Jan Siwko
Class 5b
Wisznice, Włodawa district
19 June 1946
My wartime experiences
When I was a young boy – I was seven years old – the German-Soviet war began. Planes were flying overhead, and then the Germans advanced far into Russia. Gendarmes stationed in the school in Wisznice, so there was no education, only somewhere in Czyże. The Germans demanded cows and pigs as part of the quotas.
The Germans shot Jews, and if someone was hiding them, then the whole family was shot. Once the Germans brought some people for execution in the market square and ordered all the Wisznice commune to come and watch. Then one German made a speech.
But the Soviets banished the Germans from Russia. The Germans placed cannons near our place, and the tanks came and fired at Horodyszcze. They started shooting at lunchtime and finished towards the evening, and then they escaped. When the Germans fled, people went to the forest to join the guerrillas. Two Germans came to us and asked for bread, so my mother gave them a piece of bread and they went to the forest. At that time, German cars were burning in Dąbrowa. The Soviets took away the burned German cars.