Janina Marczuk
Class 5b
Wisznice, Włodawa district
29 June 1946
My wartime experiences
One morning in 1940 I got up and heard the rumble of plane engines. A plane crashed near my house and it caught fire. I was terribly afraid. People were digging trenches to hide in them. A plane dropped six bombs nearby. One farmer was grazing cows; all people said the bomb killed him. This war broke out on Sunday. I was terribly afraid when the planes were flying. I thought they were going to fall to the ground.
The Germans stayed in Poland for four years. In 1944, the Germans murdered the Jews. Many Jews escaped to the forest. I was terribly afraid when the Germans came to the village. Once the Germans killed 30 farmers in Wisznice. They were buried by those who kept watch.
In 1945, there was a German-Soviet war. Many Germans came to the village. There were a lot of soldiers in our yard. In the evening, when they were leaving, I thought they would set the village on fire. The next morning we saw the Soviets walking down the road. All the people came out to see what they looked like. A lot of them came to the village in a week.
There was a hospital in Curyn. There were many injured. When a Soviet died, he was buried; lots of Soviets were buried in Curyn. A plane fell at the airfield in Wisznice and the airmen crashed. They were buried in the square near the “Farmer” [collective]. The Soviets stayed in Curyn for a month and then they left. Monuments were erected on the graves and they were fenced. Pictures are stuck to these monuments.