ROMUALD JAKUBOWSKI

Łódź, 29 October 1947. Investigating Judge S. Krzyżanowska, in the presence of the parties concerned, heard the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:


Name and surname Romuald Jakubowski
Age 25 years old
Parents’ names Jan and Kazimiera
Place of residence Łódź, Jaracza Street 80, flat 3
Occupation student
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Criminal record none
Relationship to the parties none

On 7 August 1944 I was lying wounded in a first-aid post set up in the house at the corner of Langiewicza and Prokuratorska streets [in Warsaw]. It was a first-aid post of the 2nd Assault Battalion “Odwet”. During this period – since the insurgents did not yet enjoy combatant rights – this first-aid post operated in secrecy, and the villa in which it had been set up wasn’t marked in any way (such as with the emblem of the Red Cross). At the time that the sick were being murdered, there were some 18–20 wounded people and more or less 20 nurses at the post. I cannot provide an exact number as it was constantly changing.

On 7 August, a group of Vlasov Army soldiers entered our district. A large group of them, led by German non-commissioned officers, came to our villa. They wore air force uniforms. All the Vlasov soldiers were drunk. First they pelted the villa with grenades, and when it caught fire they ordered everyone to leave the house, separating the men from the women. A group of wounded people who were able to walk were taken apart in the direction of Sucha Street.

In response to questions from our nurses, the German non-commissioned officers explained that these people would later be transported somewhere else. I was left behind with four other gravely wounded people, and we managed to stay close to the group of nurses who, under the pretext of moving bedclothes, transported us to the grounds of the neighboring villa. Before our evacuation was over, however, we heard salvos from hand-held machine guns. Since I was seriously wounded, I couldn’t see anything, but the nurses saw that it was the group from our post who were then being executed.

We stayed in the area until 11 August, when the Germans ordered that seven or eight sick people be transported to the Child Jesus Hospital. Before we left the district, the nurses snuck into the execution site and saw the bodies of the wounded people who had been executed. Among others, they saw the body of my brother, Jan Jakubowski, who – together with a group of officer cadets – had stumbled upon a group of Vlasov soldiers right in front of the villa in which the first-aid post had been organized. During this clash, all the officer cadets were killed.

I recall that while we were being taken out of the burning villa, as one of the German officers was directing the women to the passage to the neighboring villa, one of the boys tried to break free from the surrounded group and get to the other houses, but he was killed on the spot with a volley of machine gun fire.

The surnames of nurses who have likely survived: Natalia Łusznienko and Krystyna Jarecka (if I am not mistaken, she lives in Gdańsk). I can submit the surname of a person who had relative freedom of movement in the district during the Uprising: that person is Roman Dworski (residing on Słoneczna Street in Warsaw). He knew the surnames of various German commanders from the area of Filtrowa Street, from Kolonia Staszica to be exact.

Łódź, 14 January 1948. Investigating Judge S. Krzyżanowska, with the participation of reporter Jerzy Złobicki from the District Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Warsaw, heard the person named below as an unsworn witness. Having been advised of the criminal liability for making false declarations, the witness testified as follows:

Name and surname Romuald Jakubowski [known in the case]

By way of supplementing my testimony given on 29 October 1947, I would like to testify that I fought with the “Odwet” Battalion. Since the battalion was surrounded on all sides – from Sucha Street, Filtrowa Street, aleja Niepodległości and Wawelska Street – during the night from 1 to 2 September 1944 the command received an order from the Division to get through to Okęcie… Correction: the command made this decision themselves, having received from Śródmieście intelligence to the effect that they couldn’t send us any help. Following a failed attempt on the part of two companies to get through to Okęcie, the surviving insurgents came back to Kolonia Staszica and resumed occupation of their previous posts. Gradually, in small groups, the insurgents were making their way stealthily to Śródmieście.

I know that the first groups from the Kaminski Brigade entered Kolonia Staszica as early as on 3 August, setting fire to particular houses and streets one by one. The unit which seized the twin villas at Langiewicza Street 11/13 and then carried out the execution was commanded by Germans; if I am not mistaken, they were non-commissioned officers.

I recall that the following nurses were working in the first-aid post in which I was lying: Ewa Rakowicz (lately residing in Goleniów near Szczecin, aleja Wojska Polskiego), and Barbara Gajewska, about 30 years old (residing in Warsaw).

As for the general military situation, more details could be provided by Capt. Juliusz Sobolewski (residing in Józefów, Parkowa Street, at number 4, I believe).

The report was read out.