Class 7
Radzyń
05.05.1946
My wartime experiences
In May 1944 I went with my dad to Warsaw to see my mommy because she was in the hospital. The Germans stopped us in Łuków and took us to the guard post where they took all of our goods. Next, they led us to the barracks and we all had to give up our identification.
We waited until morning, [and then] they took half the people to be shot, including me and my dad. They brought us out to a courtyard where a horrible pit had been dug. Barrels of petrol were standing by that pit, there was lime on the ground and a lot of machineguns. We were all ordered to get undressed and put the clothes in a pile which they doused in petrol and burned. They put people in a line by the pit and fired. Then they put [the bodies] in the pit and threw lime over them.
That lasted half an hour, and then two Germans arrived, looked at the people who were praying, waved their hand and led us to a storehouse. They gave everyone some clothes and let us go. And that is how my dad and I survived.