The Suppression of Mokotów was a wave of mass murders, looting, arson and rapes that swept through the Warsaw district of Mokotów during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. Crimes against prisoners of war and civilians of the district were committed by the Germans until the capitulation of Mokotów on September 27, 1944, although they intensified in the first days of the uprising.
German crimes on the first day of the uprising.
On August 1, 1944, at 5 p.m., Home Army soldiers hit German facilities in all districts of occupied Warsaw. On that day the units of the 5th Home Army District "Mokotów" suffered heavy losses during unsuccessful attacks on the heavily strengthened German resistance points on Rakowiecka and Puławska Streets. The insurgents also failed to gain many other targets - such as barracks in schools on Kazimierzowska and Woronicza Streets, Fort Mokotów, or horse racing track in Służewiec. As a result of this defeat, a significant part of the units of the 5th District withdrew to the Kabaty Forest. On the other hand, five companies of the "Baszta" regiment under the command of Colonel Stanisław Kamiński "Daniel" manned residential flats in a square formed by streets: Odyńca - Goszczyński - Puławska - Niepodległości. However, in the following days the insurgents managed to expand their possessions and organize a strong resistance centre in Upper Mokotów.
On the night of August 1–2, 1944, SS, police and Wehrmacht units committed a number of war crimes in Mokotów. Insurgents taken captive were shot, wounded were killed. The Germans disregarded the fact that the Home Army soldiers conducted the fight openly and had the legal markings of a soldier, i.e. they fought in accordance with the Hague Convention. All Polish soldiers captured during the attack on German resistance points on Rakowiecka Street were murdered, as well as several dozen prisoners from the Home Army "Karpaty" battalion, which attacked the horse racing track in Służewiec. The Germans also shot at least 19 wounded and captured insurgents from the Home Army "Olza" battalion, which was crushed during the attack on Fort Mokotów. Some of the victims were buried alive, which was confirmed by the results of the exhumation carried out in 1945.
The first massacre of civilians from Mokotów also took place that night. After the repulse of the Polish attack, the Luftwaffe soldiers belonging to the Fliegerhorst-Kommandantur Warschau-Okecie personnel (English: "Command of the Okęcie Military Airfield") gathered nearly 500 civilians on the territory of Fort Mokotów. The displacements were accompanied by immediate executions. Many inhabitants of Bachmacka, Baboszewska and Syrynska Streets were murdered at that time. In the house at 97 Racławicka Street, the Germans gathered almost fourteen residents in a cellar and then murdered them with grenades. The murders of prisoners and civilians were ordered by the commander of the Okęcie garrison, General Doerfler.
Hitler's order on the destruction of Warsaw and its execution in Mokotów.
In the wake of the outbreak of the uprising, Hitler gave an oral order to Reichsführer-SS Himmler and the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command of the Land Forces (OKH), General Heinz Guderian, to level Warsaw with the ground and murder all its inhabitants. According to the SS-Obergruppenführer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, who was appointed commander of the forces appointed to suppress the uprising, the order was more or less as follows: "Every inhabitant should be killed, no prisoners should be taken. Warsaw is to be razed to the ground and in this way a terrifying example is to be created for the whole of Europe". Hitler's order to destroy Warsaw was also given to the commanders of the German garrison in Warsaw. SS-Oberführer Paul Otto Geibel, commander of the SS and the police (SS- und Polizeiführer) for the Warsaw district, testified after the war that on the evening of August 1, Himmler ordered him by phone: "You should destroy tens of thousands". On August 2, the commander of the Warsaw garrison, General Reiner Stahel, ordered the Wehrmacht units subordinate to him to murder all men considered to be actual or potential insurgents and to take hostages from the civilian population (including women and children).
Mokotów was manned by strong German units at that time - among others, the 3rd reserve SS armoured grenadier battalion in the barracks at Rakowiecka Street (SS-Stauferkaserne), anti-aircraft artillery batteries in the Mokotów Field, Luftwaffe infantry units in the Mokotów Fort and anti-aircraft artillery barracks in Puławska Street (Flakkaserne), and a gendarmerie unit in the district command building in Dworkowa Street. Despite this, the execution of Hitler's extermination order did not bring such tragic results in Mokotów as in Wola, Ochota or in the Southern Downtown (Śródmieście Południowe). The district was considered to be a peripheral section, so for a long time Germans did not carry out major offensive activities there. However, the German troops, passively behaving towards the insurgents, massacred the Polish civilians who were within their reach. House burnings, looting and rape of women were also carried out. The survivors were expelled from their homes and sent to the transit camp in Pruszków, from where many people were later deported to concentration camps or sent to forced labour in the Third Reich.
Massacre in the Mokotów prison.
When the uprising broke out, there were 794 prisoners in the Mokotów prison at Rakowiecka Street 37, including 41 minors. On August 1, the building was attacked by Home Army soldiers who managed to enter the prison and occupy the administrative building, but were unable to reach the penitentiary buildings.
On August 2, the court inspector Kirchner, who was the head of the prison, was summoned to the nearby SS barracks at 4 Rakowiecka Street, SS-Obersturmführer Martin Patz, the commander of the 3rd SS reserve battalion of armoured grenadiers, told him that General Reiner Stahel had ordered the execution of all the prisoners. This decision was also approved by SS-Oberführer Geibel, who additionally ordered the execution of Polish guards. Kirchner then drew up a takeover report, on the basis of which he placed at Patz's disposal all the prisoners in the prison. The same day, in the afternoon, an SS unit entered the prison. Nearly 60 prisoners were forced to dig three mass graves in the prison yard, after which they were shot with machine guns. Then the Germans started taking the remaining prisoners out of their cells and murdering them over the dug graves. Over 600 people imprisoned in Mokotów prison died during the several hours of execution.
