Horodło, 17 June 1946
The Germans’ retreat
It was in June, we heard the booming of shots from near Kowel. People were talking about the strange power of the Katyusha which the Soviets used to chase the Germans out of the country. Everyone waited for the front to pass through their villages and for the redeeming Soviet army that went with it to liberate us from the German yoke.
The time had come at last. The Germans nervously withdrew under the pretext of gathering a great force with the intention to strike back. But one morning we saw a greater number of Germans in the trenches. One came over to us and said that “Ivan” was coming and that the front line would be here. We took the most important things like blankets, clothes, bread and cattle and fled into the fields.
I went home the next day and saw everything in ruins. The yard was covered in feathers and the heads of slaughtered chickens. Everything in the house had been turned upside down. Terrified, I went to see what was happening in the orchard. First I saw a cockerel running away, being chased by a German with a huge stick, and then three Germans taking honey from the bees and spreading it all over the orchard. I got hit in the face as well as a few kicks when I admonished them. That was the welcome I received when I went home. The next time I went, a drunk German took out a revolver and tried to shoot me, but luckily I escaped.
We came back on the fourth day, when there were no more Germans. We found everything in terrible disorder and in the yard was a stinking pig that had probably been shot by the Germans. We brought everything back to its former order. Now we live on as we should have, but with sorrow in our souls that Poland, our dear country, is going through such a terrible experience.