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.

Next morning when I was taking the rubbish bin outside I found a new, red leaflet. By which wind and at what time it was blown into our yard I didn't know. Nobody had seen it the day before - the night had brought it. This is what it said.


We demand a Soviet Poland!
We the Polish Soviet workers who have mounted the barricades to fight for Poland's freedom against the fascist beast, in this hour we are raising our voices announcing to Poland and the world so that the people, our friends and enemies, should we have risen to fight against Hitlerism to revenge ourselves on the terrible enemy of our people and of the people of the Soviet Union; we have mounted the barricades to destroy the fascist beast and at the same time to establish in our country a government which will be the only one to give happiness to the Polish worker and guarantee his freedom -
FOR THE SOVIET POLAND!
In the hour when in our capital city we raise our aims against fascism, the oppressor of mankind, we declare solemnly that with this battle on the barricades we will wipe out the old Polish reactionaries, capitalists and the clergy.
The Polish Soviet worker who mounted the barricades is demanding a Soviet Poland without large landowners who were inhuman exploiters.
Through our fight on the barricades we will create this type of Poland for which we are ready to give our blood -
FOR THE SOVIET POLAND!
Joining our brothers in the Soviet Union, we will destroy the old order and will create the Polish state of the worker.

Long live Stalin!
Long live Soviet Poland!
Central Committee of the Polish Communist Party.

