大象传媒

The following story appears courtesy of and with thanks to Marushka (Maria) and Zygmunt Skarbek-Kruszewski and George (Jurek) Zygmunt Skarbek.

"I often wondered what caused people to fight. Is it something biological, like breeding, or is it sociological, having its roots in co-existence. The materialistic dialectic is pointing to economical conditions but this does not cover wars for non-economical reasons such as religious wars. What economical reason could unite the Christians from Western Europe to fight fanatically the Arabs in their desert steppe of the Middle East? During human history, how many different slogans were written on the war banners? Would a war psychosis be possible if people possess some instinct which, during the thought of war, triggers off some repulsive feelings?
"Could such a Hitler exist with his gospel 'Mein Kampf' if the German nation was a society of conscientious pacifists? All this social doctrine is based on an apotheosis of wars. His first evangelist and high priest, Alfred Rosenberg, squeezed out everything he could from Hegel, Nietsche and Fichte about the godly fighting spirit and incorporated it in his ideology of National Socialism. All the propaganda was directed to unleash a primitive fighting spirit. To drug the people with a mania of grandeur of the Master race. To tickle his vanity, to excite his imagination with assured victories. To indoctrinate him with a hatred against other races, other ideals, other nations. The 'Volk' (in the German nation, 鈥減eople鈥�) frenzied by the red rag of the Hitler toreadors, came out to fight. To fight with the West, to fight the East, to fight the capitalists and the communists, to fight the democracies and plutocracies, to fight the Jews, religion, philosophies and literature.
"And the people, you know - just people who are organising, supported by science, this horrible machine of destruction. Engineers are giving their most to create a better bomb which will kill more people simultaneously and destroy more relics which were worshipped with piety for generations. The best brains are competing to create better means to wipe out PEOPLE and their accumulated treasures. In research laboratories, in construction offices, in factories ... they are producing better and better bombs ... two .. four .. six .. toners, air mines, flying fortresses, phosphorescent bombs, V-1, V-2, V-3 鈥�
"What are the millions of forced labourers and war prisoners in Germany doing if not producing the destructive tools of war?
"Oh, my God, that is a machinery of the devil. I lack the words. Do you think that all this, all the organisation for total war, will be satisfied with this only? Certainly not" - now he was speaking full of irony "there will still be some living people behind the Front and some who survived in the bombed cities, some who survived concentration camps and those who survived the 'liberation' of their country from independence, and some Jews - a nation of the doomed. Today's war is a total war 鈥� bellum omnium contra omnes (war of all against all). Those who are not killing others or are not helping in killing others - oh, what irony - are enemies of the country. Those who dared to be born Jews are criminals. Those are the laws of total war. The organised system is for total destruction of defenceless people, those people which the Front missed. The concentration camps are growing to the size of cities. Organised armies of dog-catchers are performing round-ups. They are chasing the people in the streets, squares and yards - these dog-catchers of the total war system are chasing these hunted people. They are thrown like dogs into trucks and afterwards behind the barbed wire of camps. To hang or to shoot simultaneously tens of people would be simple but hundreds of thousands is a costly problem. Therefore a cheaper and 'more productive' system to exterminate people was organised, helped by science. Phase one - choking people in gas chambers, phase two - mass burning in crematoriums. The last product - fertiliser from human bones - not damaging to the totalitarian system, even desirable for growing cabbages,鈥� he yelled, his face distorted with a painful smile. He touched his brow, he was tired. His face was twitching nervously and he was biting his lips. But then he continued, not as loudly, stopping between words.
