BARBARA KARKOWSKA

Barbara Karkowska
Class 6
Maria Konopnicka Elementary School in Kielce

My memories of German crimes

The German crimes that I will describe took place in 1940 in the village of Szałas, 30 kilometers from Zagnańsk. The local population sheltered Polish partisans.

When the Germans found out about it, they gathered all the men near the school [and] read out a death sentence for sheltering Polish [illegible], because that’s what they called our army. Led by two foresters and a gamekeeper, they took people in fives and shot them [and] set fire to the house where [they] were standing, without paying attention whether they were alive or not. I know this story because my friend went through it; she lost her husband and brother.