I finished reading the leaflet and was emptying my rubbish bin when Adam joined me. He was called Adam by everyone. He was a student of classic philosophy.
"Have you been reading something new?"
"A new leaflet, this time a red one," I replied, greeting him. He began to read, supporting his chin on his fist. It was his typical gesture when concentrating. Sometimes he even bit his nails. From next door came Marjory, also bringing her rubbish out. She joined us. She was the maid of the doctor's family who lived opposite us. We all knew each other. She was a short, broadly built girl full of energy and covered with freckles. She wanted to know everything and tried to have her own opinion.
"What is new, Mister Adam?" she asked, emptying her bucket.
"Nothing good, Marjory. By now people don't know themselves what they are fighting for in our unhappy Warsaw. This is tragic nonsense,鈥� he continued his thought. "You just think, the Polish Communists also mounted Warsaw's barricades, fighting for Soviet Poland. Right. We know that on the same barricades there are Poles fighting for Poland's independence. Fighting shoulder to shoulder for contradictory aims. Not enough, I beg you, just you read - "we declare solemnly that this battle on the barricades will wipe out the old Polish reactionaries, capitalists and the clergy.' You see? Our common enemy has not yet been destroyed but we already have promises that brothers from the barricades will fight each other."
"I will tell you something, sirs,鈥� interrupted Majory. We Poles are really good at unsuccessful uprisings. So many people perish. Oh, Mother of God, what will there be left from our Warsaw which is burning without interruption day and night? And just think about the Jesuit brothers,鈥� she continued, crossing herself. "Last night a woman came from Akacia Street. Oh Jesus, Holy Mother what has happened there. She was telling that they ordered all the Jesuits to get completely undressed and then .. and then .. they killed them all, all of them, without pity, and afterwards they killed all the women and children. Those who went to pray on the day of the uprising and were unable to leave. God have mercy on us - to murder clergymen, women and children, and where ... just you think where they were murdered in the house of God, in, a chapel! That is the most devilish and sacrilegious thing that has happened since the world saw the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. All that because of this uprising. Yes, yes ... but I am just talking and talking and the work is waiting." She ran back home.
". . . . and all that because of the uprising! You have heard and her, haven't you?" asked Adam, biting his lips nervously. His hair, as if never combed, fell over his forehead, a long pale face with very regular features made beautiful by large, burning eyes. He was slightly bent and extremely thin. His suit was badly worn and crumpled, his badly knotted tie was always hanging astray like a much used string, as Adam often used to grab, hugging it to his chest. He loved to gesture. Only when gesturing was he in his element. Without gestures Adam could not talk, nor could he think. With his long white fingers he was constantly touching his face, his eyes were full of fire as he developed new ideas. His face twitched and he quite often talked to himself.
The yard called him a fool whereas his intellect was way over the others. He did not understand the others and they did not understand him so they just called him a fool. They were just 鈥榖read-eaters' and he was a thinker. Why should they try to climb intellectual heights? To understand Adam it was much easier to give him a place below and call him a fool.
Taking my bin and returning home I met some Germans. They were smiling and greeting people they met. At our door a neighbour, a doctor from Lublin, stopped me asking me to be his interpreter. He wanted to speak to the Germans. He was concerned about his relatives, an engineer with a wife and two daughters who, during the day of the uprising were making the best of a nice summer day and went to the fields about 500 steps from here and never came back. Five days have passed and he wanted the help of the Germans to be able to bring them back. "What could have happened to them?" he asked the Germans, with me as an interpreter. The Germans explained that about two hundred civilians who were caught during the beginning of the uprising in the fields of Mokotow were interned in the barracks near the artillery position. The doctor asked the Germans to intervene with their authorities and to release this family. He promised them vodka and cigars.
After breakfast a meeting was called in our forum, in the yard. Our rubbish heap had become a matter of public concern. It had grown out of all proportion and was stinking to high heaven. Being imprisoned in our yard, we were unable to remove the rubbish. A heated discussion developed between the organiser of the meeting who wanted the rubbish burnt and others who thought it should be buried. Many speeches were held. Two parties developed. The party which advocated burning was grouped about the more radical ones and consisted mainly of the younger people. The part of the conservative liberals wanted the rubbish to be buried. Only after a speech which was deeply thought through and delivered in an enrapt manner was a decision reached. This orator delivered his speech in a very picturesque way with flowery words and convincing arguments. At least 40 per cent of the rubbish could not be consumed by fire as it consisted of tins, broken plates and other unburnable goods. The resolution was carried through and the organiser asked for volunteers who owned shovels. The appeal was so successful that we began digging trenches in relays. While one party was digging the other was resting, sitting on benches. The trench became deep. Children played with the wet sand, making fortresses and moats. During the day the wind had increased.
"Maybe the weather will change,鈥� said someone digging near me.
"We could do with some rain,鈥� said Adam. "It might help with some of the fires in Warsaw." Speaking about the weather made the people look up at the sky and immediately they shouted "Leaflets!" Now everyone was looking up. The strong wind was pushing a white cloud quickly above our roofs. We were very disappointed as none descended to our yard. The wind was chasing them to another suburb, the bulk landing in the fields of Mokotow. One of the leaflets brushed the roof and, reducing speed, started to come towards our yard. Being the tallest in our group, I was lucky to grab it first. Now I had quite a set of "sui generis" (the only one of its kind) documents. According to our yard custom, I had the honour to read it to our forum.
A large group was surrounding me so I stepped on the bench and, opening the rather large leaflet, began reading the words of the 'manifest':
Prime Minister Mikolajczyk held a conference with Stalin and pledged mutual co-operation with the Red Army. The same Red Army which had murdered the soldiers of the National Army in Wilno and brought the Ukrainian thugs into Lwow and Lublin where thousands of our countrymen perished for their unshakable belief in the final victory of a great and independent Poland. The German occupier was unable to break the proud Polish spirit. All his shrewd methods, trying to destroy the heroic Polish nation were for nothing. The Soviet brutality is also doomed to failure. The Russian Government has clearly shown its treacherous plans by setting up a Bolshevik government in Chelm. The hostile reaction by the Polish people taught Stalin a lesson that by force only he will be unable to break the Polish people. Now he has returned to the way of deceitful treachery. Prime Minister Mikolajczyk let himself be used for the ignoble plans, probably being afraid of losing his position. The Polish soldier never submitted to his enemy. Prime Minister Mikolajczyk, the Polish Quisling, stained the honour of the Polish soldier who fought for five years and never gave up. Poland's enemies, heavily armed, can occupy our soil but cannot conquer the Polish people. To pave the way, they are now using treachery. The unshakable belief and the self sacrifice of the heroic Polish soldier will never allow the Bolsheviks to destroy the Polish people through treacherous and cowardly politicians. The German occupier is fighting with his last breath. In the West the Americans and the English have broken through the Front and are streaking forward as quick as lightning.
Here, the German occupants are also hurriedly fleeing. But Russia is also at the end of her possibilities. Great and independent Poland will soon appear at the side of our allies, America and England, but never under the German yoke, nor the Soviet whip. Poles, the decisive moment of our heroic battle will require from all of you an unbreakable faith in victory, self-sacrifice for the nation and a strict discipline to the leadership.
I hereby announce the following Order of the Day. The Bolsheviks are near Warsaw and proclaim that they are friends of the Polish nation. This is a treacherous lie. Our borderlands, Wilno and Lublin, are calling to high heaven for revenge. Our Soviet enemy will meet with exactly the same ruthless fighting which is breaking our German invaders. To act for Russian advantage is treason to our country. The hour for a Polish uprising has not arrived as yet. Orders issued by Soviet servants are null and void.
The commanders of the National Army must stop all acts which are trying to help the Soviets. The Germans are fleeing. On with the battle with the Soviets. Long live free fighting Poland.

