Krystyna Celejewska
Class 4a
Primary school no. 1
Skarżysko-Kamienna
My memories of the German atrocities
Once, during the occupation, when I was playing in the street, I saw four cars driving along towards us along the road by the church. I was very curious because they all stopped and some Germans got out of one of the cars. I ran home at once to tell my parents what I had seen on the road. At first, my parents were very scared and nobody left home; we thought [it was] a roundup. After a short while, we heard gunshots. I ran out into the street first [to] see what had happened. The Germans were getting back in the car they had got out of. The car set off slowly and [the Nazis] drove off. I saw where the Germans had come out and I ran over. Oh my God! I saw that 20 Poles were lying dead, their hands bound behind their backs and their faces in the earth. There was terrible shouting and crying when mothers found their sons and wives found their husbands. It was a horrific sight, but the local Germans soon arrived and chased the whole crowd away. We could only watch from afar as our locals had to bury the dead. The next day, as I was walking to school, I saw only a burial mound on which stood a Crucifix made from birchwood.