Apolonia Olszewska
Class 3
My education during the occupation
It was always the same, day after day: hiding the sheets of paper in pockets, taking the longer way to the teacher’s house, sneaking through the garden, and knocking on the door thrice. Then I entered a cozy room, full of muffled voices. The most pleasurable time during the occupation was the time of secret classes. The harder the process and the more we were watched by the enemy, the more pleasant and worth the risk the education became. The hours of studying were never boring nor meaningless. Our young teacher, Halina Drewnik a.k.a. “Ala”, was able to fill our hearts with sublime ideas. She was always cheerful and smiling. She did not mind the difficult financial conditions, she found joy in her job. She was never scared. She only ordered us to be wary to protect our families. Although she was busy all day teaching classes, she also organized a scout troop that shaped the spirit of youth.
Despite the great danger and cases of arrest for secret teaching, it never crossed our minds to give up on studying. We always ran to our classes with eagerness and enthusiasm. With indifferent faces, but pounding hearts, we passed German patrols. We all knew how much we owed to our teacher, and we wanted to cause as little trouble as possible. She remains the ideal teacher in our memories, one who could show our young minds a goal worthy of Polish women.