鈥淭he totalitarian system is not only destroying the living person with its creative mind, but also his previous thoughts contained in books and his masterpieces in art and literature. The totalitarian system, irrespective of whether they are red, white or brown, are astonishingly united and exceptionally conceited. They will not tolerate anything that is not proclaimed by them as truth. Take, for instance, literature. Sometimes they prosecute the author and sometimes the books. What will be left of literature if sometimes the creators and sometimes the creation is being destroyed by the totalitarian system? Take the German poet, Heine - his books are suddenly removed from all shelves because he had a mother, or was it a grandmother, who was a Jewess. Einstein's theory of relativity is being expunged because its author is a Jew. But again, if a pure Aryan, Zessing, wrote 'Nathan the Wise', only his book was burnt as it is not acceptable for a Jew to be wise and to be a deep thinker. How many such examples one could quote."
I interrupted - "Adam, this reminds me of some incidents in a library in Kaunas. Then, in 1940, Lithuania became a Soviet republic, the Soviets ordered the removal from the library of all books written by the so-called reactionaries, that is Poles, and also books written by Russian emigrants. A year later came the Germans - they in turn ordered the removal of all books by Soviet authors and the translations of other Russian authors. In this way, during a year the library became short of books as it was mainly stocked with books from her neighbouring countries written in Polish, Russian and German."
"There, you are鈥�. Adam was speaking again full of emotion, "this total war destroys all and everything. It seems absurd but the enemy armies are working together. The armies which are in the offensive are destroying and bombing the hinterland - they are destroying the railways, factories and towns. Armies on the defensive, when retreating, destroy bridges and burn everything possible so that the enemy is unable to use anything which they had not previously destroyed. The same applies with people. The retreating army is killing all its political enemies. The offensive one is killing all the adherents of its enemy. I ask you, isn't it the perfect co-operation for total destruction of life and goods?
"I hate war, I hate it with all my nerves, with all feelings, right to my marrow. But I do realise that I am helpless in hatred like a child who is blowing into the wind to stop it blowing on the child's face. I don't even know if it is an infectious illness or an inherent one in all people. If I could find this 'baccillus belli' (war virus), I would be the first to start fighting it."
I interrupted, smiling - "There you are, now you have also caught this infection. You are ready to start fighting."
We were interrupted by the loud voice of the doctor from Lublin. "Enough digging, the second shift is due now. The first shift will now start emptying the rubbish heap as the trench is nearly finished."
Adam climbed on top of the heap but his work was not progressing as he was trampling on a tin, muttering to himself and biting his lips.
That afternoon when German soldiers again came to our yard our women surrounded them, asking them to allow the gathering of some potatoes which were growing in the field of Diokotow. The women explained that bread had gone long ago and the food supplies were finished in most of the families. After talking between themselves, the German soldiers told our women to gather in the yard and, under the protection of the soldiers, they would be allowed to go to the fields. It was only a small group with Marushka amongst those ready to go. As we still distrusted the Germans, we followed them to the gate. They were the first to be permitted to go outside after six days imprisonment in our yard.
They returned triumphantly after an hour. Marushka brought her potatoes in a scarf and apron tied around her waist. She was shot at while digging and had to dive between the plants but we all enjoyed our meal very much. Marushka told us that, during the digging, she had a good look at the chapel of the Jesuits. The building was mostly ruined and smoke was still coming from it. All around was empty and quiet and heaps of bricks and glass covered the lawn. The reason for destruction as given to her by the soldiers was that there was a search in the monastery of the Jesuits and the Prior was asked if there were arms on the premises which he denied. But after a thorough search, including a personal search of the priests, arms were found and even Polish officers in hiding. According to the soldiers, there was even a colonel with the officers. Not only rifles but also a lot of ammunition was found. Therefore the German officer in charge issued the order that everyone should be shot, including all civilians who were there during the church service. The house was burnt.
The thought of the Jesuits was still very much on all our minds. They were all well known here. Some were even from our block that went that day to the church service, the day of the uprising. Nobody had heard from them. There was now no hope left as three days had already passed since the chapel was burnt. We had to believe the Germans that everyone perished.
That afternoon the Germans who came to our block announced that the German Army authority had issued a truce period for our block from noon to 2 p.m. to enable the women to leave the block and go into the streets which were controlled by the Germans. Men were excluded from this truce.
