MARIANNA LENARCZYK

Warsaw, 27 May 1949. A member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, Norbert Szuman (MA), interviewed 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 Marianna Lenarczyk, née Grondziel
Date and place of birth 30 July 1902, Stara Żelazna
Parents’ names Andrzej and Petronela, née Kochanek
Father’s occupation laborer
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education none
Occupation kitchen helper
Place of residence Warsaw, Puławska Street 12, flat 17
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was in my flat at Puławska Street 17. Until 5 August 1944 neither insurgents nor Germans were present in our house. Furthermore, I did not notice any people being moved from neighboring houses in Puławska Street to our house, although there were a few foreign people whom I and my husband, Jan Czerniszewski, the caretaker of house at no. 17, had let into our house.

On 5 August before noon the Germans started hammering on our gate. The gate was closed – as it had been from the first day of the Uprising. My husband went to open it. The Germans barged inside. I heard them shouting something at my husband, who did not know German – and neither did I. I then heard three shots. I came out of the flat. The Germans were walking to the courtyard, while my husband lay in the gateway, dead. I returned to the flat. Shouts in German could be heard from the courtyard. The Germans stuck the barrels of their rifles through the windows of the ground floor flats. They approached my flat, too, but not seeing anyone (we were hidden under the window), they passed on by. In one of the ground floor flats – that of Mr Żelakiewicz, a tramcar driver – they used this tactic to shoot the flat’s owner dead and seriously wound his son.

Shouting and screaming, the Germans evicted all of the residents of our house. They ordered the men to proceed to the street, from where they marched them off to the barracks at the corner of Puławska and Rakowiecka streets; the women were grouped in the courtyard. There were a great many women standing there, for our house was rather large and contained quite a number of smaller flats.

Following a short discussion amongst themselves as to what they were supposed to do with us, the Germans ordered us to return to our houses and flats, but warned us that they would return again in the evening. Before going back to our flats, however, we were allowed to bury the two dead in the courtyard, and transport the wounded man to the hospital at Chocimska Street, where he soon died.

The Germans did not come in the evening, however on 6 August, that is on the next day, before noon, they ordered us to leave the house and go wherever we wished, whereupon they set our house on fire. Together with my children and a few other people, I went out into Madalińskiego Street, from where – walking between the houses, gardens and allotments – we reached Kolonia Szopy Polskie. Along the way I saw neither insurgents nor Germans. We stayed the night at Kolonia Szopy Polskie and next day walked to Piaseczno.

At this point the report was concluded and read out.