January 1941, Warsaw ghetto. Abrasza, a pupil of Janusz Korczak’s
Orphanage, “Moje przeżycia z wojny” [My experiences of the war].
Concerns September 1939
Written by Abrasza
he wrote at home, ended up in the orphanage.
My experiences of the war
It was 1 September 1939. I was woken up by a loud conversation. What happened? I asked and I immediately felt anxiety. War, mobilisation. Mum’s voice
is trembling. Then my aunt rushes into the room and says that she had just
said goodbye to the neighbour who was taken into the army. I noticed that
her eyes were red. My father walked around the room and calmed everyone
down. But I saw that he was upset. I dressed quickly and went down the street.
There was commotion and confusion. Mothers accompanied their sons to the
rail station and wives walked with their husbands. There were people everywhere,
buzzing about politics. I went on. Then, on the corner of the street,
a car stopped, from which two Polish army officers got out. They stopped all
traffic and started taking horses and bikes. Suddenly, the roar of sirens and
a distant growling of the engine sounded. Raid, raid! The screams of OPL⁸⁰
house commanders were heard. I started running home. Then I heard a blast
of an exploding bomb. And the response of machine guns and Zenith guns.
It was the first enemy raid. The next day [from] the early morning there was
a second air raid. The house commander ordered us to go down to the shelter.
And long days of fear and anxiety began. There were raids almost every
day. But it wasn’t the end, because even at night the enemy artillery wasn’t
giving up. Weeks went by, the hunger started. We hid everything for my
little sister. There were even days when we ate nothing. When we left the
shelter, we heard there was a ceasefire.
ARG I 679 (I/1066)
Description: original, handwritten, ink, Polish, 112x245 mm, 1 sheet, 2 pages.
