Wiesława Derek
Class 5b
Elementary School no. 4 in Starachowice
Iłża district
16 November 1946
Memories from the German occupation
During the German occupation, it was very difficult to obtain food and clothing. There was enough of everything in Poland, but everything was for the Germans. But people coped as best they could. The round-ups affected everyone the most. Every Pole, whether they were at home, in the street, or anywhere else, was always anxious. The Germans would arrive unexpectedly in their cars, surround the streets and houses and arrest the inhabitants. People often did not sleep at home, but in the forests and hideouts. Those caught were taken to the camps, where they had to work very hard. At the camps people would fall ill from hunger, cold, exhaustion and terrible German abuse. The sick were not treated, but gassed and burned in furnaces. Hardly anyone came back healthy and capable of [further] work.