Teresa Mikicińska
Class 7
Sławatycze, 13 June 1946
My wartime experiences
I’ve been through a lot of terrible moments during this war. One of the most horrible of all was having to say goodbye to my dad when he went to war in 1939. I was still young at the time, but I already understood that I could lose my beloved dad. I was sad for a couple of days, but then I was happy like before. Our farm was doing worse and worse. I started feeling the repercussions of the fact that dad was not home. How happy I was when I found myself in dad’s embrace! I was happier then, glad to do everything mum told me.
A few days [after] dad returned, the Germans invaded our Homeland. The enemy began to kill our population and turn them into forced laborers. Great sorrow took over the hearts of Polish people, seeing the brothers who died at the hands of the cruel opponent. The whole world became gloomy and life was hard due to German persecution. The Germans took the school buildings, turned them into their headquarters, and we were allowed to study in private homes. In Sławatycze, the Germans took away dozen or so hectares of fields with grain and potatoes, turned them into an airstrip and deprived poor people of food. The oppression got worse and worse. People started writing sad songs and poems. Everyone’s life was uncertain.
And finally our hopes turned into reality and the Germans left our beloved Homeland. We were in the forest when the front line came. During nights and days, all we could hear was the banging of cannons. There were two cannons set up near our home, but they were not fired once. On Sunday morning we heard a loud noise on the road followed by silence. Then the last front line left our colony. When the Germans left us, everybody was cheerful and we regained our spirits. The whole world became happier and everybody started singing happily. After this war, Poland is destroyed, but we will slowly rebuild it.