Maria Chwastowska
Class 7a
Maria Konopnicka Elementary School
My memories of clandestine education
I often remember the conditions in which I studied during the German occupation. Public schools were closed because they were occupied by the army, so we went to study privately, so-called clandestine education. When I was going to class, I had to hide my school bag with books so that no-one would track us down and inform the Germans, because then they might arrest the teacher. I missed going to school regularly, being able to study freely; clandestine teaching did not give me that feeling of freedom because the slightest carelessness could cause hurt.
How pleasant it is to study at school now, when I am not afraid of being searched by German military police on the way to school, and I can sit on a bench in a sunny classroom, where the emblem of Poland, the White Eagle, hangs before me.