Maria Klimek
Class 5
Elementary School in Jagodne
Iłża district
Jagodne, 20 November 1946
Memories of German crimes
The war began on 1 September 1939. Some Poles were mobilized, the rest waited for their turn. But it was already too late. The cannons could be heard closer and closer. German planes were bombing stations, cities, trains, and tenements. Germany, our eternal enemy, invaded Poland. The glow of burning towns could be seen in the evenings. People were fleeing to the countryside to escape the fires and bombings. The Germans entered the captured towns, and finally, they approached Warsaw. Its inhabitants bravely defended their city, but they were outnumbered. The Germans won and took Warsaw. The Germans conquered the whole country in a few weeks. After they settled in Poland, they began to oppress and abuse the Polish people. They took people to prison and murdered whole families. In a nearby village, Skarżysko Kościelne, one of the German soldiers was killed. The Germans ordered everyone to come to the commune building. Ten men had their hands tied, were ordered to kneel, had their death sentence read out and were led to one spot and killed with machine guns. A lot of people were killed in several Polish cities. The Germans would drive to a village late in the evening, surround it and take the men for hard labor in Germany. Unable to bear this oppression, Polish people fled to the woods to protect themselves. The Germans stole cattle, grain, and pigs. They exported everything to Germany in order to enrich their country at the cost of Poles. But, in the end, they were not successful because they lost the war.