Depositions on the confiscation of Polish artworks during the early occupation, and their destruction in 1944, the general destruction of Warsaw during the war, and the killing of cultural experts

RECORD OF THE DEPOSITIONS OF WITNESSES
Warsaw, 4 June 1946, the Examining Magistrate at the District Court in Warsaw, K. SZWARC, at the request of the Public Prosecutor interrogated the witness under oath:
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Dr. Stanislaw Lorentz, son of Karel-Ludwik and Mary nee Schoen, born on 28. IV. 1899 at Radom, of protestant faith, lecturer at the Warsaw University, Director of the National Museum in Warsaw, Director General of Museums and Custodian of Public Monuments, resident in Warsaw, at No. 13.Alley of 3 May, who after having taken the oath according to Art. Ill of the Code of Criminal Proceedings, and having been warned of the responsibility-under Article 140 of Criminal Code for false testimony, testified as follows:
Since 1935 I occupied the post of the Director of National Warsaw Museum. I have remained in Warsaw during the whole period of the siege of Warsaw in 1939 and the whole period of occupation. During the Warsaw insurrection I stayed in the building of the National Museum.
During the period between the end of October 1944 and 14 January 1945, when there were practically no inhabitants in Warsaw, almost every day I came to Warsaw as I was directing the action of Polish scientists and artists, in their efforts to save the cultural treasures still left in burning Warsaw. During the whole period of occupation, including the period of insurrection, I have closely watched the destruction of the treasures of Polish culture, perpetrated by the Germans. Some of my notes had been saved and were shown in 1945 at the National Museum during the exhibition called "Warsaw accused." At the present moment these notes are in the archives of the National Museum.
On the basis of all the observations which I was able to make during the occupation I can ascertain that the damages inflicted by the Germans on treasures of Polish culture, were not due to any hazard connected with war conditions, but that these damages were a direct consequence of a criminal plan drawn up by the whole German State machinery: by civil administration, as well as a military administration, i.e. the Gestapo, the police, the representatives of German people, in the persons of eminent proies-sors, museum directors and custodians, such as for example:
1) Prof. Dagobert Frey,
2) Custodian Prof. Grundmann,
3) Director of Dresden Picture Gallery, Posse deceased,
4) Dr. Kurt Muehlmann, State Secretary, Frank's deputy at Krakov,
5) Dr. Joseph Muhlmann, brother of the latter, Art Historian,
6) Dr. Ewald Behrens, of the East Institute in Krakov,
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7) Dr. Gustav. Barthel, Director of Museum in Wrzoclaw,
8) Dr. Trotschke, Art Historian, who was at the same time an SS officer in the Oswiecin camp, and many others.
During the siege of Warsaw in 1939, the King's Palace, as a national historic monument, was not used by the Polish defenders as a stronghold, or as a depot for military equipment or ammunition. But this fact did not prevent the invaders from shelling this monument of Polish culture, as though it were a military target, and thus the Palace had to share the fate of many other "military" targets of the Capital such as churches, museums, schools, hospitals. On 17 September 1939, incendiary bombs were literally showered on the Palace. On that day, the roofs of two towers were burned down and when the roof of a Palace wing, overlooking the river Vistula, which contained the magnificent reception apartments, caught fire the fine Bacarelli ceiling, dating from 1780, was destroyed. And then, the Museum staff began to carry out salvage operations, under continuous fire which endangered their lives trying to save the most precious objects, and to transport them from the Palace to cellars of the Museum. In this way, they transported the Royal throne, a series of paintings representing Warsaw by Genaletta; pictures by foreign and Polish artists and various sculptures, upholsteries, jewels. Already in November 1939, almost the entire treasure was taken by gangs of German bandits under the leadership of German scientists, such as Dagobert Frey, Professor of the History of Art at the University of Warsaw, Dr. Barthl, Director of Museums at Wroclaw and a Viennese Art Historian, Dr. Joseph Muehlmann, brother of Dr. Kurt Muehlmann, the State Secretary, who had been appointed the special Plenipotentiary for the inventory, and the preservation of treasures of art in the Government General. His activity consisted in confiscating the most valuable collections and destroying monuments of Polish culture. At the time of the capitulation and the entry of German army into Warsaw, the Palace with the exception of a few damages done during the siege, was on the whole in a satisfactory state.
