Source: the fuhrerbunker.com
Massacre of Volksdeuterhers
(ethnic Germans) by Polish military and civilians.
Most real scholars of World War Two are aware of the reasons that Adolf Hitler
sent the Wehrmacht into Poland. When we look back on what we now know, it
was easy to understand why England and France threatened Hitler not to invade
Poland. They all knew it was inevitable and they all knew why. Most
governments knew of it; but the well-spun propaganda and controlled press made
it appear that a power-crazed Adolf Hitler only wanted to kill Jews and rule the
world. Even today, this same false propaganda is taught in schools.
Simply put - not only was Germany herself under attack from the World Jewish
community (the call to boycott all German made goods in the early 1930's) but
worse yet, the Polish authorities were engaged is mass murder, rape and robbery
of Volksdeutscher (ethnic Germans) living in Poland. It reached such massive proportions
that Hitler, as leader of the German people, could not ignore it. He had
to send in the Wehrmacht.
DEPORTATION ORDERS
Deportation orders did not begin, as we are told to believe, with Germans
deporting Jews. In fact, the Deportation Orders began in Poland, deporting
and/or arresting ethnic Germans. There were three types of orders - the
yellow form was merely deportation to central or eastern Poland; the pink form
meant internment and the red form meant outright arrest. In reality, each
form meant deportation to one degree or another and ultimate death for most.
You will now read FIRST-PERSON accounts of that time, and they all justify the
incursion into Poland. In fact, they demanded intervention.
EUGEN HOFMANN - On 2 September 1939 this
Bromberg merchant was arrested on orders of the commander of the air raid
district, Isador Berger, a Polish Jew and was taken to the women's prison in
Bromberg. On 4 September, he and all Germans held in this prison were given
a certificate of release and were indeed released. However, this 'release
certificate' also ordered any police officer to kill the bearer! All
but Hofmann were murdered the same day. He escaped to tell his story by
hiding with relatives.
ROBERT KUNDE - Monday, 4 September 1939,
four Polish soldiers entered the home of Kunde at Wierbathstraße 23 in Bromberg
and searched for weapons. Finding none, they wrote comments in the
passports of Kunde and his son Wilhelm, that stated the bearer was "suspect"
and on other pages, made the note that the bearer should be shot. These
soldiers arrested the male members of the Kunde family and handed them over,
along with other Germans, to Polish soldiers who took them into the nearby
woods. Kunde and another German, a man named Grüning, managed to escape -
all the others were shot dead. Kunde later learned that his father had
also been murdered.
VERA GANNOTT - The home where she and her
parents lived was invaded by Polish authorities on Sunday, 3 September.
Here is the translation of her sworn statement, taken on 14 September, 1939:
"I am 19, Protestant, without occupation.
When it became known in
town that the German troops were coming in, the civilian population and Polish
soldiers began to commit acts of violence. At about 2 o'clock on Sunday,
Polish soldiers and civilians came toward our house at Thorner Straße 125, two
and a half miles from town. The Polish civilians said; "Germans live
here!" The soldiers immediately began to fire. We fled into
a shed. I believe the Polish soldiers also threw hand grenades. My
father was the first taken from the shed. The Poles asked him where he had
the machine gun. My father did not understand the question as he did not
know Polish. Thereupon I came out of the shed, for I knew Polish and
wanted to help my father. I asked the Poles what we had done to them and
interceded for my father. But the Poles shouted; "Down with you
German swine!" My father was repeatedly struck on the face and
body with rifle butts, then stabbed with a bayonet. Thereupon my father
fell to the ground and as he lay, he was shot six times before dying. The
mob then left, after telling civilians they could loot the house else they (the
soldiers) would burn it down. Now my mother also came out of her hiding
place. She and I wanted to wash my father, who was completely covered with
blood. Just as we started, there appeared another Polish mob armed with
pickets and clubs. My mother and my aunt were beaten with the clubs.
I was slapped again and again. Then they left. After a while there
came another mob of Polish soldiers and civilians. As they approached, I
ran into the River Brahe, which flows past the rear of our house. I was
dragged out by the hair. Between ten and fifteen civilians dragged me into
the house. They said they were going to show me that the Poles weren't so
bad after all; they would allow me to change my wet clothes. No one left
the room so I refused to change. The Poles thereupon tore my clothes off
and laid me on the ground naked. About ten men held me down by the head,
hands and feet while one of them raped me. He completed the act and I
suffered injuries. I had considerable pain during the first days, but not
any more. The other Poles did not attack me. During this time my
mother was taken to a room on the upper floor and held at the point of a rifle.
