Aleje Jerozolimskie 37

Aleje Jerozolimskie 37

‘Here, on January 28th 1944, the Nazis executed 102 Poles.’

One of the last crimes committed by Franz Kutschera took place on January 28^th  1944. By the walls of one of the buildings at Al. Jerozolimskie 31 the prisoners of Pawiak were executed. This execution, performed in the middle of the city, brought a sense of terror and angst among civilians. The “executioner of Warsaw”, Franz Kutschera, was killed on February 1^st 1944 and the time of his governance enrolled in history as a time of street executions, roundups and sending people to the labor camps. The execution of January 28^th reverberated among Warsaw citizens. The conspirational groups of Pawiak claimed that near 200 prisoners lost their lives, although the official announcement given by the German authorities indicated the number of 120. Thus, the question arises, why there was such discrepancy in the number of killed? The answer was simple, since plenty of people got secretly killed in the ruins of ghetto. It was a common practice that the number of people executed in the former Jewish district exceeded the official data given by the German authorities. Although among other killed on that day were Captain of Polish Army, Gustaw Józef Bobowski and a painter Marian Bogiel, the civilians did not break down. The places of executions became places of prayers, flowers and growing of hatred against the occupant. Warsaw was still fighting.