On 13 March 1948, citizen Józef Krysa, residing in Warsaw at Nowogrodzka Street 10, flat 7, appeared upon summons before the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, and made the following testimony in the presence of Andrzej Janowski, the clerk of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Warsaw:
At the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising I was in Wola, from which, as the German troops were approaching, I went to the Old Town on 3 or 4 August 1944 (I don’t remember the exact date). I stayed in the “Nazareth” Home (marked with number 21 on the plan) at Freta Street 10, where I remained until the arrival of the German units.
I don’t remember the exact date, but it was at the very beginning of September, in the morning, sometime between 9.00 a.m. and 10.00 a.m., when the German troops entered the premises of the property at Freta Street 10. I saw this happen from the attic of the two-story building of the “Nazareth” Home. I noticed (from a distance of over 60 meters) some soldiers in German uniforms who were roaming about the statue of the Mother of God standing in the yard. I didn’t recognize the unit they belonged to, but they were speaking Russian (I know that language well and I can tell it from Ukrainian). The soldiers searched the premises thoroughly and led out the people whom they found there. I didn’t notice any cases of harassment, but my view was limited. When they led the people out, the soldiers set fire to these houses, which had not yet been aflame as a result of the military action.
As I was hiding, after some time I noticed a group of soldiers crossing the courtyard of the Home from the direction of Freta Street, who were leading some man in plain clothes who was carrying two suitcases. The soldiers took that man to the building of the Home, parallel to Stara Street, shouting that he had to be taken to the “commander”. Shortly afterwards, the man was led out of the building; I heard one of the soldiers tell him in Russian to go on, and, when the civilian man reached the statue of the Mother of God, he shot him from behind and the civilian man fell to the ground.
Since the house in which I was staying had caught fire, I crawled out and hid in the rubble of an adjacent house, from which I had a fairly unobstructed view of the premises of the Home. I was watching it more carefully from time to time. I noticed that once in a while the soldiers were crossing the yard with certain people, who were led either individually or in twos or threes. After some time I could hear shots from the direction of the yard, but I could not figure out who was shooting and what for.
Another time on the same day, already in the evening, I noticed the silhouette of a person on the roof of the corridor where the insurgent hospital was situated. A moment later the roof began to burn with a bright flame. I spent a night and the following day in the rubble of my hiding place. Since I was covered with bricks, I did not see what was going on in that area.
In the evening of the second day of hiding, I crawled to Świętojerska Street, where I hid in the house at number 14. I stayed there for two days, taking care of three old ladies whom I had not known before.
Two days later I was discovered by a German patrol (I didn’t recognize what kind of unit they belonged to). The soldiers joined me with seven women who had been stuck in a collapsed basement and we were marched to Krasiński square, where I was attached to a group of civilians and we were all marched to St. Adalbert’s Church on Wolska Street, from which I was deported to the Pruszków transit camp.
The three old ladies I had taken care of had not been taken with me, and I don’t know what happened to them. When I came back to Warsaw in March 1945, I learned from the inhabitants of the house at Świętojerska Street 14 that upon their return they had found three corpses there.
My testimony is true. I have read it before signing.