Polish soldiers robbed
money, a bag, watches and rings from my father and myself. Our home was
completely destroyed - the furniture hacked to pieces with axes. Our china
and the linens were stolen.
We did not have any arms
in our house. We had previously surrendered them to the police because of
a general order."
LORENZ BREITINGER was part of a group that
was force-marched across Poland. His sworn testimony reads:
"From Konin, our march could not be continued towards Kutno so we suddenly
turned north. About seven kilometers beyond Konin, our guards left us,
only one remaining being a weak minded policeman. We were now ill-treated
with long clubs and stones by soldiers of the Polish reserves. Military
policemen rescued us. We were allowed to stop for three days on a farm
near Maliniec because our policeman first had to go and get orders as to what
was to be done with us.
Beyond Slesin we passed
through many Polish positions and were placed on a farm which was completely
overrun with Polish soldiers. Here a young Polish lieutenant threatened us
with death, cursing us all the time. On the next morning we were
called as early as 2 o'clock to continue our march. The carts with the
cripples and children remained behind. I heard later that they were shot.
They were the entire Schmolke family and another war invalid who had only one
leg. A forced march under the thunder of cannon, took us to Babiak.
We continued in the afternoon after having been subdivided into three groups and
a number of soldiers having been added to our guard. On a forest path, we
were forced to hand over our watches and other jewelry, our money and, many of
us even our wedding rings, to the soldiers. When we were forced to
continue on Monday morning, some of us were unable to stand on our feet.
Five who were ill and quite incapable of going on - a women school teacher from
Posen among them - remained behind. Three able bodied men stayed behind to
protect them. We learned later that the guards had shot them and beaten
them to death with stones in a bestial manner.
After days of aimless
marching - the war front drawing nearer to us all the time - we were freed by
German troops on 17 September 1939. The German Army brought us home via
Breslau."
SISTER SCHMIDT and the CHILDREN'S HOME -
"Bloody Sunday"
"The Deutsches Kinderheim (German Children's Home) on Thorner Straße
in Bromberg, was searched five times in all on 'Bloody Sunday'. About seven
AM, two Polish soldiers demanded admittance. They searched the house for
arms and left after having convinced themselves that their mission was futile.
The soldiers were polite.
The second search, by six
Polish soldiers, occurred at about 9:30 AM. They beat against the door
with their rifle butts and demanded admittance. One of them put his pistol
to the temple of Sister Olga, head of the Kinderheim. Insisting that a
machine gun was hidden in the house and that shots from it had just been fired,
they demanded surrender of the arms. Sister Olga replied that there were
no weapons, and bade them search. The soldiers searched the house
thoroughly, breaking into drawers and cupboards that could not be easily opened.
Finding no weapons, the searchers left.
In the late forenoon, as
the children were about to lunch, a third search was undertaken by four or five
Polish soldiers accompanied by as many civilians. Some of these soldiers
had taken part on the previous search. The soldiers again insisted that
shots had been fired from the house and demanded to see the 'machine gun'.
One of them threatened the Sister with his bayonet. The Sister repeated
that she had no weapons. One of the soldiers - the Sister believed that he
was an officer - thereupon said; "But we have been told that shots were
just fired from here." The soldiers who had taken part in the
previous search confirmed that there was really nothing upstairs. However,
a Pole named Maximilian Gackowski, the only civilian who had followed the
soldiers to the staircase, kept shouting; "Shots have been fired from
here. I saw it myself!" Turning to Sister Schmidt he yelled;
"You old hag! You old shrew - you and your brats should have been
driven away long ago! If I could have done what I wanted, you would have
been dead long ago. I would have killed you all myself!" He
brandished a weapon, believed to have been steel rod, in the Sister's face.
However, Gackowski could not convince the soldiers and the search ended.
The next search by about
five soldiers and five civilians, took place at about 3 PM. Gackowski was
again present. The leader of the group ordered all inmates including three
Sisters and eighteen children ranging from two to eighteen years, to gather and
raise their hands. Gackowski ranted as before, insisting time and again,
that shots had been fired from the house and asked for the 'machine gun'.
He brought a 'witness' who, he claimed, was ready to swear that shots had been
fired. While the soldiers searched the house, one of them remained
standing before Sister Olga with his Bayonet. Gackowski took part in this
search of the house. After this group had found nothing, Gackowski
declared, "They work in the daytime, but evenings they have men upstairs,
they smoke cigarettes. I have seen it myself, and nights they shoot."
