Wiesława Łukaszewicz
Class 6b
Sławatycze, 12 June 1946
Memories of the German occupation
We spent five years in German captivity. The Germans oppressed us a lot. How many people they murdered, how many people died in the prisons, e.g. in Majdanek and in other places. There was also such a camp in our district – in Sobibór. The enemy took our beloved school. We had nowhere to study, we had to stay in rented houses, where it was cold, the windows were broken, and wind blew from under the floor.
I still remember when enemy planes came over Brześć. Mommy quickly dressed me and we went to a trench. The enemy planes began to drop bombs on the military barracks located near our trench. In the evening, when it had quieted down a bit, daddy escorted us to our grandmother’s, and himself went on duty at the mess. The next morning daddy came to say goodbye.
We stayed in the trench all day and night, as it was impossible to get out, because the planes were constantly circling. All parts of the town were on fire. In the fortress, the troops defended themselves, but the enemy had a great advantage, so they had to retreat by planes. When three Polish planes came over the town, the Germans opened fire at them. All people prayed for the planes to be saved. After a few weeks, my grandpa took us to Liszna, a village on the Bug River.