Class 7
Public Polish Elementary School in Radzyń
My wartime experiences
It was Sunday, 23 July 1944. The rain was pouring and the day was gloomy – days usually are gloomy when it rains. A few German vehicles drove out of the forest. They were armed, and camouflaged with green twigs. When the peasants saw them, they started hiding wherever they could. The Germans drew up to our house and stopped. I grew all the more frightened. Terrified, I walked out into the courtyard, and one of the Germans got off his vehicle and asked for the way to Łuków. And then they left. This got me very interested, seeing as they’d hardly ever come to our town during the war.
It was evening when I learned that Soviet forces had entered Radzyń, and that the Germans had withdrawn. The next day I saw the Soviet soldiers. We greeted them kindly, with flowers and whatever else we had to hand. In the evening we saw a terrible fire – the whole of Radzyń was burning. I looked at the sight with pain in my heart.