GUSTAWA OSYPIUK

21 June 1946

Gustawa Osypiuk
Class 6
Wisznice, Włodawa district, Lublin voivodeship

Memories of the German occupation

Living under the German occupation was horrible, as so many people died under their rule. It took five years to liberate Poland from German hands.

The Germans fled through the fields and along different roads. They decided to set up a field kitchen in our yard and they ordered us to leave. Dad prepared a horse-drawn cart and we packed the most important things, while mum stayed home. When we managed to get away from home, a German driving through the field stopped us. Dad stopped the horse, and he drove up and told us to give him the horse, and he gave us a tiny one [in return].

When we drove to our cousin’s place in the woods, we couldn’t hear sounds coming from there. When evening came, we all went to the trench. At night, shells kept flying over our heads. In the morning, when I came out of the trench, I looked at the road to Radzyń and saw cars on fire. While walking home, dad said that the Germans had set their cars on fire.

After we returned, mum said the Germans had wanted to burn our home. In a couple of hours, a Soviet soldier was walking by, and he talked to dad about something. Then another Soviet soldier came on horseback, followed by cars and infantry. The troops were tired, so they sat next to us in a ditch. Some came to us and asked mum for food, mum fed them and they thanked us and moved on. This is how we were liberated from German hands.