Warsaw, 5 June 1946. Deputy Prosecutor Zofia Rudziewicz interviewed the person specified below as a witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations and of the gravity of the oath, the witness testified as follows:
| Name and surname | Tadeusz Jabłoński |
| Date of birth | 14 October 1901 |
| Names of parents | Stanisław and Eleonora |
| Place of residence | Warsaw, Koszykowa Street 75 |
| Occupation | superintendent of the Warsaw University of Technology [Politechnika Warszawska] |
| Religious affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Criminal record | none |
| Education | Academy of Political Sciences [Akademia Nauk Politycznych] |
Before the war I was a superintendent at the Warsaw University of Technology. In 1939 I was in the army, I returned to Warsaw at the end of October 1939, and I reported to the University of Technology to temporarily take up my post. I then ascertained that the Chemistry building and a part of the Mechanics building were damaged as a result of the bombardment. When I came back to the capital city, the University of Technology had already been captured by the German troops (the Wehrmacht). They established themselves in the main building, and separated it from the rest of the area with wire. It was possible to enter the University of Technology (with the exception of the main building) without a pass, although it was required at certain points in time. Soldiers removed the entire furnishings of the main building, where offices, drafting rooms, and certain departments were located.
The furniture was partially taken to Jabłonna, where it was stolen away by the Germans. Even sockets, switches, and electrical wires were torn off from walls.
After the Germans’ entry, lectures at the University of Technology did not recommence; I don’t know whether the Germans issued a regulation prohibiting lectures. Professors and clerks did not receive remuneration. A liquidating committee for higher education institutions in Warsaw was created, and apart from that, Germans appointed a German commissar for higher education institutions, Tzschaschel, who had his office in the education department in Bagatela Street. In 1940 SS-men would come to the University of Technology and take away the equipment from the departments; in this way they robbed the ballistics facility, the Armament Construction department, a part of the Primary Physics, Geodetics, and Tele-technology departments.
I don’t know whether the SS-men had a confiscation order. Professor Drewnowski, the rector at that time, intervened with respect to this matter with Tzschaschel, but to no avail.
At the end of 1939 or at the beginning of 1940, examinations for graduates were to take place. I don’t know who allowed this. I got the impression that this was to take place without the permission of the German authorities. Just a few graduates managed to pass the exam before the Germans prohibited any further examinations. I don’t remember who issued this prohibition.
In 1940 Tzschaschel ordered that all personal files be collected in the building of the Warsaw School of Economics [Wyższa Szkoła Handlowa]. As a result of this, we had to send all the personal files of employees and students there. From then on it was impossible for anybody to receive a certificate confirming the completion of studies, unless a relevant request was presented by the German authorities.
At the end of 1940 the Germans established the Higher School of Technology (Höhere Technische Fachschule) with a two-year program of studies. The director of the school was a German named Güttinger, his deputy was Professor Drewnowski, and after he had been arrested, a German from the SA, whose name I don’t remember. Güttinger reported to Tzschaschel. During that period German professors came to us, and with director Güttinger’s consent, they took away various scientific books from the library and had them transported to the Reich.
SS-Polizei officers would visit Güttinger, and after a short confrontation, they would demand access to personal files of students of the School of Technology.
I don’t know why they did that. Arrests among students were very frequent, and I believe that the visits of the SS-men had something to do with this. The files were reviewed in such a manner that Germans would take at one time files of persons whose names started with a few subsequent letters of the alphabet, so that I was unable to figure out what the purpose of all that was.
Any and all scientific activity was prohibited. In the faculty we were permitted only to carry out research that could be useful for the military industry.
In 1943 the university was surrounded by a few battalions of SS-Polizei. No-one was permitted to leave the area. A thorough search was carried out between 9 a.m. and 12 noon or 1 p.m. One employee was arrested and the son of another employee as well, the former was released soon thereafter, the son of the other one spent a long time in prison.
There were many arrests among the university professors: Rector Drewnowski was imprisoned in Dachau, Professor Bryła was arrested and released, he was detained for a second time and died in a street execution. Assistant Kowalczewski was killed as well. Many professors were killed during the uprising. Two employees named Zieliński and an employee named Grzelak were executed then; engineer Ruzin and the head of the water department (whose name I don’t remember) were killed as a result of bombardment.
During the uprising I was at the university. On 19 August 1944 the university was attacked and after some fighting it was captured by a Wehrmacht troop and by the ‘Ukrainians’. I saw the Wehrmacht men burning down the university buildings.
When I returned to Warsaw at the end of March 1946, I discovered that after the uprising Germans had destroyed the rest of the buildings and stolen away equipment, for example from the boiling room they took a turbo-generator, and also some other electronic engines.