The slaughter that took place in the prison courtyard was perfectly visible from the windows of the cells, and the prisoners who watched it realized that they were sentenced to death and that they had nothing to lose. The prisoners from units 6 and 7 on the second floor decided to take a desperate step and attacked the perpetrators. Later, under cover of night and with the help of the population of the surrounding houses, from 200 to 300 prisoners managed to get to the area controlled by the insurgents.
Massacre in the Jesuit monastery at Rakowiecka Street.
On the first day of the uprising, the House of Writers of the Society of Jesus at 61 Rakowiecka Street was not included in the fighting. A dozen or so civilians hid in the monastery as the shooting prevented them from returning home. In the morning of August 2, the House of Writers was bombarded by German anti-aircraft guns from the nearby Mokotow Field, and soon afterwards it was invaded by an SS unit of about 20 people, most probably sent from the nearby Stauferkaserne. The SS officers accused the people staying in the monastery of shooting German soldiers from the building. After a brief search, which did not lead to finding any evidence to support these accusations, the Germans led Father Edward Kosibowicz, the Superior of the monastery, out of the building, allegedly to provide additional explanations to the command. In fact, he was murdered with a shot to the back of his head in the Mokotow Field.
After some time, other Poles were crowded in a small room located in the basement of the monastery, after which couple of grenades were thrown in. The methodical killing of the injured lasted for many hours. More than 40 people fell victims to the massacre, including 8 priests and 8 brothers of the Society of Jesus. The bodies of the murdered were covered with gasoline and set on fire. Fourteen people (mostly injured) survived as they managed to get out of the pile of bodies and escape from the monastery after the Germans left for a moment.
Murdering the civilian population.
In the first days of August, German troops in Mokotów - both SS and police units, as well as the Wehrmacht - repeatedly made trips to terrorize the Polish civilian population. These actions were usually accompanied by ad-hoc executions combined with the burning of houses. On August 2, SS soldiers from the barracks on Rakowiecka Street went to Madalińskiego Street, where they started murdering civilians. At that time, at least several dozen residents of houses no. 18, 20, 19/21, 22, 23 and 25 (mostly men) were shot dead. Six residents of the house at 76 Kazimierzowska Street were also murdered (three women and a baby). In the house at 27 Madalińskiego Street, the Germans locked ten men in a small carpentry workshop, where they were burned alive.
On August 3, SS-Oberführer Geibel, having reinforced the Gendarmerie unit of the district command at Dworkowa Street with several tanks, ordered a murder of civilians to be carried out in the area of Puławska Street. The gendarmes commanded by Oberleutnant Karl Lipscher made a trip, moving along Puławska Street in a southern direction. On Szustra Street (present Jarosław Dąbrowskiego) they shot about 40 residents of houses no. 1 and 3. Then they reached Boryszewska Street, shooting at the escaping civilians, whose bodies covered Pulawska Street and it's crossroads. On that day, most of the residents of the houses located in the area of Puławska - Belgijska - Boryszewska - Wygoda streets were murdered. At least 108 residents of houses at 69, 71 and 73/75 Puławska Street and several dozen residents of houses at Belgijska Street died at that time. Many women and children were murdered. On the other hand, the Germans and their Ukrainian collaborators took over 150 people out of their homes at 49 and 51 Puławska Street, most of them women and children. The detainees were arranged in triples and led to the headquarters of the gendarmerie at Dworkowa Street. When the column reached the edge of the slope, the stairs leading towards Belwederska Street (now Morskie Oko park), the Germans moved the barbed wire entanglements suggesting that they allowed civilians to cross into the territory controlled by the insurgents. Some of the group had already walked down the steps when the gendarmes unexpectedly opened fire from machine guns. About 80 people died, including many children. During the execution, Edward Malicki (a.k.a. Maliszewski), who served as a Volksdeutsch in the gendarmerie, stood out with particular ruthlessness. In addition, German airmen murdered between 10 and 13 people in the house at 25 Bukowińska Street on the same day.
In the morning of August 4, two companies of Regiment "Baszta" made a failed attack on the Gendarmerie headquarters in Dworkowa Street. After the rebels were repulsed, the Germans decided to take revenge on the civilian population. The gendarmes from Dworkowa, supported by a unit of Ukrainian collaborators from the school on Pogodna Street, tightly blocked small Olesińska Street (situated opposite the gendarmerie command). Several hundred residents of houses no. 5 and 7 were put in cellars and murdered with grenades. Those who tried to get out of the cellars, turned into mass graves, were killed with machine guns. Between 100 and 200 people fell victim to the massacre. It was one of the biggest German crimes committed in Mokotów during the Warsaw Uprising.
The area around Rakowiecka Street was also suppressed on August 4. SS-men from the Stauferkaserne barracks and aviators from the barracks on Puławska Street rushed into the houses, throwing grenades and shooting at the people opening their doors. At that time, about 30 residents of houses at 5, 9 and 15 Rakowiecka Street and at least 20 residents of houses at 19/21 and 23 Sandomierska Street were murdered. Two wounded women were left in a burning tenement house to be burned alive.
A number of