Teresa Dotkiewicz
Class 6
Stanisław Konarski Elementary School in Kielce
[Illegible] November 1946
My most memorable moment from the occupation
The Germans, Poland’s sworn enemy, invaded our country. They devastated villages and towns on their way because they wanted to destroy and exterminate the Polish people. To achieve this, they used horrible methods, taking people to concentration camps, to forced labor, hanging people, carrying out public executions, burning people alive in crematoria, which was the cruelest and most disgusting.
We lived in constant fear of deportation for at least five years. I lived during this time with my parents and sister in Warsaw and attended school.
It was the afternoon. I had just came back from school, and everyone was home. We were sitting at the table when a scream and the sound of a braking tram reached our ears. We ran to the window and saw something that could be seen almost every day on the streets of Warsaw. A car with German gendarmes came around and stood [illegible] at the tram stop. There were so many uniforms of the gendarmes that there was green all around. They stood with their rifles, stopped cars and trams, and checked people’s identity papers.
At once we saw a cluster of men and women being led to the car. It was on them that everyone’s eyes and attention were focused. Suddenly a boy of 18 or 19 jumped out of the tram. He wanted to run to the gate of the building across the street. He ran. A moment of tension. Would they notice him or not? They did notice. A rifle salvo... and the boy fell to the ground, and a low moan came from his chest. After a moment, he broke off to run further. A second shot. He fell, seriously wounded. The Germans fled. An ambulance pulled up and took the boy to the hospital.
This event shook me to the core, because I understood what barbarism a nation that has eliminated God from its life is capable of.