Regina Marczuk
Class Vb
Wisznice, Włodawa district
19 June 1946
Wartime experience
In 1944, the Germans were in Poland. The Germans transported Jews in different directions, shot them and starved them to death. Poles couldn’t trade pigs because the Germans took the meat and arrested the farmers. They took innocent Poles, called them hostages and shot them. One time, 30 hostages were brought to Wisznice and shot. They demanded contributions from the farmers, [and if] they could not deliver, they were taken to Auschwitz and burned in a crematorium. The Germans were a terrible enemy of Poles.
In 1945, the Germans started to run away from Poland. They burned homes and barracks they had built themselves. The fires were terrible around here. While fleeing, they were unable to carry so much ammunition, so they left it in the woods, on the roads and in the fields. Many children were hurt.
As the front moved towards us, all the people were so afraid. We sat in the trench all night, trembling with fear. And then we went home. When we [spent the night] there, we saw the barracks in Wisznice on fire.
When I got up in the morning, mum said that the Soviets tanks were near Curyn. Then I ate breakfast and went to see the Soviets. Many people were standing there. The Soviets said: zdravstvuyte [hello], and we answered them. Around noon, a lot of cars came to Curyn. Then we could hear gunfire and see fires. There was a hospital in Curyn, and there were many wounded Soviets. They were there for a month, many of them died. They were buried in Curyn, in a farmer’s garden, and the rest was taken somewhere else. There were many women whom we got to know. When they left, it was a very sad day.