Class 6
Zwierzyniec
My experience at the time of the German occupation
It happened in the morning on 30 January 1946 [sic!]. We were all at home. Dad was having a shower because he had to go to the office, mum was busy in the kitchen. My younger brother was still asleep and I was sitting in the room and drawing.
Suddenly the door opened and a man walked in. He asked me where my dad was. Thinking it was one of dad’s friends, I went into the next room. The stranger followed me. Dad saw him and came out from behind the shower curtain. At that moment some Gestapo officers came in. They told my dad to get dressed and went out, leaving two soldiers by the door. After a moment dad came out fully dressed. One of the Germans left to call the rest outside. The second one stayed by the door. My dad went to the kitchen and, seeing that the German had turned away, ran to the door to escape. No good! The kitchen door was locked on the hook! The German, falling on my dad, hit him so hard that he fainted. Mum stood in his defense and the Gestapo officer hit her so hard that he knocked out a tooth.
They handcuffed my dad and took him to the commune prison and then transferred him to Zamość. A few months later they sent him to Auschwitz, and he never returned.
It was a horrible time for us! My brother and I cried for a long time after dad was arrested. Grandma came, and when she asked to see him the Germans hit her in the face with a chunk of ice. Grandma took us in. We have been sad since then because we knew that we would never see dad again.