Jerzy Kraus
Class 5b
Stanisław Staszic Elementary School in Kielce
What do the mass graves tell us?
All over Poland, in villages and towns, sometimes in empty fields, the graves of fallen Poles can be seen. These graves are either individual or mass graves. Mass graves tell of mass shootings or hangings of Poles by the Germans. Mass graves also tell of the relentless struggle of the entire Polish population against the German occupiers, a struggle that lasted from the outbreak of the war until its end.
One need only go to the cemetery of the fallen in Kielce to see that the corpses of our heroes, who died in defense of their homeland, sometimes at the age of 14 or 15, lie there. They died both old and young, both men and women. The mass graves of our heroes bear witness to the crimes committed by the Germans against the Poles, who above all loved the freedom and independence of their beloved homeland.
The mass graves stigmatize the Germans as murderers and cowards. They saw with fear that force cannot do everything, that Poles are not afraid, so they began to kill us en masse, wanting to save themselves. This did not frighten us; on the contrary, our nation was all the more [eager] for vengeance. The partisans intensified their actions and the German thugs, although they sowed mass graves in Poland, also sowed the desire for revenge for the crimes committed against the best sons of the Fatherland.