After the Germans had left, unbelievable news spread through our yard. A few Jesuits from the burnt chapel were hiding in our yard. During the night two Jesuits and a little boy had arrived in our yard completely exhausted, wounded, half-starved and utterly dejected. They were given civilian clothing and were now sheltering in one of the flats.
In the evening when the gates were locked for the night and our yard illuminated by the fires of burning of Warsaw, most of us, as usual, came down to the yard to share the latest news. The three survivors from the chapel came down too. All our crowd surrounded them. We wanted to know the truth of the tragedy in the chapel. The two young men, very pale and emaciated, had short cropped hair and wore civilian suits. One had a bandage around his head and one hand in a splint, the other a dressing on a badly swollen face. The third, a teenage boy, was very thin and pale. On the day of the uprising he was helping during mass services.
When I was near the group, I heard someone asking "Did the Germans start shooting immediately they forced their entry?" The Jesuit with the bandaged head, feeling uncomfortable in civilian clothes, dropped his head and said; "No, they did not. After entering the chapel, the Germans called the Prior and asked him about arms. We were rounded up and pushed down to the basement. Two S.S. men were left to guard the door. After a while we were ordered to go into the doorkeeper's room. It was a small room next to the basement."
"Excuse me," somebody interrupted, "were there also others besides brothers and priests?"
"There were over a dozen women with their children who had stayed with us from the day of the uprising. In the doorkeeper's room there were about twenty priests. In don't know where the rest were, nor where the Prior was. We were crammed together in this room not knowing what they wanted from us. Time passed. One of our guards Went outside the door and spoke with someone and then closed our door. Suddenly the door burst open, framed in the door stood a young S.S. man with a hand grenade. He screamed some words in German at us and then, to our horror, he pulled out the pin and hurled the grenade into our crowd.
"Jesus,鈥� prayed a woman next to me. In the crowd there was a deep sighing of 'Holy Mother', 'Oh, my Jesus Christ' . . ." The priest wiped his sweating face with his arm and continued "It is hard for me to tell in true order what happened next. We were all deafened by the noise. Pushed by others, I fell on the bed near the wall. I only knew that I was still alive and that nothing was hurting me. The same noise came for the second time and then a third ... I felt a sharp pain in my head. I opened by eyes and saw people trying to climb up the walls. I saw many bodies and blood on the floor. For a second I also saw some soldiers standing at the door, pointing their rifles into the room. Sour-smelling smoke stung my eyes. Screams, again some shots. I felt something heavy pressing on me. That was all. What happened afterwards I don't know. When I was conscious again the room was deathly quiet. Something was still pressing, me down. It was the dead body of one of my brothers. When I moved my elbow hurt badly,鈥� he pointed to the splint, "and my head was hurting too. I sat up. It was already dawn. My God Father, I am unable to describe the sight. Bodies covered in blood, bodies of my brothers, of women and children. Opposite me were sitting two human forms. One, his head hanging down, was the body of Father Martin, the second one was Brother Joseph here with us. His face was very swollen and his eyes and face covered with blood. He looked dead and this saved him. The S.S. men did not finish him off, assuming him dead." We all looked at father Joseph whose face was distorted by swelling and covered with dressings.
The Jesuit continued "Leaving the dead behind, we pushed our way towards the door to the passage where we noticed a smell of singeing. The chapel was burning. We reached the yard and hid behind a stack of coal. Close to us German soldiers were patrolling the street. Crawling, We reached the barn where coal is kept and there, hiding in the darkest corner, we found our young companion,鈥� he smiled tenderly at the boy. "We were afraid of the Germans and kept hiding in the coal. On the third night the hunger drove us to you, my dear people. God Almighty only spared our three lives." He finished speaking, bending his head.

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'This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by 大象传媒 Radio Merseyside鈥檚 People鈥檚 War team on behalf of the author and has been added to the site with his / her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.'

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