część I
| Name: | Krystyna (Martusewicz) Balut |
| Description: | Two classes of grade school. I was 8 years old when the war began. As for the tragedy of war, as a child one really doesn’t realize what is happening. For instance, when the bullets were flying, I would look around and see where they were exploding, and if they had hit anyone. A child is ignorant of such things, or something. On Sept. 17th the Bolsheviks invaded Poland, and we are escaping in a wagon. And at this time, an airplane is flying overhead, and the machine gun fire started. Grandmother and the maid ran for cover, and I was with them. Mother and Auntie were under the train. Bullets were flying everywhere. It was an open wagon and yet they missed us. We were heading west, but this was not good, because the west had been badly damaged, bridges were destroyed, there was no where to go. There was no sense to keep going, so we turned back. And this is where the Bolsheviks caught up with us. (Interviewer asks what they had taken with them) Very little. And what is worse, they had forgotten to close the house, so a servant left the train and went back to close and mind the house. I know that when we were standing at some station and we had no food, we sometimes would go to a village to try and find some food. People were escaping in all directions, without rhyme or reason, but all were guided by fear. So we would find someone’s supper on a table, and that would be our subsistence for a time – someone else’s meal. So I don’t remember what we had taken with us, but we came back to the house. |
Tags
- Soviet invasion
Language:
English
Created By:
Shelley Upton
Related Wall of Tribute Record: 117635
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