Class 6
[School in] Lisikierz
Ciechomin, Mysłów commune, Łuków district
Memories of the German occupation
A great war began in September 1939. The Germans wanted to conquer all of Europe, and even the whole world, with trickery and violence. They invaded Poland in September 1939. Poland lived through a tragic time. Germany, a possessive people, came to Poland to torment its citizens. Soon, our kindred Slavic nations shared Poland’s fate.
Nature was attuned to that bloody time. The trees with their rustling bid farewell to the Polish soldiers who died defending their country to the last drop of blood. A soldier would fall, still smiling benevolently, glad to have died for Poland. Cities were burned by the Germans.
The Polish youth had the worst of it. Going to bed, nobody knew if they would get up again in the morning. They were terrible times. Over and over again we received news of young people dying. Round-ups came several times a month. I was miserable then and I hated the Germans with all my soul. I trembled from my top to my toes whenever I saw a gendarme. They were horrible times such that Poland has never experienced in all those centuries.
I too experienced some terrible moments, but today only memories remain. I was fast asleep one night and I was suddenly awoken by the rattle and boom of machine guns. Eight innocent boys were killed in Wólka Ciechomska then. I can name them: Kazimierz Wieseń, Szerszeń, Marian and Wacław Wiącek, Stanisław Płocki, Kazimierz Kąkol and Franciszek Szerszeń.
Young people hid in the forests from the eternal enemy who had no care for the Polish people. I remember a tragic moment when a taxi-cab with gendarmes came to our village. A boy was walking down the path from Wólka Ciechomska, when suddenly three shots were fired from the car; the boy fell onto the road and young red blood flowed underneath him.
Seeing that, I could never forgive them. I fought with myself and vowed to avenge my friends and relatives as soon as I could get my hands on a weapon. The youth picked up guns and fought, no longer able to bear what the Germans were doing to the Poles. Now the Polish people can live in peace, and everything has passed like a nightmare.