The raiders left the
Kinderheim just as a man accused of having fired shots was being brought from
the direction of the Schützenhaus. Gackowski was the first to turn against
this man. After the fourth search, the Sisters discovered that smaller
valuables, among them Sister Olga's watch, were missing. The last search
was made about 5:30PM. It was again made by soldiers and civilians.
The head of the group approached Sister Olga with his rifle and threatened to
shoot her. At this moment, one of the Sisters who had been ordered to help
in the cleaning up of the railroad station returned amid a mob of soldiers and
civilians. The Sister, having compelled to clean the railroad tracks, was
very dirty. At the instigation of Gackowski, who was again present, a
railway man charged that the lubrication oil on the hands and the dress of the
Sister was from a machine gun. As before, Gackowski sought to entice the
soldiers by declaring that shots had been fired. However, it was proved
that there were no arms in the Kinderheim and that no shots were fired from the
house."
WILHELM STARKE testifies about the
horticulturist Herr BERNDT
"An SS cap was reputedly found at the establishment of horticulturalist Bernd of
Lissa. Berndt was thereupon arrested. Neither he not his brothers
had ever had the SS cap in their house. It was later discovered that the
cap had been found by the Polish attackers of the village of Geiersdorf.
There were ten SS men in the village who had to leave without their outfits.
It was ascertained that the cap belonged to an SS man, Ernst Wiedermann, of
Vienna."
Attack on the MATTHES FAMILY
"Late in the morning of 3 September 1939, the accused Kazimir Dybowski, Paul
Kinczewski and Peter Pijarowski, accompanied by a considerable number of
unidentified Polish civilians and by several Polish soldiers with fixed
bayonets, marched along Albertstraße in Bromberg. Dybowski had a knife in
his hand; Kinczewski and Pijarowski had an axe and a hatchet. When the mob
arrived in front of Albertstraße 24, where witness Herbert Matthes, a member of
the German minority (Volksdeutscher), carried on a large cabinet making trade.
They were incited by Kinczewski to raid the house. Speaking to witness
Biermann, who was responsible for the air raid protection of the house,
Kinczewski insisted that Matthes had fired on Polish soldiers. Biermann's
repeated denials of the charge were to no avail and the mob broke through the
courtyard to the drying room in which Matthes, his wife and two sons, and his 72
year old mother had hidden. The door of the room was locked and when it
was not opened at the ringleader's demand, Kinczewski simple smashed it in with
his axe. Thereupon, Mrs. Ella Matthes, her two sons and her mother-in-law
appeared in the doorway; Herbert Matthes remaining in hiding at first.
Mrs. Matthes told the members of the mob and the soldiers that her husband was
not at home and that she did not know where he had gone. Kinczewski
replied that in that case the two sons had would be taken as hostages.
However, Matthes stepped forward to save his children. Kinczewski swung
his axe at Matthes but Biermann caught the handle and deflected the blow.
Simultaneously Pijarowski with his axe, and Dybowski with his knife, headed
toward 72 year old Selma Matthes, but failed to harm her. Finally Matthes
and his two sons were led away by Polish soldiers. Matthes later succeeded
in himself and his children by escaping while their Polish captors were
quarreling over the division of the valuables taken from Matthes, thus relaxing
their vigil."
'The SZWABY Must Be Shot!' (Szwaby or
Swabians was a derogatory Polish term for Germans)
Blood and Brains Spattered....
"My name is Johanna Giese, nee Keusch. I am 51, Protestant, Volksdeutscher
and live in Bromberg at Konopnickiej 9.
On Sunday, 3 September
1939 between 11 and 12 o'clock, we were in the cellar of our residence.
Polish soldiers and civilians entered our yard and demanded that we come out of
the cellar. When we obeyed, a soldier asserted that shots had been fired
from our home. There were however, no weapons at all in our house.
My son-in-law was the
first to leave the cellar, and was greeted by a civilian's shout of 'The
Szwaby must be shot!' Without hesitation, the Poles fired at my
son-in-law. The first bullet pierces his jugular vein, while three others
lodged in his chest and neck. Nevertheless he was still alive when we were
forced to flee that night. We could not take him along, so we put him on a
couch in our dwelling.
When German troops
entered Bromberg on Tuesday, a corporal accompanied me to our farmstead to see
how things looked. A horrible sight met out eyes. The mob had taken
my son-in-law from the couch and had dragged him into the kitchen. His
remains lay under the kitchen table. His head was split, his skull cap was
missing. Brains and blood were spattered on the kitchen wall.
