EUGENIUSZ BIEGAŃSKI

Warsaw, 29 July 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 Eugeniusz Biegański
Date and place of birth 5 January 1915, Poniewież
Parents’ names Teodor and Emilia, née Kowalska
Father’s occupation teacher
Citizenship and nationality Polish
Religious affiliation Roman Catholic
Education University of Warsaw, medical department
Occupation physician
Place of residence Warsaw, Saska Kępa, Wąchocka Street 10, flat 1
Criminal record none

When the Warsaw Uprising broke out, I was in the house at Wiśniowa Street 48. On the first day of August 1944 I found myself as the only doctor at the first-aid post set up in the house near the small square at Narbutta Street (I don’t remember the number). During the night from 1 to 2 August our post, under pressure by the Germans, was forced to move to Czeczota Street. We immediately displayed the Red Cross flag from the house in which we set up the first-aid post (I don’t remember the number). Directly thereafter, the building was fired upon by a German tank.

There were quite a few wounded at the post, for the most part lightly wounded, however I do not remember their number. Maybe a day or a day and a half later, our post was moved further away, to Pilicka Street (I don’t remember this number today, either). The seriously wounded were sent to the Hospital of the Sisters of St. Elizabeth at Goszczyńskiego Street. More or less a week later, the post was shifted from Pilicka Street to Naruszewicza Street, on the corner with Pilicka Street. There, just as at the previous location, the number of wounded people was smaller. Towards the end of August I was transferred from this location to Szustra Street, on the corner with Kazimierzowska Street. The number of wounded there was considerable. I would send the severely wounded to Misyjna Street, and some to the Sisters of St. Elizabeth. At Misyjna Street the doctors would perform operations in a large villa opposite the nuns’ house. After the Hospital of the Sisters of St. Elizabeth was bombed, which occurred around 28 August, the seriously wounded were sent only to Misyjna Street.

My post remained at Szustra Street for around two weeks. Next we were transferred to Bałuckiego Street 24. I remained there until the capitulation of Mokotów, that is, until 27 September. There were enormous numbers of wounded at that location, so other physicians helped me take care of the patients; among others, I was assisted on a permanent basis by Dr Kunicki, who lived at that house. When it was impossible to send the wounded to Misyjna Street, everything was performed on the spot. The wounded were located in the basements of the house at no. 24 and in the adjacent buildings on Bałuckiego Street.

I know that apart from our facility there was another first-aid post at Bałuckiego Street, on the corner with Odolańska Street. I don’t know who administered it, but it was a large post; there was also a post on Odolańska Street (between Puławska and Bałuckiego streets), however I know nothing specific about it.

Furthermore, during the initial period of the Uprising, a first-aid post was set up at Lenartowicza Street; it was large and managed by two physicians, and more sophisticated as regards surgical procedures. There was also a first-aid post at Tenisowa Street. The hospitals that I know of were located as follows:

1. Hospital of the Sisters of St. Elizabeth, which during the initial period of the Uprising occupied not only the hospital building itself, but also the neighboring villas.

2. Misyjna Street, that is the nunnery of the Sisters of St. Francis, and the villa at Misyjna Street 8. I consider this post as a hospital, for the personnel was very numerous and included four or five doctors.

3. The health center at Puławska Street, corner of Dolna Street, which had one or two doctors. I heard that the Germans set fire to this center, together with the patients. It housed contagious diseases patients.

I know that during the later period of the Uprising the head of the health service was Professor Loth, who perished during an aerial bombardment.

I have heard of the following German crimes committed in Mokotów.

In the beginning of the Uprising, the Germans threw grenades at civilians gathered in basements in Olesińska Street. Our attempts to reach them with medical aid were thwarted due to the fact that the area was under constant German fire.

In the vicinity of Kazimierzowska Street, between Narbutta and Szustra streets, although I don’t remember in which street exactly, the Germans threw grenades into the basements of a house in which civilians had gathered. Having received this information, I and two others proceeded to the site of the crime. There we found a woman with a wound to her stomach, whom we carried to Szustra Street, and from there to Misyjna Street, where, however, she died two days later. Apart from her, everyone else in the basements was dead. However, I don’t know the number of victims.

On the day Mokotów capitulated, 27 September 1944, the Germans issued an order to carry all of the wounded from the nearby houses and streets to the building at the corner of Bałuckiego and Odolańska streets. Due to an oversight, some wounded were left in some of the houses on Szustra Street, between Bałuckiego and Puławska streets (the time that we had for moving them was so short that it would have been impossible to go through all of the basements). I know that the Germans finished off the wounded in these houses; a German soldier boasted as much in my presence, and also my male nurses told me about it. On the same day the Franciscan Sisters spread a sheet with the sign of the Red Cross on their roof. At exactly that moment, the whole of Misyjna Street was shelled by artillery. The sisters therefore took down the flag, and the effect was instantaneous – the shelling stopped.

At this point the report was concluded and read out.