Barbara Rawska [?]
Class 7
Primary school in Lipsko on the Vistula
District of Iłża
Lipsko, 15 November 1946
My most memorable moment from the occupation
I will never forget the moment during the occupation when the headmaster of the school I was then attending, and the teacher of my class, were arrested and taken away. On a beautiful, bright morning in June, a car pulled up quietly in front of the school building where the headmaster lived. The building was surrounded on all sides, and one of the Germans woke up the inhabitants by banging on the door and demanded that it be opened. In spite of the reluctance, because we already knew their methods of rounding people up, the uninvited guest was let in and found the headmaster in his bed. [The German] ordered him [to] dress quickly; he was also told that he would be going with them. My tutor sensed that this would happen to him, and often did not spend the night at home. That night, however, he stayed with his family. He was sad to be parted from his loved ones, especially as he loved his three children very much. Before the car left, he exchanged a few words with a friend and said: “This is exactly what I feared would happen to me”. And they drove off. He never came back. He was murdered in Auschwitz. We were very attached to and loved our headmaster and tutor, so we could not get over it. We still cannot get over it and to this day, and certainly forever, I will remember this tragic moment. It happened in the village of Baćkowice [in] the district of Opatów.