My son, Reinhard Giese,
19 years old, had been in the cellar with us. When he saw that my
son-in-law was being shot, he dashed out and jumped over the fence to our
neighbor's plot. The Poles followed, caught my son and shot him. In
the evening, I managed to get the body into our laundry. Reinhard was shot
through the chest.
Another son of mine,
Friederich Geise, 25 years old, was reported shot in the mass murder of the
family with which he had hidden in Hopfengarten."
'SLAY THE GERMANS!'
Eyes Gouged out with Bayonets
"My name is Paul Sikorski. I am 35, Catholic, a merchant.
I call myself Volksdeutscher and reside in Bromberg, Mühlenstraße 4.
At about 6:00 am on
Sunday, 3 September 1939, I went to the mill to put out the light and to stop
the turbine. On my way, I suddenly heard loud shouting from the direction
of the railroad. About a hundred meters away, a mob of railway men,
civilians and soldiers with bayonets, rifle butts and clubs were attacking
seven people of ages varying from about 20 to 60. The victims were
surrounded. As I approached the scene, I heard members of the mob call in
Polish, 'Slay the Germans!' I could see blood spurting.
It was then that I turned and fled for the mob was about to assail me. I
returned to the scene at nine o'clock and looked at the bodies. The eyes
of two corpses had been gouged out by bayonets. The sockets were a mass of
blood. The skulls of three had been cracked open, and their spattered
brains lay a meter away. The other bodies were similarly slashed to
pieces. One belly was split wide open. I recognized two of the
murdered men; the butcher Leichnitz or Jägershof, and Mr. Schlicht.
About three in the or
four o'clock in the afternoon, a band of soldiers and railway men brought
eighteen Germans to my mill. (the Peterson mill). I could see from the
garden that the Germans were tied in pairs. All eighteen were shot, two at
a time, then beaten as they lay on the ground. Among them was a
fourteen-year-old boy and a woman. The murderers were obviously in a great
hurry, for they all disappeared immediately after the slaughter. I later
had a thorough look at the bodies, which lay there for three days.
At noon on Monday, when
it was already rumored that the Polish troops had left, I saw two Polish
soldiers march an elderly couple to the wall at the mill. I ran up to the
soldiers, knelt before them and begged them in Polish to spare the people, who
were both about 65. I was struck with a rifle butt and told, 'Let
the damned Niemcys (Germans) die like dogs!' Even before I could
rise to my feet, the soldiers had shot down the two old people. The bodies
rolled into a ditch as the soldiers trotted away."
WILDEMANN MURDER
"They Should be Beaten to Death!"
Testimony of Frau Wildemann:
"On the morning of September 3rd, several raiding parties searched Frau
Wildemann's house in Bromberg at Schwedenbergerstraße (Ugory) 56, but found no
weapons.
At about 3 p.m., a new
mob, consisting of approximately thirty men all armed with clubs and similar
weapons appeared. Claiming that shots had been fired from the house and
that it must therefore be searched for arms, the mob entered. Several
objects belonging to Wildemann family were stolen. There were not arms in
the house, and no shots had been fired from it. When he saw the
approaching mob, Herr Wildemann hid in the cellar. Questioned as to her
husband's whereabouts, Frau Wildemann said that he had gone to visit
acquaintances in Kufawierstraße. She was taken to the address. When
her husband could not be found there, Frau Wildemann was threatened.
Finally, after having been assured that nothing would happen to Herr Wildemann,
she revealed his hiding place. The mob returned to the couple's home,
seized both the husband and wife, beating them on the way, dragged them into the
garden. They were stood up as if they were going t be shot. When
they embraced each other and began to pray, they were ridiculed. Shouts
were heard again & again, 'They should be beaten to death!'.
One of those who shouted was a barber names Alfons Lewandowski. When Frau
Wildemann asked him, 'Why should you kill me? What have I done to
you?' he slapped her in the face saying, 'German pig! Damned
Hitlerite!' Herr Wildemann was then taken away by the soldiers
who, on the whole, were less hostile than the rabble. Several days later
Wildemann's body was found nearby under a thin layer of sand. So horribly
mutilated was he that only by his clothing and the contents of his pocket could
he be identified."
GOLLNICK & KÖPERNICK MURDERS
"All Germans Must be Butchered!"
