Krystyna Szarzyńska
Class 6
Wisznice, Włodawa district, Lublin Voivodeship
21 June 1946
My experiences from the German occupation
Poland was in German bondage for five years. And it was heavy bondage, and everybody quickly got sick of it, because the Germans beat and murdered Poles in horrifying ways, burning them in ovens, murdering them in prisons, and even hanging and killing them against the walls. And now when I describe it, I feel hatred for these German wretches in my heart.
I will describe one of those horrible incidents. At the beginning of 1944, about a hundred paces from my house, 30 men were shot to death by the wall. It happened like this…
On a certain day, people from all the surrounding villages were supposed to gather in the market square. When everyone came, a German stepped out to the middle of the square and started talking about Poles who loitered in gangs at night, and how they caught 30 of them and would execute them by the wall. After the speech, those poor innocent Poles were pulled out of the car. Then each [of them] had to blindfold themselves, and after this they were led to the wall, where gendarmes were already standing with their guns primed.
At the command of the senior gendarme, there was a loud bang and ten people fell to the ground dead. When everyone was killed, a wagon drove up and the corpses were put on it. This wagon took them out of the city, where they were all buried in a single pit. After this terrible execution, people started leaving, secretly hating the Germans, who had hearts of stone.
Another experience was around 20 July 1944, when the Germans, pressured by the Soviet army, had to run away. When the fighting got fiercer, my parents went to the countryside to their friends. It was peaceful for a few days, but then the Germans started to come with their cannons in tow. Right after their arrival we saw four German planes circling over the buildings. When those planes flew away, we heard the cannon fire and the shells flew over our heads. We were so scared, and everybody just grabbed their things and ran into the forest. The battle was short, it took about five minutes.
When we returned, we saw a badly wounded German soldier, who was immediately taken to Wisznice, where he was treated. Then the Germans left and in a few days’ time we saw a Soviet soldier in uniform. The Soviet soldier told us a lot of interesting things because he knew a little bit of Polish, but I don’t remember anything. All I know is that in less than a week we could go home.
These were my experiences, which I will keep in memory for a long time.