Class 7
Public Polish Elementary School in Radzyń
My wartime experience
One morning in August 1944 there was an immense commotion in Radzyń. Someone, I don’t know who, said that the Germans were leaving Radzyń. Shells were being fired from the east. It was said that the Red Army was coming to our rescue. The Polish partisans, hidden in the forests, were firing their cannons in order to get to Radzyń as quickly as possible and join up with their wives, mothers and children.
I did not know where to hide. After a few minutes mummy and I ran to a nearby trench. We observed Radzyń through an opening in the trench. In the meantime, the Germans had had no time to pack – they took whatever they could and fled west. We saw two Germans running through the meadows and ditches without even their weapons.
We sat in the trench the whole day. When night fell, some German planes appeared, lighting up and bombing the area. When I looked through the opening in the trench, I saw Radzyń in flames. And so the German aircraft approached and flew off a few times.
Next morning we left the trench and walked to the village. The people there were no longer so terribly afraid. We spent a week there, and then returned home. Fortunately, our house lay outside the town and had not been bombed. When we returned to the town, I saw people wounded and killed. I was so terribly sad upon seeing the town in ruins.