Testimony of witnesses Olga and Franz Tafelski of Bromberg
"The throng milling about Breite Straße arrounsed the soldiers against a German
named Gollnick. The soldiers beat Gollnick down with their rifle butts and
left him lying in the street badly injured.
Toward evening, Franz
Tafelski noticed that the victim's left leg and left hand were still twitching.
Gollnick had fallen on his face but the mob had turned him over and tore open
the front of his trousers, exposing the whole lower part of his torso. A
civilian and two soldiers appeared and ran a bayonet into Gollnick's belly.
Following this, a final shot was fired into the body.
Throughout the afternoon,
a mob had milled up and down Breite Straße right by the dying man. They
shouted that the Germans had shot from their homes. Sofie Bednarczyk, an
unemployed woman, was in the mob. She flirted with the soldiers and,
according to Olga Tafelski, behaved 'like a mad woman'.
Franz Tafelski saw her, arms forled, leading the mob. Her manner revealed
a morbid lust for power. Olga Tafelski heard her shout 'Give me the
rifle; all Germans must be butchered! The damned Hitlerites!'
Franz Tafelski heard her shout, 'All
Germans must be slain!'. All the time she was laughing and
flirting with the soldiers. She stopped at the corner of No. 5 Breite
Straße, where Gollnick lay with his trousers torn open. Witness Bartkowski
heard her shout, 'This Hitlerite ought to have his testicles cut off!'
About half an hour later, Köpernick, a Volksdeutscher, was dragged past the same
house and murdered."
GOLLNICK MURDER
"The Swine is Still Alive!"
Testimony of Christa Gollnick of Kujawierstraße 101 in Bromberg
"We operated a flour and feed store. As the first Polish troops were
leaving, I noticed a Polish neighbor talking to a Polish major and pointing at
our house. Thereupon Polish soldiers broke open the door and rushed into
our store. Thinking that a skirmish was in progress and that the soldiers
wanted to entrench themselves in our house, we ran toward the shelter which we
had been ordered to build. We did not reach the shelter because the Polish
soldiers fired at us. My husband was shot in the shoulder and hit in the
face with a rifle butt. He reeled but still tried to escape. He
started to climb the fence, but was held back by a civilian. A Polish
soldier gave him another rifle butt blow which knocked him out.
A Polish lieutenant led
me and the children back into the house. From an attic window, I could see
my prostrate husband. He lingered on for a long time. I saw him draw
his legs up and stretch them. Oncein a while he would life his hand.
However, it was impossible for us to go to him, for he was surrounded by Polish
soldiers and civilians. A Polish policeman stood guard at the fence.
Polish women shouted, 'The swine is still alive!' Towards
evening, my husband was shot three more times by Polish soldiers. He had
also been stabbed through the stomach with a bayonet. Time and again he
tried to open his trousers, finally succeeding. The woman next door told
me that he was still breathing the next day. My husband was tall and
strong and only 38 years. Probably that is why he had such a hard time
dying. He lay about eighteen hours before he was released from his agony."
BETTIN MURDER
"We'll Butcher You! Here's Some Young Hitler Blood for You!"
Testimony from Frau Bettin of Bromberg:
"About noon on 3 September 1939, the so-called 'Bromberg Bloody Sunday'
a horde of Polish bandits overran the Bettin property at Frankenstraße 76.
The Bettins, hearing their windows being smashed in, decided to investigate.
They were seized and forced to raise their arms and kneel. A Swastika,
which Fraulein Bettin was wearing on her dress, fell to the ground. Seeing
the emblem led the mob to insult the girl outrageously. Some of the Poles
bore revolvers and pitchforks; one had an axe. They shouted such things
as:
'Hitler Blood!'
'Hitler Pigs!'
'We'll Butcher You!'
Fraulein Bettin was taken away by two Poles, one of whom was a railroad employee
named Bruski. The captive was treated roughly and practically hurled from
the farmstead. She was dragged on by the arm and threatened with a club.
At the corner of Bölitzer Straße, she was turned over to two other Poles, a
postal employee disguised as a policeman and a railway man. Bruski told
them, 'Here's some young Hitler blood for you!' Between 4
and 5 p.m., she was freed by a young Polish officer. When she got home she
found that only her mother and sister-in-law were still there. Her father
and brother had been dragged away by the Polish mob. Her brother's body
was found some time later. Her father is still missing and probably also
murdered."
THIEDE and MITTELSTÄDT MURDERS
"Hold Him so that I can Kill Him!"
Testimony of Gerda Thiede and Otto Papke, both of Schulitz:
"Waclaw Pasterski, a chauffer, owned property opposite the Thieses in Schulitz.
