Irena Pokusa
Class 5
Ciecierówka, 10 November 1946
Memories of German crimes
The Germans ruled in Poland for six years. They committed many crimes and caused a lot of harm. They burned towns and villages. The entire village of Dębowe Pole was torched and all its residents were killed. Some villages were burned down and the people were herded to one barn, which was doused in gasoline and set on fire. When people started to burn, there was terrible screeching and squeaking. Some tried to escape, so [the Germans] shot at them. One time the Germans came to Ciecierówka, surrounded the village and started to plunder it. Next they stole cows, horses, pigs etc. Near Ciecierówka there was a small village called Działki. The partisans were quartered there. When the Germans learned about it, they went there in their cars and tanks. They started fighting with the partisans, whom they greatly outnumbered. The partisans killed ten Germans and they killed one partisan. Działki village was burned down by the Germans. In Radom, they hanged twenty men one day. In all towns and villages, they were hanging, burning and killing great numbers of people for the slightest offenses, or rather what they considered offenses. Not only were they killing, but they were also torturing people: gouging eyes out, cutting off tongues, driving nails under fingernails. This is how we suffered for six years.