Warsaw, 14 September 1947. A member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, Judge Halina Wereńko, interviewed the person specified below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Weronika Rybarczyk née Krawczyk |
| Parents’ names | Franciszek and Józefa née Filipczak |
| Date of birth | 22 March 1904, Władysławów, Piotrków district |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Place of residence | aleja Niepodległości 217 flat 5 |
| State and national affiliation | Polish |
| Education | four years of elementary school |
| Occupation | Canteen worker in the Ministry of Farming |
During the Warsaw Uprising I lived at aleja Niepodległości 217 flat 12. At the moment of the outbreak of the uprising, German troops were stationed at Sędziowska Street 1,3, and 5. These troops were attacked by insurgents on 1 August 1944 from the direction of Langiewicza Street and Prokuratorska Street, but the action foundered after a few hours. Action was not conducted from our house.
On 5 August, the “Ukrainians” stormed into our house for the first time. They gave an order for everyone to go outside into the yard, then the looting of valuables started. A resident of our house, Zawilińska, had a subtenant at hers of Jewish origin, who managed to buy her way out by giving a handful of gold and jewelry to a “Ukrainian”. Our group was led out onto Sucha Street and handed over to German soldiers stationed there. On Sucha Street we met a group of civilians from Wawelska Street, Jesionowa Street, and Prokuratorska Street. Residents of Jesionowa Street, Kulikowska and Bogucka, told me that an artist, Maszyński, with his family, and eng. Tomorowicz were led out from the house on Jesionowa Street at the same time as our group, and were led in the direction of Prezydencka Street. No-one has seen these people since. It was said that they were executed on Pole Mokotowskie in the allotments area.
After a couple of hours, the Germans allowed our group to return home. On 7 August, a unit of the “Ukrainians” burst into our house again. It was around midday. They stormed in from the side of Sędziowska Street and aleja Niepodległości. An order to go outside was given again. Some people did not obey the order and stayed in their flats, hiding. Some residents went into the yard from the following staircases: 217, 219, 221, 223. I also went out from the basement with my pupil Jadwiga Ceglarek (11 years old). There were around 80 people altogether. Women and children were predominant in that group. The “Ukrainians” were looking for gold and looted all property, they kept searching us. We explained to them that they were searching us for the second time and that we did not possess anything anymore. An officer in a German uniform speaking in Russian told us to enter the staircase number 223.
The soldiers were infuriated by the fact that they had collected so little jewelry, furthermore, almost all of them were drunk. After being led into the staircase, I was next to a postbox with my pupil. The officer gave an order for another search, which did not bring the desired results. Then he gave an order to execute us. I heard the sounds of a machine gun being placed in front of us on the stairs. I fell, lost consciousness. After some time, when I regained consciousness, I realized that I was wounded in the left collarbone, my pupil was lying on me and was whispering something to me. All those who had been led in were lying on the stairs next to each other. One could hear voices of the wounded. Eventually, the shots were repeated, this time single ones, one of them hit my pupil in the head, killing her on the spot. During this finishing off, mostly children were killed, since the first series of shots had not reached them. I lost consciousness having received a jagged wound in the left side of my lower jaw. The wound on my neck, as I presume, was caused by some splinters.
When I regained consciousness, the “Ukrainians” were gone, and the residents of the house who had managed to survive the execution without harm took care of me. I learned that on that day 53 people had died in the execution. They were residents of our house and also people who were there by chance.
Among others who died were: Malecka and her servant, Zuzanna Krupińska, Gempra with her mother and son. On that day, that is 7 August 1944, the “Ukrainians” shot the family of Lisiecki, consisting of 5 people, residing at Sędziowska Street 1, having led them out of the house. A 5-year-old daughter [of Lipska?] and Bolesław Wińciun, currently residing at Sędziowska Street 2, who was wounded in the execution, survived the execution.
On 12 August, German soldiers in uniforms in the color of steel came, told us to leave and led us along Wawelska Street to Sucha Street. On Wawelska Street the “Ukrainians” took over from the Germans and led us through to Zieleniak. On the square I saw the corpses of around five murdered women. I was told that at night they had been dragged from the group and murdered after being raped.
After a two-hour stay in Zieleniak, we were led though to the station and transported to the transit camp in Pruszków. I was released from the camp and transported to the hospital in Milanówek. Doctor Ziembliński treated me.
(The witness is handing over copies of medical certificates from 4 September and 13 November 1944 for the files).
At this the report was concluded and read out.
REPORT
Warsaw, 16 January 1948. The member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Judge Halina Wereńko, made a court-medical inspection of the victim, Weronika Rybarczyk, 44 years old, through a court expert, professor of the University of Warsaw, Dr. Wiktor Grzywo-Dąbrowski.
The examined person testifies: on 7 August 1944, a unit of the “Ukrainians” burst into the house, staircase number 223. After a search and the looting of valuables, the soldiers conducted an execution, in which the examined person was wounded in the left collarbone, and later, while [those executed were being] finished off, was wounded in the left side of the lower jaw.
She is presenting a certificate of her completed treatment issued on 13 November 1944 by Dr. Ziembiński in Milanówek. She is testifying that she is currently feeling numbness in her left arm, which was stronger after being wounded. Apart from that she has pains in the left side of her head.
She is of average height, strongly built, averagely fed. No traces of wounding have been found on the left side of her neck and face. On the skin of the left shoulder there are three scars, white, round, diameter up to 10 - 12 mm, soft, movable. No inequalities have been found on the bone in close examination. Action of the left arm is without disorders. No serious changes have been found in regard to the nervous system. As it appears from the certificate of the hospital number 2 in Milanówek, issued on 13 November 1944, signed by Dr. Ziembliński, she was treated in the hospital because of lacerations of the left shoulder joint.
OPINION:
Taking the content of the medical interview and the result of the examination into account, one has to assume that the described scars could have resulted from gunshot wounds healing.
Lack of exact data regarding the state of health of the examined person in the period after the wounding makes a categorical establishment of the harm impossible. However, it is possible that as a result of this wound a health disorder followed, which could be connected with the disruption of the left arm, lasting probably longer than 20 days (Art. 236 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).