The Thiedes, a mother and two children Gerda and Werner, were Germans and had
lived here for many years. Waclaw Pasterski was a Pole and came to
Schulitz about seven years ago.
On Sunday, 3 September
1939, Polish soldiers drove stray cattle belonging to Poles who had fled, into
the Thiede's best fields. Accompanied by Emil Mittlestädt, who owned
property nearby, the Thiedes went out to see how much damage had been done.
While they were there, a troop of Polish soldiers came from the direction of the
woods and called, 'Germans or Poles?' Werner Thiede
answered, 'German.' Mittlestädt replied 'Pole.'
Werner Thiede was searched and found unarmed. The Thiedes were then
compelled to walk with raised hands towards the woods. The soldiers
followed them, allowing Mittlestädt to remain in the meadow.
Meanwhile, Waclaw
Pasterski, armed with an axe and a knife, came out of the woods. Seeing
Werner Thiede, he shouted to the soldiers, 'Hold the little fellow so that
I can kill him!' At this threat, Werner turned and ran in another
direction. The soldiers pursued him, firing as they went. Gerda
Thiede now looked back, although the soldiers had forbidden it, and saw
Mittlestädt, his side slashed open, lying in the meadow. Since the
soldiers had left the meadow in order to follow Werner, and Mittlestädt and
Pasterski were left alone, Gerda attributed the wound to an axe blow by
Pasterski. No one else could have struck the blow. Gerda furthermore
had heard Pasterski insist that Mittlestädt was German. Otto Papke who saw
Mittlestädt lying in the meadow was certain that the would was caused by the
blow of an axe. Mittlestädt was in agony until he died some time during
the night. Werner Thiede's body was later found and buried by Kriewald,
another neighbor. Gerda Thiede had stated that according to information
from Kriewald, her brother had been shot in the back and had his head slashed.
Werner Thiede was 20,
Mittlestädt in his early thirties. The latter was a widower and is
survived by a young child."
FINGER MURDER
"For God's Sake.....Now We'll Die"
Testimony of Käthe Finger
"My name is Käthe Finger, nee Böhkle. I am 48, the widow of a bank
attorney. I reside in Bromberg. I am in no way related to the
accused.
On 'Bloody Sunday',
several Volksdeutscher and a Polish woman whom we had summoned for our
protection, were gathered in my home. About 11 a.m. a mob came down our street.
The brothers Weyna, who live in the Raddatz house opposite us, and the accused
Owczaczak were in the crowd. One of the Weyna brothers was armed.
I heard my husband in the
next room telling our girl, Göde, that Owczaczak was pointing at our residence.
My husband then came to me and said, 'For God's sake, the mob is coming
in. Now we'll die!' He added that we should perish together.
At that moment the mob broke into our apartment. There was a soldier among
them who demanded that my husband and I lie down on the carpet. We obeyed.
The soldier fired and my husband was killed instantly. I expected a second
shot and since it failed to come, I raised myself a little. My hands were
red with my husband's blood. I cried, 'My God!' and I was
yanked to my feet by the soldier. Then I was pushed through the door and
led away with the others who had sought refuge in our house. On the way we
were insulted, beaten and kicked by the members of the mob. As we passed
the canal gates, a Polish civilian shouted, 'Psia krew Hitlerowa!'
(Damned Hitlerite women!) and pulled me toward the canal. I managed to
tear myself loose. I was then brought to the police station where I was
kicked so viciously that the force hurled me against a wooden fence. We
were then all forced to lie down in the courtyard of the police station, amid
shouts of, 'Lie here like cattle, you German bloodhounds!'.
Now victims, beaten, bleeding and groaning in pain - more were arriving
continuously. My 12-year-old son was lying beside me. We were under
constant fire from the neighboring houses and from the direction of the canal
gates. Many Germans were struck. These were taken away. How
many were dead, I do not know. My son and I lay there about seven hours
before a Polish policeman effected our release.
A machine gun had been
trained on us in the police courtyard, while we received orders to shout, 'Hoch
Rydz-Smigly!'. We were then asked whether we enjoyed living in
Poland and when one woman replied negatively, the machine gun was aimed at her.
There was great confusion
in the courtyard. I cannot enumerate the hardships inflicted on us.
I swear that this
testimony is true, and reaffirm the oath I have already taken in connection with
this matter before the Bromberg Special Tribunal on 11 September 1939."
Link: http://www.thefuhrerbunker.com/WWII.htm.
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