The municipal administration of Warsaw had immediately taken measures to preserve the building and already in the .first days of October, they had begun to rebuild the temporary roof over the wing containing the magnificent reception apartments. In October 1939, Hans Frank, who was then the Governor, arrived in Warsaw. He stopped at the Warsaw Palace and declared to representatives of Warsaw Municipal Administration that the Palace should be pulled down; furthermore he opposed himself to any work for the restoration or the preservation of the building
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which was only slightly damaged during military operations. With his own hand, Frank tore off the silver eagles from the royal canopy and put them into his pockets. By this act, he gave signal for the beginning of the general plunder of the Palace installations, which lasted for several weeks. Pictures, upholsteries, wainscotting were torn off the walls and stolen. At the same time, the German miners made holes in the Palace walls for the purpose of laying mines. The soldiers did not keep secret the object of these preparations: the Palace was doomed to destruction by explosion. The disclosures made by the soldiers were confirmed by the arrival of architects and German building contractors under the personal direction of Architect Heidelberg, Director of Architecture Department of Warsaw District. These people, with the help of hundreds of Jews brought daily to the spot, began taking down the building. With electric boring machines they made two rows of holes, with an interval of 75 cms between them, and at a height of 1,5 metre from the ground. In two months several thousands of these holes had been bored in the outer and the interior walls of the palace. During these demolitions, the Palace changed its aspect from day to day and from month to month whilst at the end it looked a mere heap of ruins. The principal tools used were picks and axes. Precious wallscotting was torn off the walls, marble mantle pieces and wood parquets with beautiful design were wrenched out. The marble, wood and stone staircases were broken up. Roofs and ceilings were also torn off, as well as the iron beams which had been placed in 1918-1939, during the preservation works. The ruins of the Palace remained in this state for nearly five years and were still in the same state after the insurrection.
All the furniture of the Palace had been stolen: hundreds of pictures, sculptures including antique pieces as well as sculptures by artists of the XVIIIth century: Houdon, Le Brun, Monaldie; upholsteries, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, classical and empire furniture, clocks, especially those of the XVIII century, chandeliers, candelabras, six of which—the large ones—were in bronze of Gaffieri, vases by Thomin and numerous other objects of art, especially those of the XHIth century. In addition to the objects of art which belonged to the Palace itself and were included in its inventory, there were fine collections of art treasures and souvenirs in the depository of the State Department of Art Collections. These comprised the collections which had been claimed from Russia after 1920, the collections from the Rappersville Museum in Switzerland which had been transferred to Poland, collections brought and given. The depository contained about 1.000 pic-D-954
tures, numerous sculptures, various objects of arts, graphic collections, archives and incunabula. The transport and the packing of the stolen objects were very primitive. Wooden beams and marble plates were thrown out through the windows of the Palace, or were left under open sky in November and December under rain and snow, during great frosts, they lay about in great confusion, mixed up with hot water piping, central heating boilers, wainscotting, modern kitchen appliances and blocks of ancient wooden floors. The objects stolen from the Palace were sent either to destinations which are unfortunately unknown to us, or to the four large store-houses in Warsaw, from where they were later distributed following the applications of various German building contractors.
The material necessary for the transformation of the offices of the Premier Minister into "Deutsche Haus," for the transformation of the Belweder Palace into the residefice of the Governor General Frank, for the accommodation of the Warsaw Casino as headquarters of the Gestapo, and for other works of reconstructions came from these store houses. The collections from the Palace were also transferred to Krakow, where they were temporarily stored, in view of their ultimate transfer to Germany. The material from these store houses was also used for the decoration of the offices and private apartments of German officials, for the exchange of presents between the members of civil administration, Gestapo and the army. Furthermore, Governor Fischer and President Dengel gave the authorization to various offices and to employees to choose any objects they liked from those included in the Palace inventory. The ambition of President Dengel was to send the greatest possible quantity of collections to Wuerz-bourg, his native city. Amongst the offices which were not in Warsaw, it was the Gestapo in Lublin and in Radom who had shown the greatest zeal. There was also one more method: that was the ordinary plunder practiced by the Feldgendarmerie of Potsdam as from the beginning of October 1939, and later by all kinds of German officials. The objects stolen were sent either to Germany or to Warsaw market where they could be bought for a low price. At the beginning of December 1944, two months after the capitulation of Warsaw, some German military units placed cartridges with dynamite in the holes made in 1939 and blew up the Palace. The cellars and the foundation are all that remained.