(signed) BOR
Chief Commander of the Armed Forces in Poland.

NOTE: All the original leaflets are in the author's possession. The translation tried, where possible, to include spelling and grammatical errors.
I came down from the bench and gave the leaflet to others to read. They were still doubtful and wanted to see with their own eyes, to look at the black on white. "Could it be true that BOR ...? No, it is impossible - it must be a forgery. To start fighting the Soviets now is an absurdity!"
I went to talk with Adam who was leaning on his shovel.
"What do you think about it?" I asked him.
"I can't understand one thing. If one falsifies something, one should do it properly. But all these errors in the leaflet, they jar on one's ears terribly. It is hideous."
We continued digging our trenches for our rubbish.
"You know," Adam started talking, picking at a brick absentmindedly, "this incident with the Jesuits was a great shock to me. I knew these people. Between them were many very valuable individuals, deep minds and insatiable scholars. For instance, the old father professor. I used to visit him often. We would sit on a bench and become immersed in deep conversations. These were such good hours for me. My mind was free to fly to idealistic heights. He was directing my way. At this stage I was deep in the Kantian dialectics, looking for the categorical imperative as the starting point for man's moral position. You would be mistaken in assuring that he was showing the truth only pointing to heaven. He directed me along human tracks, the best method, the method of historical materialism. He showed me to what people were coming and what they were longing for. He achieved something which seemed impossible to achieve. He set himself free, liberating himself. His body was not necessary to him any more - it was just like the shell of a chick. His soul was fully ripe.鈥� He stopped talking, his lips were twitching, his eyes burning. He started digging but then continued:
"... and then comes such a beast, a senseless tom from the Hitler studs who carries a machine gun - and S.S. man - and starts shooting into human skulls like a soulless robot. This bit of lead tears the brain away and all the deep thoughts are extinguished just like a candle flame. You know, one can get mad. It is beyond my comprehension. And, at that, it was only just a small fragment of the horrible tragedy that is surrounding us -WAR. The biggest human cataclysm brought forth by humans. Not one natural catastrophe has claimed as many victims as a war. If we think about earthquakes, floods, erupting volcanoes, tempests - the victims were counted in thousands and maybe tens of thousands but the war claims tens of MILLIONS. When Vesuvius erupted and destroyed Pompeii claiming a few hundred human lives all the world was in mourning. Monuments were erected in memory of this human tragedy. Now a fleet of planes, directed by human hands, can drop bombs on a big city and bury a hundred thousand inhabitants. Natural disasters are like children's toys compared with deathly human inventions. People are killing people. Homo sapient. The primate of their species.

颁辞苍迟颈苍耻别诲鈥︹赌�
'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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