Matylda Wajdyk
Class 5b
Wisznice, Włodawa district
19 June 1946
My wartime experiences
When the front was approaching, we were in the village. We could see the fires. I thought that my house was on fire, so I wanted to run there, but mom wouldn’t let me. We went to the trench and lay there, but I was very afraid, because mommy and my sister went home to get a large suitcase, in which we kept most things, my brother’s shoes, a clock and a silver picture.
Mom was away for a long time, so I ran home. The bullets were whistling above my head and every few steps I had to fall to the ground. When I came home, I got scared, because mom looked very miserable, so I asked, “What happened to you mom?” Mommy replied that a gendarme wanted to take my brother’s shoes, but she snatched them from his hands and eventually he took my silver picture. I started to cry and ask God for the front to pass as quickly as possible. Then mommy took the suitcase, my sister took the shoes and we went to the village. We waited there for the night and the front moved further.