garrison bravely defending their position in Gdańsk, and finally even the dry
announcements of the military staff were too convincing not to be moving.
All those in summer resorts near Łódź decided to stay there, thinking
that if the war began, towns and cities would be bombed, and it would be
safer to stay in the countryside. Yet a number of villages and summer resorts
were bombed as early as on the first day, and there were several casualties
in almost every locality. It caused a huge panic, and all the people who lived in
Łódź rushed back to the city. [5] Everyone wished to return home as soon as
possible at any price. So during those first days, all roads and highways were
filled with wagons and people walking back from the resorts to Łódź. Paying
no attention to the aircraft flying over their heads or to the danger they were
in, they continued walking, carrying their belongings.
With the radio reports broadcast during the raids, the atmosphere became even more tense. On Sunday, 3 September, we learned from the radio and newspapers that Great Britain had declared war on Germany. Soon after, France declared war on Germany. The crowd in the streets was singing “La Marseillaise.” “Victory is certain now,” everyone said.
Anxiety grew with the incoming news from the front line. We had to
abandon our enthusiasm and lofty words and realise that the Germans were
actually approaching. All that time, just as everyone else, I was so excited with
the solemnity and seriousness of the moment that I did not realise what was
really happening. On the fourth day of the war, Monday, we learned that our
friends [6] had rented a car, left everything in their flat, and left Łódź. There
were many similar cases. I had to realise then that the front was approaching.
But it did not shake my faith in the Poles’ victory, though father tried
to convince me otherwise. That day, my parents started to think seriously
about going east. The prospect of going somewhere far away — to Równe or
Baranowicze⁵⁸ — and surviving the whole turmoil of war there appealed to
me. I considered it another wartime diversion.
A girlfriend from Zduńska Wola paid me an unexpected visit on Tuesday.
She came over, did not say a word at first and then suddenly started crying.
Then she told me they had been on the road for three days already. Just as
stationed there. After it was attacked from the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, the defense took place from 1 through 7 September 1939.
58 Today Rivne in Ukraine and Baranovichi in Belarus.
