MONIKA SOBOCIŃSKA

Warsaw, 23 March 1946. Judge S. Rybiński, delegated to the Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes, interviewed the person specified below as a witness. Having advised the witness of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the gravity of the oath, the judge swore the witness in accordance with Art. 109 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Monika Sobocińska née Tucholska
Date of birth 18 July 1912
Names of parents Franciszek and Weronika née Oblumska
Occupation supported by her husband
Education two grades of secondary school
Place of residence Zduńska Wola, Rozomyśl Street 1
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal Record none

My family consisted of nine persons – two parents, [their] five sons and two daughters. My parents, Franciszek and Weronika Tucholski, lived in Inowrocław county up to 2 February 1940. This is where my two younger brothers, Henryk (born on 28 August 1923) and Janusz (born on 7 September 1926), also lived with my parents.

We, the two sisters, were married before the war broke out: My sister Elżbieta Konieczna in 1937, and I in 1938. After my wedding, I took up residence with my husband in Zduńska Wola, and I have lived there continuously since then.

My sister Elżbieta took up residence in Warsaw, where my oldest brother Stanisław (born in 1906) also lived with his family. The same went for my third-eldest brother Alfons (born in 1920), with his family.

Finally, my second-eldest brother Albin (born on 15 February 1910) lived in Bydgoszcz before the war broke out, then he was called up to serve in the army, went on the 1939 campaign, and finally [was taken] prisoner by the Germans and deported to Bydgoszcz and from there to Szczecin for forced labor. I believe that he worked at digging wells.

After the Germans came to Inowrocław, my brother Henryk was forced to escape to Warsaw, since the Germans suspected that he had indicated the addresses of Germans residing in Inowrocław to the Polish army.

My parents together with my brother Janusz were displaced from the village of Rojewo in Inowrocław county to Warsaw, and they found Henryk there. My parents took up residence together with Janusz in Ulrychów (Księcia Janusza Street 8). Henryk lived with them there for a while, but then moved to our sister, Konieczna, residing at Dobra Street 87. This is where my brother Albin lived in September 1943, when he came from Szczecin, having received a holiday leave, and then stayed in Warsaw, since he no longer wanted to work for Germans in Szczecin.

Upon his arrival, my brother Albin got himself false documents issued in the false name of Michał Wróblewski, and was registered at my sister’s apartment under that name.

On 23 December 1943 at around 7 p.m., twelve Gestapo men in uniform came to my sister’s apartment and detained both of my brothers, Albin and Henryk, as well as Tomasz Szymański, who had come to visit them on that day.

My brothers and Szymański were taken to Pawiak prison, and they must have been kept in there for some time, since at one time the patronage agency in Krochmalna Street accepted packages for them from my sister. The second time, a Gestapo man from Pawiak prison did not accept the parcels, and even got furious when my sister asked him the same question twice, namely whether Henryk Tucholski and Michał Wróblewski were in Pawiak prison. He answered her angrily that they were not.

Indeed, carrying the parcels for the second time, my sister had already known about the posters plastered around the city concerning Poles executed on 13 January 1944, which among others included the names of my two brothers, Albin and Henryk, and that of Szymański, but she hoped she would learn something specific from the Gestapo man. Having received the angry reply that they were not in Pawiak, she went to read the poster and indeed found the names of our two brothers and Szymański on it, under the numbers 140, 141 and 142.

My sister did not get any news from my brothers from Pawiak, from the date of the arrest up to 13 January 1944, that is, the execution date. Elżbieta presently lives in Olsztyn (Kościelna Street 5).

My parents did not get any news from the brothers before the execution either. My mother died of grief a month later, on 19 February 1944.

The Gestapo sent no information either to my sister or to my parents.

In my opinion, the fact that my brother Albin was indicated on the list of execution victims under his own name proves that the Gestapo must have forced a confession from him under torture. Before the arrest, he constantly had on him an identity card issued under the name of Michał Wróblewski. His true documents were hidden in the basement and the Gestapo never found them. My sister discovered them after my brother’s death, when she went down to get coal.

After the two first brothers died, Alfons also went missing without any news. On the day when the uprising broke out he was unable to come back home. For a few days he stayed in a safe shelter in the house at Górczewska Street 15. Then on 5 August 1944, when the Germans captured this house, he and other people were driven to the buildings of the Limpleń factories. On the same day, 5 August 1944, the Germans took away all men, allegedly to work. However, Alfons never returned from there, and we have had no news of him. All I know about my brother Alfons was told to me by his wife Halina Tucholska (residing in Warsaw at Górczewska Street 100).

After the uprising, my brothers Stanisław and Janusz went to Poronin together with our father. The Germans were constantly organizing round-ups, searching for Warsaw residents there. My brother, who was very uncomfortable with that, met a female acquaintance there, who came on holidays from forced labor and encouraged him to go west, which was a safer place as far as round-ups were concerned. Janusz received a wire from her in December 1944 and went to Salzburg. Then the front moved west and no-one in the family has had any news about him since.

My brother Stanisław was taken by the Germans from Poronin, from home, on 10 January 1945 and was deported to Cracow, where my father saw him a few days later. Then on 13 January 1945 he was deported on a German evacuation train in the direction of Wrocław, and no-one in the family has had any news from him since. Stanisław’s wife and children live with my father in Rojewo, Inowrocław county.

Three hundred people were taken by the Germans from Poronin, together with Stanisław.

The report was read out.