Maria Misiorek
Class 7a
Maria Konopnicka Elementary School in Kielce
My most memorable moment from the occupation
Two weeks before the liberation of the town of Kielce, the Germans arrested my brother and we could no longer live in our house. We moved to my aunt’s place. In four days’ time, the Germans deported my brother, but we still could not return home. On 14 January, we moved back to our house with my aunt, because a shell had fallen on her house at night.
The Germans were reluctant to leave the town and so a battle ensued. Shells began to explode over the houses. In the morning the planes arrived and started bombing the buildings and the fleeing tanks. Shelling continued throughout the day, causing heavy damage; only in the evening did things calm down a little. The Red Army entered the town at 6 p.m. The retreating Germans fired back all night long.
When I went out into the street, I saw a terrible sight. Electricity poles and wires were damaged, houses demolished or burned down, tanks destroyed in the road, weapons and ammunition scattered about. There were a lot of people in the streets who had taken refuge in shelters and cellars during the battle.