Janusz Ciepichał
Class 6
Kielce, Markowskiego Avenue 35
What mass graves tell us
Away from human settlements, in the middle of nowhere, you can find graves half overgrown with weeds. These are the graves of heroes who died under the bullets of German soldiers for Poland. Dead heroes could tell us a lot if they could talk. Some would tell how the Germans caught them in the street and took them to some camp, where they were killed; others would tell how the Germans dragged them out of their homes at night and shot them in a field outside the city; others would recall the inhuman torment they endured in the Gestapo cells – kicking, beating and torturing. Warsaw insurgents would tell how entire buildings collapsed with the impact of bombs, how they themselves died either under the rubble, or from a bullet or a grenade. The Jews would talk about how they were poisoned with gas. Everyone would describe the terrible images of the occupation. Since the Germans had a thousand ways to torment their victims, everyone would describe their experiences differently.
The graves themselves could also tell a lot. They would tell how the convicts dug them, and how later convicts who were still alive were finished off and crammed into the pits dozens at a time, and covered with earth. Some mass graves became so overgrown with weeds that all trace of them disappeared. That is why a lot of victims were completely lost. These victims would tell us how they were taken away in a car, placed by a fence, and cut down with a volley of shots. But unfortunately they will tell us nothing, because the dead do not speak.