intended to protect the population from the effects of possible German air
raids. Those trenches were an even more explicit proof that the situation was
very serious and that everybody really understood that the war could break
out at any minute. That suspicion found its confirmation in the strips of
paper glued to window panes to protect them from the vibrations caused by
bombs. The conviction that [5] the Germans would attack Kalisz first due to
its proximity to the border was becoming stronger every day. It was thought
that Kalisz would be the first town to be bombed by the enemy, therefore the
established Anti-Aircraft Defence Committee issued an ordinance obliging
women and children to leave the town if possible and go to the nearby villages
and small towns. A special housing bureau was established in the town
hall to direct people to various localities.
That ordinance caused great agitation in the entire town. The people
thought that there was no time to lose and that it was necessary to leave Kalisz
as quickly as possible. The tension was further intensified by the hearsay that
all files and important official documents had been removed from Kalisz. All
inhabitants of Kalisz who had any opportunity to leave were preparing themselves
for departure. People were standing in long lines at the PKO bank counters
to withdraw their savings. Vacationers were hastily returning home from
holiday resort localities. The prices of suitcases, chests, and baskets skyrocketed.
The Kalisz train station was packed with people day and night. The droshkies
and a few unrequisitioned lorries and taxis were available only for the
rich, as they charged exorbitant prices. There was excitement and commotion
in all homes. The people were packing their things, tying up their bundles,
and preparing for departure. Whole families were leaving their homes
and setting out with their possessions to find [6] a safe place [. . .] [and not] be
exposed to the atrocities of war. The rush to leave Kalisz intensified several
times particularly in late August, when endless lines of peasant carts from the
villages located near the western border streamed through town. Fearing
the consequences of the war, the peasants from those areas were leaving their
farms. They piled whatever possessions they could onto their carts, took their
families, drove their cattle, and headed east, the farther from the border, the
better. It was a touching sight, accompanied by the incessant rattle of
the peasant carts and the bellowing and mooing of the driven cattle. That sight
caused the intention to leave the town to spread even to the poorest inhabitants,
who did not have the means or possibility to leave. Such people took
