大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a London CSV volunteer on behalf of Maksymilian Jarosz and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

At that time the rest of my siblings stayed in hiding except for my eldest brother
Czeslaw who due to the lack of medication suffered from escalating epilepsy attacks. Local Nazis knew about it and for a time left him alone as he didn鈥檛 pose any threat to them in this condition.

On the night of 6th of August 1943, homesick and very weak I returned home taking every precautious not to be seen by anyone. When the night grew darker my brother Czesiek and I went outside for a breath of a fresh air. Suddenly from the dark corner of our outbuildings we heard a voice calling in German: 鈥渨hat鈥檚 your name?鈥� My brother pushed me away and replied: 鈥淢y name is Czeslaw Jarosz and I live here.鈥�

When the figure moved closer I could recognize a local SS-man Schulz. He ordered my brother to march in front of him. After a few minutes which seems like hours I heard four shots and then it was very quiet. At that moment my heart stopped beating.

What happened next was beyond my wildest imagination. Being in a state of shock I didn鈥檛 know if it was real or I was dreaming. In the darkness I saw a figure moving slowly towards me. His movements reminded me of my brother, but he was killed a few minutes ago鈥old shivers went through my body 鈥�.was that his ghost or was I hallucinating?

The figure came closer and I knew it was him. I ran towards him. I could see from the
look on his face that he was in a lot of pain. He held his right forearm with his left hand and I saw stream of blood coming from there. He was badly injured. My mother and my older sister were already by us and without one word being said they held him tight and rushed him to the local doctor.

We have later learnt that at the same time Schulz, whose Polish girlfriend was executed by the resistance for collaboration with Nazis, in revenge made false accusation at the Gestapo that 鈥渉e has been attacked by Jarosz brothers鈥�.

When my Mother returned home with my injured brother the Gestapo was already
waiting for them. They ordered Czesiek and my father to walk to their quarters.
Yet, again from the window in the attic where I hid for the night I saw my father
walking his third son to a certain death.

Czesiek was murdered the same night. The next day after Czesiek鈥檚 murder I was on a run again.

After repeated begging by my Mother to return her son鈥檚 body to her, the Nazis pointed her to the unmarked grave. For two long years she spent many hours tending to the grave of her beloved son unaware of the shocking truth, which only came out after Nazis retreat in 1945. Her son鈥檚 burial place was somewhere else. His body lay by the cemetery wall under a huge pile of rubbish.

My Mother and my surviving brother Alexander had a grueling task to exhume Czesiek鈥檚 body. Alexander kept fainting. Even large doses of vodka didn鈥檛 help. Our poor Mother didn鈥檛 stop until she picked up all the remains of her beloved son into the white sheet. On that day we sensed that her fate was sealed as well.

Chapter three: www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/a5827089
Chapter five: www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/a5827205

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