Aleksander Grzywka
Class 6b
Józef Piłsudski school no. 3
Skarżysko-Kamienna
The most memorable moment from the years of the occupation
Our school was closed when the war broke out. It stood empty for a while, and German soldiers sometimes stayed there. In autumn 1941, people – mostly the intelligentsia – started to be brought in from the surrounding areas and held in the school buildings. We lived very close to the school, and so I often saw the trucks bringing priests, professors and women. They were mostly people from Radom and Kielce. Our beautiful school was turned into a miserable prison complex. There was a guardpost outside the gate surrounded by gendarmes. We were not allowed to look at the school – or, God forbid, stop outside – whenever we went past because they would arrest us. One evening, when mom and I were walking past the school, I heard the terrible moans and cries of a prisoner being beaten during an interrogation. Whenever I think about it today, that horrible sound rings in my ears. That moment will stay with me forever and will remain a shocking experience.