Eighty-five years ago, the aggression of Germany and the outbreak of war destroyed the lives of millions of Poles. Many died, even more became victims of wartime trauma, which besides burdened the next generations. This is how any of those who saw German bombs mentioned this dramatic time.
When Germany attacked Poland Zbigniew Snarski was 15 years old. From his birth he lived with his parents in Warsaw. The vacation was over, and he rested at his aunt's. – The war came to me erstwhile I had a good summertime time at my aunt's in the Pułtuska area. That was the first time I heard the whistle of missiles and saw the Polish battery shoot the Germans, and they returned fire. From a distance, it looked very spectacular. Coloured flares from bursting artillery missiles shoot into the sky like fireworks. However, erstwhile the canonada moved close to the place where I was, I forgot about its spectacles and became truly afraid. I realized it was not a game – reminded Zbigniew Narski (1924 – 2023), an AK soldier, a Warsaw insurgent, on emigration since 1947 – due to the death conviction given to him by the communist court.
In September 1939, Bronisław Karwowski, who lived in Łomża, was besides 15 years old. He witnessed the German bombings of this city and the bloody struggles of Polish soldiers to keep the Narwi line. On this very line, in the area of Wizna, on Strękowa Góra, soldiers commanded by Captain Władysław Raginis were heroically defended. On Narwi, which flows through Lomza, for a long time, in September 1939, the front stood. – I saw the cruel face of war in Lomża on 3 September. I was close to downtown at the time. German bombers flew over the city. They started throwing bombs. I remember the explosion, the homes crashing, people freaking out. erstwhile I was 15 years old, I saw a sight that I would never forget for the remainder of my life. The shrapnel of the bomb cut off the man's head, and the body itself ran a fewer more meters before falling on the street. I was jumping from the gate to the tenement gate. I managed to escape with my life. – remembers. Bronisław Karbowski (1924-2018) AK soldier, later National Military Unity. After the war he cruelly interrogated by UB and imprisoned in 1948-52.
September 1939 was well remembered by Fr. prelate Władysław Podszwik (born 1932, who died in 2021). – When the war began, I was only 7 years old, but I remember everything well due to the fact that it was very traumatic. erstwhile my father fought in a defensive war somewhere on the front, German aircraft bombarded our village Zabiele, close Lomza. My friend and I were standing at the basement door. Something or individual invisible, most likely the Guardian Angel, like he whispered in my ear to get into the basement. We went in with a friend, and at the same minute a plane bomb exploded. Flying at large speed, the shrapnel crashed into the doors of the basement. If we were standing there – we would die – You said the Prelate.
It wasn't his only miraculous salvation. – During the next raid, the planes fired on the village. I was just in the field, laying on a plowed field in the furrow. The bullet almost wiped against my head. I got scared, I got up, I started running. 9 planes flew over me, breathing fire from the barrels of device guns, no bullet hit me, all passed by. But my cousin wasn't so lucky. erstwhile she tried to hide, the bullet pierced her. She orphaned a kid who was inactive in the cradle – Fr Władysław Podszwik, a large priest and chaplain of the Polish people in the United States, mentioned sadly.
When the war broke out, Irena Moniuszko was only 6 years old, but she remembers everything perfectly. – When the Germans entered our village, they occupied our home. Our mom, me and 5 siblings, small kids, they put them in the ground basement, no windows. My father was hiding due to the fact that the men were moving to Germany. We were inactive hungry due to the fact that they robbed our property and gave us nothing to eat. erstwhile my 8-year-old brother stole a part of sausage from Germany to feed his family, The Germans beat him very hard, barely survived. They terrorized the full village, respective people shot – As told by Irena, born 1933.
The child's eyes saw the beginning of the war as Marian Tananis (1929 – 2019). – When the war broke out, we took refuge with my grandparents in the village of Flat close Augustów. My father was driven by the Germans to work on cutting down trees and transporting wood from the wilderness to the Augustów Canal, which they were flushed off. This occupation was highly hard and the jury was to become crippled or die. shortly all families from Germany began to be drawn to Augustovszeland and Suwałszeland. Poles were displaced from their homes, and they were given to Germans. The shooting of representatives of Polish intelligence began – recalled Marian Tananis. – 1 time my father left me at his friend's forester in Queen of Water, and he went to Sopoćkin to settle his individual case. While crossing the German-Soviet border he was badly shot by a German soldier. For deficiency of medicine and medical care, he got gangrene and died. The Germans utilized to defile the orphans whose father died. That's what they wanted to do with me. That's why I kept changing my whereabouts so they wouldn't find me. I yet joined the AK ranks and moved in with a branch in the wilderness – He recalled the hard time of the war, Marian Tananis, an AK soldier during the Augustowska raid, who spent many years in dense communist prisons after the war.
Adam Białous
