Memories of an unknown patriot.
part1 - The War
On September 1, 1939, the sun rose red. There was a light fog. At eight o'clock in the morning, I saw a German plane flying over Retkinia with Polish signs. He was shooting at the train. In the evening hours, the entire city of Łódź was bombed. So war!?
September 6. A Polish soldier came to us in the early morning and warned us that the Germans were close. He looked exhausted. He was telling the truth. Before the evening, a German patrol of four soldiers entered Retkinia. There was no sign of fatigue from them, on the contrary, they were bursting with pride. They received a bunch of flowers from a young Retkinian girl.
The next day, early in the morning, the Germans entered Łódź along the Pabianica road. An orchestra was playing them. I felt into reverie and melancholy, or maybe it was fear. "What happens now?" All the men from Retkinia went to defend Warsaw. I was 16 at the time. I did not go because my leg was damaged. I was ordered to stay. It was a painful experience for me.
After the capitulation of Warsaw, the Retkinians began to return home, but not all of them.
November 11, 1939. Retkinian patriots gathered at Zagrodniki Street with a small-scale peasant, an active PPK activist. This meeting was presided over by Father Władysław Chojnacki. On his hands, the Retkinians swore that the fight would take place underground. An oath was made and all documents were buried in the ground - a few meters from the place where today there is a memory board commemorating the fallen Retkinians.
This is how the first organization of the resistance movement in these lands was created.
It was a movement of young and inexperienced people, it was also the Germans who quickly tracked them down.
Father Wncenty Kozula and many prominent activists were arrested. It was the first failure. The Retkinians did not break down. The fight was to continue until victory. The hard times of the occupation began.
German occupation
January 1940 came. The sirens of the Retkiński Volunteer Fire Department were making noise, as if they were getting ready to put out a fire. All members of the guard appeared when summoned in full gear. Then the Germans surrounded them, then ordered them to take off their uniforms and, wearing shirts and underpants, ordered them to return home. The Volunteer Fire Department in Retkinia was disbanded in such a shameful manner.
However, firefighters managed to hide their banner, which survived the entire occupation.
August 1940 came. The Germans began their traditional activities, that is, the mass deportation of Retkinians, especially youths to forced labor in Germany. The younger ones had to work in the estate in Brusie. I ended up there too. The recruitment of young people was led by Zygmunt K..., a "retkinian henchman", who lived in the village of Długa Kolonia (now Balonowa Street).
We worked for free. It was hard to accept all this.
Germans vs Russians
January 10, 1941. The Germans started to build anti-aircraft gun positions in the fields. There were severe frosts, so they lit fire to warm the frozen ground. By the end of February, all artillery was operational. Barracks were also built. All these activities were a preparation for the war with the USSR.
Somehow it cheered us up. Our oppressors were afraid of something, something was going to happen. We started meeting in the evenings at the house of Wawrzyniec K... . One day, he built a radio and we all listened, mostly to London. It gave us hope. We were saying: "The higher the sun, the closer Sikorski is".
Unfortunately, the Germans struck first and moved further toward the Soviet Union. It was somewhat devastating news for us. In a short time, they built a concentration camp in Ruda Pabianicka, to which Soviet prisoners of war began to be transported.
After the victorious German artillery began to move east, the barracks were no longer needed, and these prisoners were brought in to demolish them. They were guarded by gendarmes with dogs. It was a terrible sight. The prisoners were very exhausted. I tried to contact them but failed. I know that many of them could speak Polish because when I was working in the field and talking to the horses, they could understand me. I was very close to them, literally through the copper, but there was nothing I could do because of the German soldiers with the rifles.
I can say one thing, this view will stay in my memory and heart forever.
photo from Wikipedia
Resettlement
Spring 1942 came. On June 10, the Germans displaced almost all of Retkinia. Sadness reigned in our hearts. The Germans, for their propaganda, left a few Polish farmers, even merged two large farms and left them under the control of Poles. One was received by the aforementioned Zygmunt K. ... and the second was given to my uncle. It was spring 1942.
Bad things started to happen in Retkinia. Great chaos arose, not only among ordinary citizens but also in underground organizations, because Zygmunt K. ... was the leader of a popular group, so it was difficult to see his true intentions.
August 16, 1942 at 7.00 p.m. A terrible fire broke out on my uncle's farm, probably the biggest one in Retkinia's history. It was a tragedy that directly influenced the shape of German policy in the entire Łódź. A mystery that has never been solved. The Germans did not discover anything either. I was interrogated by the Gestapo about 30 times. Likewise, all the neighbors. There was silence in Retkinia, as if before a storm.