FELICJA KAMIŃSKA

Warsaw, 22 January 1947. Judge Halina Wereńko, member of the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Warsaw, has interviewed the person mentioned below as a witness, without oath.

Being advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, of the contents of Art. 107 and Art. 115 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Felicja Kamińska née Piełach
Names of parents Józef and Rozalia née Maciejewska
Date of birth 26 August 1887 in village Obrąb, powiat pułtuski
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Place of residence Warsaw, Jana Kazimierza Street 18a, flat 23
Education four grades of elementary school
Occupation housewife

During the Warsaw Uprising I lived in Warsaw, at Wolska Street 151, in my own house, next to the bicycle factory owned by my husband, Adam Kamiński.

On 4 August, the German troops occupied the earthwork located in front of our house, next to the Saint Lawrence church. I could see machine guns standing on the earthwork, pointing in the direction of our house. As a result, the exit onto Wolska Street was blocked and there was only one way out left – at the back, heading towards Jan Kazimierz Street. All the men from our house had sheltered in a bunker built at the back of the factory. There were only women and children left in the building at Wolska Street 151.

On 5 August, at about 9 a.m., a group of about fifteen German soldiers knocked at the gate of the house. I didn’t manage to recognise what their division was. A resident of our house, Zaczykiewicz, opened the gate and was immediately shot dead by the Germans.

The group of Germans rushed into the courtyard yelling raus. The civilians began to go out. I could hear terrible screams of despair. I stayed in my own flat, which had seven rooms, situated on the first floor, and I was looking out at the courtyard and at the street. I heard shots and explosions of grenades. When I looked into the courtyard, I saw a pile of corpses under the balcony of the other building. There were also other single bodies scattered in various places of the courtyard, mostly children. Later on I heard the sound of running feet and then screams, explosions of grenades and shots in some flats. I don’t know why the Germans did not enter my flat, even though I had locked the door and didn’t come out.

The executions lasted about half an hour, then there was silence. I realised that the execution squad had gone to the restaurant located on the ground floor of the building, at the front. They had set fire to the building. I saw that there was only one German left as a guard at the gate. Since I was already choking with smoke, I ran across the courtyard, heading to the factory. Passing the courtyard, I saw about 50 corpses. Then, seeing which of the residents had been shot by the Germans, I deduced that more than 50 of them had been killed. In the night from 6 to 7 August I left Warsaw.

The corpses were later burnt in the courtyard. It was already 1945, after my husband came back to Warsaw, when the remains were buried in the yard. Later on, the families exhumed the ashes and moved them to the cemetery.

At that the report was concluded and read out.