Lidia Lasek
Class 5
Elementary School no. 1 in Starachowice
Iłża district
18 November 1946
Memories of German crimes
The year 1943 was memorable. On a fine and bright morning in July I was awakened by the lamentation of my neighbors. I got dressed and went out to the yard. I saw my neighbors in terrible despair. When I asked mom what happened, she replied that our neighbor’s, Ms. Królowa’s son, daughter-in-law, daughter, son-in-law and grandson were killed at 4 a.m. It was a terrible sight. It happened in the presence of an eight-year-old boy. His mother and then father were killed in front of him. News of the crime spread rapidly. All those killings were beyond reason. I couldn’t understand why this cultured nation committed such murders.
It was even worse in large cities. The Germans erected gallows in public places and hanged people there. They organized round-ups in the streets. The people they caught were stacked on top of each other in cars and taken to concentration camps. Poles in the camps were doomed to [exhausting] work, hunger, cold, and contempt. Eventually, when the prisoners were weak and unfit for work, they were sent to gas chambers and burned in the crematoria. There were also cases of German dogs tearing Poles to death.
I cannot and will never forget such murders and atrocities committed by the Nazi executioners against our compatriots.