Kazimierz Pietras
Class 6a
Public Elementary School in Iłża
Iłża, 21 November 1946
My most memorable moment from the occupation
The news about the execution and burning of my family is what I remember the most. It was in 1940 in the Końskie district. The remnants of the Polish army camped in the Końskie forest. Men from surrounding villages were joining them. My first cousin also joined this army. After Easter, German spies tracked them down and reported to the Gestapo in Radom. The Gestapo organized a manhunt with soldiers and blue policemen and scoured the woods, and a lot of Germans and Poles were killed. A German general who had occupied Warsaw in 1939 was also injured. Dying, he gave an order to kill all the men aged 14–60 from the surrounding villages. That is when my father’s family village was burned down and the people murdered. The Polish army was defeated and had to hide from the Germans. Then my brother came to us. We had terrible times, because the German army and the cruel gendarmerie were stationed in Iłża.