TEODOR SMALEC

On 3 May 1949 in Warsaw, Norbert Szuman (MA), member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland, 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 Teodor Smalec
Date and place of birth 21 June 1903, Florynka, Nowy Sącz county
Parents’ names Antoni and Paulina, née Kochan
Father’s occupation blacksmith
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religion Roman Catholic
Education elementary school
Occupation plumber
Place of residence Warsaw, Czeczota Street 17
Criminal record none

When the Uprising broke out, I was in Warsaw, in my flat at Czeczota Street 17. From the beginning of the Uprising until 26 September 1944, this area was held by the insurgents. The Hospital of the Sisters of St. Elizabeth, which during the Uprising was the central insurgent hospital in Mokotów, is located in Goszczyńskiego Street. Around the middle of September – if I remember correctly, following the exceptionally heavy shelling of the hospital, which led to a considerable number of casualties amongst the patients, the wounded were carried out from the Hospital in small groups to nearby villas. Some of the wounded were also taken to Czeczota Street. On the day that our neighborhood was occupied by the Germans (26 September 1944), five seriously wounded people remained at Czeczota Street 19; there were some wounded at Czeczota 7, too. I do not know how many.

On 26 September, the premises of my house and neighboring houses were taken over by German detachments that had advanced from Aleja Niepodległości. As far as I know, they included soldiers from various units – the Wehrmacht, SS and “Ukrainians.” Our treatment varied; the SS-men and “Ukrainians” were the worst.

As far as I know, during the evacuation the German soldiers did not kill any of those leaving. The “Ukrainians,” however, robbed the evictees.

The evacuated populace was taken to the Race Track, and from there transported to Pruszków.

When in February 1945 I returned to my flat at Czeczota Street 17, I found five or six bodies at Czeczota Street 19, at the spot where five or six seriously wounded people had been lying on 26 September 1944. The corpses had gunshot wounds to the head – the shots must have been fired at point-blank range, for there were traces of brain matter on the wall.

I think that in May 1945 the Polish Red Cross performed an exhumation at this address.

In the spring of 1948 (if I remember correctly) a few bodies were found in a bomb crater near the house at Czeczota Street 7. Two of the bodies were recognized as those of men who had been wounded on the last day of the Uprising and had remained in the house at Czeczota Street 7. In this case, too, the exhumation was conducted by the Polish Red Cross.

In the spring of 1947 or 1948 the bodies of eight women dressed in underwear were found in the field between Goszczyńskiego Street and Czeczota Street (nearer Czeczota Street, by the fence). The exhumation was carried out by the Polish Red Cross. I know with all certainty that no one had been buried there either before the Uprising, or during the fighting.

At this point the report was brought to a close and read out.