The „Chronicles of Terror” series is devoted to the publication of testimonies submitted by specific persons – victims and witnesses of the crimes committed by the Nazi and Soviet totalitarian systems. These depositions present the personal experiences of thousands of Poles, their families, and friends.
The present volume contains accounts presenting the events that unfolded in the Wola district of Warsaw in August 1944. According to various estimates, the number of people murdered at the time ranged from 25,000 to as many as 60,000, among whom were thousands of women, children and the elderly. The book contains the testimonies of both those who “survived their own death”, being wounded in mass executions, and of the helpless witnesses, who could only observe the murders of others – in many instances those of their own family members. The contents are supplemented with depositions given by witnesses who saw how the Germans tried to obliterate the traces of their crime, which according to some researchers satisfies the criteria of genocide.