In conclusion, I emphasize that the Germans on the order of the ex-Governor General Frank, had closed—immediately after their entry into Poland—all the museums, cultural Polish institutions and societies, whilst the property of all these institutions was
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confiscated and subsequently most of it was plundered. I have already said that orders to this effect were given by Frank. During the occupation, the Germans arrested several scientists and workers in the field of culture, sometimes aged persons who were not guilty of any political activity. Several of them were shot, tortured or died in the camps. Amongst those who were shot or died as the result of the conditions of their imprisonment, were the following persons:
1) Gembarzewski Bronislaw, about 66 years of age, director of
war Museum in Warsaw,
2) Felix Rychling, about 69 years old, Custodian of the National Museum in Warsaw,
3) Dr. Anton Wieczorkiewicz, the curator of the National Museum in Warsaw,
4) Debouski, M.A.,
5) Mann, M.A., assistant at the National Museum in Warsaw,
6) Zygment Batowski, Professor of the History of Arts at the
Warsaw University about 69 years of age and numerous others.
The number of those who died or were shot proves the fact that the Germans wished to exterminate all the workers and the professors in the field of culture.
Stated as above. Read.
The Judge ,
H. K. Szware H. Stanislaw Lorentz
Warsaw, 27th May, 1946, at the request of the prosecutor the Examining Magistrate of the Tribunal of the Warsaw District, K. Szware, interrogated the witness Dr. Tomkiewicz Wladislaw, son of Stanislaw and Micheline, born 4. 9. 1899 in Nowince in Li-thonia, by profession—Historian.
Professor at the University of Warsaw, Assistant of the Chief Director of the museums and of the Section for Preservation of works of art, residing 61-street Hoza, lodg. 7. After having been advised of the responsibility for giving false evidence (Art. 140 of Penal Code) the witness gave the following evidence:
At the beginning of the war, September 1939, I occupied the post of Curator and Assistant Director of the Museum of the Polish Army, at the same time I was assistant at the Warsaw University. Carrying out my functions I was able to observe the
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destructive operations of the Germans with respect to works of art and momentos of culture.
According to the testimonies of Dr. Joseph Muhlmann, Prof, of Art in Vienna as well as of Prof. Dagovert Frey who had been in the building of the National Museum in 1939, I assert that these were exactly the persons to whom General Governor Frank gave orders to take actions in order to save the works of art of the General Government. As a result of these actions the whole interior part of the King's Castle was so destroyed that nothing remained but the walls which stood the insurrection of 1944. Information about the destruction of the castle in 1939 by the Germans was obtained through the servants of the castle who told about the destructive operations at the castle carried out by the Germans. In October, November and December 1939 valuable collections belonging to the National Museum and to the Museum of the army were transferred. This transfer was directed by Dr. Muhlmann.
During the insurrection the German soldiers living in the building of the National Museum destroyed the rest of the collection in the most barbarous manner.
The Germans exploded the walls of the King's Castle in December 1944, that is when they were burning and exploding on a large scale the public buildings and private, dwelling places that were yet untouched. I saw the castle with my own eyes in November 1944 that is at the time when the insurrection had been at an end. I can state that the castle was pretty well in the same condition as it had been in 1940. When Soviet troops entered Warsaw i.d. on 17th January 1945, that castle was nothing but a heap of ruins.
According to my own observations of the ruins after the destruction I think I am able even to show the order and extent to which the destruction of Warsaw had been carried on:
1) During military operations in 1939 about 10 percent of the buildings were destroyed by the Germans as a result of artillery fire and aerial bombardments.
2) In 1943 when the Ghetto was being liquidated, about 15 percent of the buildings were set on fire and destroyed by the Germans through bombardment.
3) During the Warsaw insurrection, i.e. from 1.8.1944 till 3.10.1944 the Germans set fire to and destroyed through bombardment about 25 percent of the buildings existing in 1939 i.d. during the time before the war.
4) After the insurrection i.e. after 3.10.44 and before 17th
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January 1945 the Germans had burned or exploded about 30 percent of what had been Warsaw before the war, besides they left many houses mined but not yet exploded.
I had very often visited Warsaw during the month of November 1944 having been provided with a pass by the German Authorities. During my visits I often saw detachments of German soldiers belonging to the "Brennkommando" setting houses on fire which had not been destroyed during the insurrection.
Therefore considering all these above mentioned facts I assert that at the time of the German retreat from Warsaw the destruction of all the immovable property of the town had amounted to 90 percent as compared to the condition of Warsaw before the war.
I may add that Dr. Dagobert Frey, mentioned above, had been Professor at the University of Wroclaw in 1939 as far as I know, now he is Professor at the University of Vienna.
Stated as above. Read and approved.
K. Szwarc W. Tomkiewicz