified as follows:


Forename and surname Stefan Neyman
Date and place of birth 10 March 1915, Kijów
Names of parents Bolesław and Stanisława, née Rzędzianowska
Father’s occupation chemist
State affiliation Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education university
Occupation head of the financial department
Place of residence Styki Street 1, flat 6
Criminal record none

During the Warsaw Uprising, until around 18 August 1944, I was in Saska Kępa. Until 8 August I stayed in my flat at Francuska Street. Around noon on that day a Ukrainian, probably by the name of Majewski, wearing a German uniform and completely drunk, rode up on a bicycle to the gate of our house. I found out his name from the owner of the perfumery, Longin Turobiński, from house no. 1 at Styki Street, at whose house this Ukrainian appeared a few days later. He started banging on the ice-cream parlor, and also shot at the windows and tin shelves in the shop. The gate to our house, no. 14 at Francuska Street, had been barricaded. The Ukrainian started pounding on the gate. We did not open up. He therefore went on his way, cycling around some houses in the area of Francuska, Zwycięzców, Styki and Obrońców streets. Later on, while looking through the windows of my flat, I saw that he killed a blue policeman at the corner of Obrońców and Francuska streets,and in the adjacent house at Obrońców Street (our house was on the corner) he killed the owner whose surname I do not remember. Next, he again rode along Francuska Street and into Zwycięzców Street. I lost sight of him. My wife, Hanna (née Jaworowska), and I went around the fence of the villa to the house of my in-laws, located at Styki Street 1, corner of Zwycięzców Street. When we arrived at the house of my mother-in-law, Wanda Jaworowska, and sister-in-law, also Wanda, they were not home. Within a few minutes of our arrival they were both brought in: they had been kicked black and blue with heavy soldier’s boots. The people who had carried them in told us that both women were returning home from church when they encountered the drunken Ukrainian, Majewski, on his bicycle. He threw an assault grenade towards them. The women fell over. The Ukrainian then grabbed them by the hair and started kicking them. My sister-in- law died on the spot from the kicks she received to her stomach. My mother-in-law had boot marks all over her face, and her eye was knocked out. She died a few hours later, at home.

I did not hear about any other crimes committed by the Germans in our area. I did, however, learn that German soldiers often pillaged, looking first and foremost for gold.

Around 18 August, I no longer remember the date, once the Germans had taken all the men from the area between the Vistula river embankment and Francuska Street, they started taking those from the remaining areas of Saska Kępa, i.e. from Francuska Street towards Grochów. I myself was taken at the time to Pruszków.

At this point the report was concluded and read out.

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