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In 1939 the first bombs fell on several buildings in Radomsko. The houses burned down, and there were some dead bodies, as well. The Germans began right off by bombing the main square. So it was quite tough. I remember: the main road went right by our house, so we would run to the road, out of childish curiosity, to watch the soldiers, rows of our Polish soldiers passing, on their horses, with cannons on the wagons – all that was moving westwards and so we could guess that something was in the air. Besides that, one of our neighbors had a radio and these ear-phones, so we would go over to his house and listen to the speech from Warsaw, the one that President Starzynski gave. [Stefan Starzynski, the president of Warsaw 1934-39. His famous radio speeches made him the leader of the city’s defenders in September 1939.]
We lived in the outskirts of the city. The noise, the screams, going down to the basements, gas scares and so on. The news was going around that the Germans were on their way, so my mother prepared these bundles, and my father, all six of us – we all escaped, heading eastwards. We did not get very far, because we were moving on foot. The Germans caught up with us and we had to go back. We must have walked a dozen kilometers, and we collapsed in a barn. I remember it was September and there was a huge orchard there, really beautiful, the apples were ripe, and so we survived by eating these apples for a few days, but then we returned home. Our house was untouched, everything was in perfect order. We were not the only ones that had run away – a number of other families went off with us as well. And then for about half a year we went on living in our house, right until they created the closed ghetto. Because our house was not in the ghetto, it was outside.
This is when the gehenna began. As soon as the Germans came, immediately – they sent us off to work. Maybe not me, but my father – yes. He had to work. It was tough, he was earning close to nothing. There was a sawmill nearby, this is where he worked, they were making wagons for the army. I remember him returning home once, he was all bloody, all beat up. What happened? He was doing his job and he did something wrong, and one of the Germans beat him up and let him go. He came home all bloody – his back, everything. My mother started dressing his wounds, applying a compress, this and that. Mind you, it happened before the ghetto was closed. Later, things got much worse. My mother stayed a home, she never worked. A lot changed in our family life, because we were not going to school any more – not just us Jews, our Polish neighbors didn’t go either, because the schools were not opened right away. There was no question of studying, nothing was the same as before.
We lived in the outskirts of the city. The noise, the screams, going down to the basements, gas scares and so on. The news was going around that the Germans were on their way, so my mother prepared these bundles, and my father, all six of us – we all escaped, heading eastwards. We did not get very far, because we were moving on foot. The Germans caught up with us and we had to go back. We must have walked a dozen kilometers, and we collapsed in a barn. I remember it was September and there was a huge orchard there, really beautiful, the apples were ripe, and so we survived by eating these apples for a few days, but then we returned home. Our house was untouched, everything was in perfect order. We were not the only ones that had run away – a number of other families went off with us as well. And then for about half a year we went on living in our house, right until they created the closed ghetto. Because our house was not in the ghetto, it was outside.
This is when the gehenna began. As soon as the Germans came, immediately – they sent us off to work. Maybe not me, but my father – yes. He had to work. It was tough, he was earning close to nothing. There was a sawmill nearby, this is where he worked, they were making wagons for the army. I remember him returning home once, he was all bloody, all beat up. What happened? He was doing his job and he did something wrong, and one of the Germans beat him up and let him go. He came home all bloody – his back, everything. My mother started dressing his wounds, applying a compress, this and that. Mind you, it happened before the ghetto was closed. Later, things got much worse. My mother stayed a home, she never worked. A lot changed in our family life, because we were not going to school any more – not just us Jews, our Polish neighbors didn’t go either, because the schools were not opened right away. There was no question of studying, nothing was the same as before.
Period
Year
1939
Interview
Stanislaw Wierzba