Hospitals on Podwale: ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Under the Crooked Lantern’

Improvised institutions

‘Under the Crooked Lantern’ at 25 Podwale Street and ‘Black Swan’ at 46 Podwale Street were hospitals arranged in ordinary urban buildings. Ewa Wójcicka describes the difficulties of insurgent medical care: a shortage of staff, supplies and suitable rooms. Despite these conditions, efforts were made to organise care for wounded insurgents and civilians. [2]

Maria Przyborowska's testimony

In a record of 2 January 1948, Przyborowska described German soldiers entering the ‘Black Swan’. She identified the killing of three wounded people by an officer who then tried to rape her. She managed to escape. Another group examined the patients' wounds, after which the nurse was led away on the pretext of dressing German soldiers' wounds. [1]

What she saw after being led away

As she was leaving, the witness saw the hospital in flames. Later information that wounded people were carried out to Międzymurze came from a surviving patient. Information that corpses were burned there was the account of another interlocutor. On returning to Warsaw, Przyborowska saw charred bodies in the ‘Under the Crooked Lantern’ hospital. These three levels of knowledge should not be combined into one supposedly eyewitness account. [1]

Why the two hospitals are described together

The article combines them because one testimony concerns both institutions. This does not mean that the methods, numbers and perpetrators were identical in every room. It is especially important to distinguish the burning of a living person from the burning of a body: post-war examination of charred remains alone cannot resolve that question. [1] [2]

Limits of the findings

We do not equate all charred corpses with victims burned alive. The document is one person's testimony; an interlocutor's story reported by that person does not become a second independently verified testimony. [1] [2]

Sources and notes

Footnote markers identify the basis for specific findings. Bibliographic records remain in their original language; the notes indicate how each source is used.

The bibliographic record and source-use note are retained in Polish to preserve the original scholarly citation.

1. Maria Przyborowska. Zeznanie Marii Przyborowskiej o zbrodniach w szpitalach przy Podwalu, 2 I 1948. Główna Komisja — transkrypcja w Wikiźródłach.

   zeznanie świadka · Nr 80, sygn. 1100/z/VI, k. 1511 · Dostęp: 2026-09-05.

   Use of this source: Trzy zabójstwa, próba gwałtu, pożar; jawnie rozdzielone obserwacje i zasłyszane informacje.

2. Ewa Wójcicka. Powstańcze szpitale. Instytut Pamięci Narodowej.

   opracowanie instytucjonalne · Wprowadzenie i „Tragiczny los” · Dostęp: 2026-09-05.

   Use of this source: Nazwy, adresy i warunki leczenia w szpitalach powstańczych.