Barbara Filipkówna [Filipek]
Class 6a
Parczew, 12 June 1946
My experience from the war
I spent nearly the entire war in the countryside, far from the battlegrounds, and so I never really saw the fighting. Only in 1944, when I went for the holidays to Parczew, did I learn what war is. After a few days the Germans started withdrawing, bit by bit, leading some dirty and hungry Ukrainians as prisoners of war.
One day I went out into the courtyard and saw Soviet patrols running around. After a while, some tanks drove up. A few shells were fired and the buildings in Brzeska Street caught fire. They also damaged the church. Out of fear, we all ran to the shelter which had been dug in the courtyard, near the apple tree. While we were praying in the shelter, a Soviet tank drove up and our shelter started to crumble. Terrified and screaming, we ran out. We wanted to find another shelter, but the shooting had ceased.