Class V
Łączna, 12 November 1946
The moment I best remember from the years of the occupation
In 1939, when the war broke out, the Polish Army stopped at our farmyard and set up its cannons. We fled to the forest. Once the front passed, we returned but found only charred ruins. Everything had been burned down. We had no food and no clothes. Mummy was weak and died of worry. We then lost our father. There were six of us small orphans left. It was very difficult for us, and we were so sad.
All around we heard of the Germans’ cruelty. They did not spare our village. One evening a few peasants gathered (among them my brother) and sat in front of the house. We did not know that the Germans had surrounded the village. We took fright when the Germans appeared. Some people thought that it was all a joke, and so they did not flee. Others managed to escape under cover of the night. The Germans took three, one of whom was my 18-year-old brother. They led them outside the village and shot them there. There was great despair throughout the settlement, and the greatest in our house, for our brother had been like a father to us. He had worked on the land and protected us from hunger.