On 1 October 1943, in the early hours of the morning, a group of several Poles gathered in a Warsaw flat. What was their objective? They wanted to execute the German sadist, Ernest Weffels. He deserved the ultimate punishment. Why?

The secret German police, the Gestapo, had its main prison called Pawiak in Warsaw. There the Germans imprisoned and tortured Poles suspected of collaborating with or belonging to the Polish Underground State.  The women’s section of this prison was called Serbia.

One of the shift leaders of the women’s section was Ernst Weffels, a German known for his cruelty and sadism. The Gestapo officer was assisted by the confidante Sabina Bykowska. Her assistance helped Weffels to intercept prison secret messages. It turned out that it was the Polish staff at the prison hospital who were helping the prisoners to pass on and receive information from outside the prison. They were in danger, so the Home Army soldiers decided to liquidate Weffels.

Reconnaissance and death sentence

The execution of the death sentence was carried out by soldiers of the Home Army squad “Agat”. Aleksander Kunicki, alias “Rayski”, and Ewa Prauss-Płoska, alias “Ewa”. They discovered during reconnaissance that Weffels appeared in Szuch’s Street at exactly 12 noon every two days and returned from there at 2 p.m. the following day.

On 1 October 1943, just before 12.00 a.m., a group of five men under the command of Kazimierz Kardaś, aka “Orkan”, joined the Weffels operation. The Gestapo officer left his house at 12:02 a.m. Two minutes later he was near the Gestapo headquarters in Warsaw. It was then that Kardaś shot at him from a few metres. The German started to run away, but “Orkan” shot him once again.

Then a car with German soldiers appeared, which was shot at by a driver called “Niemir”, another member of the group carrying out the action. The Pole also shot at an SS man nearby. By this time Kazimierz Kardaś had changed the empty magazine and set off in pursuit with Weffels. He caught up with him lying next to a park bench. “Orkan” aimed his gun and shot him in the head.

The Home Army soldiers accomplished the task and began to retreat. They shot at the approaching German gendarmes and drove off in their direction. None of those carrying out the liquidation action were wounded.

Five days later, a confidante who had collaborated with Weffels was shot dead.