Lucyna Gabrylewicz
Class 4
Wisznice, Włodawa district
19 June 1946
My wartime experiences
In 1939, the Germans invaded Poland and stayed in our country for a very long time. When they started murdering both the Poles and the Soviets, all the Soviets went into the woods, armed themselves and drove the Germans away from both Poland and Russia. The war started in 1944. As they were retreating from Poland, the Germans destroyed and burned down many houses. The Germans left on 24 July 1944, and the Soviets came on 25 July 1944. During the war people had to live in the woods, but luckily we managed to survive it somehow. When the Germans were gone, partisans started roaming the forests. The Germans thought they would take over Poland. [For] me, the war was very horrible.