Class VI
Piekoszów
What do the mass graves mean?
The mass graves tell us about the Nazi murders, about the Poles who died in concentration camps for their homeland, for Poland. The mass graves [started to be built in] 1940, when Poles went to the camps but did not return. They went because they had to, because they were already in Nazi hands, defenseless, at the mercy of God and fate. They went and they never returned. Where are they? In graves near Majdanek, Auschwitz, and many other camps. In 1945, when the Soviet army conquered the Nazi lion, all the graves came to light, news [of them] reached every corner of Poland. Every Pole understood what the Germans were after: the destruction of the Polish nation. Despite the terrible suffering and [numerous] murders, the spirit of the Polish nation did not weaken. It understood [then] the unification of the nations of the world. Otherwise, the Polish nation and Poland would have seen their end. All of us would have graves if the Soviet army had not freed us. The graves tell us about the nation’s suffering and murders in Nazi captivity. The mass graves can be found everywhere in the forest, in the fields, in the furnaces of the concentration camps. Innocent children and mothers were killed. Warsaw reminds us of the greatest grave, where thousands of people lie under rubble and rest [there] forever. The people of Warsaw could not stop this terrible revenge, and Hitler was still too strong [and] they could not stop the Nazi lion, and there was no help [from anywhere]. Everyone was waiting for it to come [but] it did not come and they died. In our hearts, the heart of every Pole, is the largest grave, the wound inflicted on Poland for such a long time. All those who lie in the graves are a memory of the Polish nation. Poland will never forget that war of 1939, which will be [remembered] for ages.