Ewa Szpiech

"I began attending school when I was a 6 year old girl. The school was in Skrychołowy. I remember the woman who was bringing me to school – she was something like a housemaid, or a servant in our household. I remember that she was the one who was carrying my satchel, not me. (My father’s parents were very rich, but they died early. I do not know these grandparents; I never meet them.) It was a Polish school and the teacher was a relative of the Salecki family. It was a school for everyone, not just for Poles. There were just few of us Poles, the rest were Ukrainians. But again, it was a Polish school and the teacher was a Pole. We all played together, there was no: “You are a Pole, you are a Ukrainian”. We even talked in Ukrainian, as there was a majority of Ukrainian children. However, at home we spoke only Polish. My grandfather Salecki, the father of my father, was a squire. My father always claimed that he was directly descended from the provincial nobility. His father owned five villages. Every Sunday we were very elegantly dressed by my mother; we always had very nice dresses, our mom and dad too. They had their own carriage with red wheels. The Ukrainians called us „paniata“ (children of noblemen)."

„When we came here there where still Germans living here. There was a repatriation office which distributed German farms to all those who came here. No one had brought anything with them; a result of five years of war and five years of escaping from the bandits in Volhynia. Later, a rule was published which allowed people, who wanted to leave to Germany, to take their belongings with them. But, for example, furniture was not taken, the same with cows or horses. I remember watching the Germans leave, which was done in two phases. The Poles were staying, but also some Germans stayed. The procedure was that those who wanted to stay had to accepted Polish citizenship, send their children to Polish schools and had to work here in Poland. There was no discrimination. It was propably in 1946 that the school for children of XZ age was founded. When they opened this school I had already finished seven classes. Children learned the Polish language very quickly. Of course with some mistakes, and with certain limitations. As for me, as someone from Volhynia, I had also problems with the Polish language, I was speaking with an eastern dialect. Everyone was laughing at how I pronounced the Ł. They said: ´How are you talking?´“

"In 1939 there were Russians in Volhynia. They even built a gate with Stalin's portrait, so that all would sign up for collective farming ... so that the land would be used jointly. The poorer ones agreed to enter this community, but the farmers did not like this idea. The soil there was –and still is – very good, the so-called 'black land'. No one wanted to enter this “Stalin”, so for this reason they were transported to Russia, ´to the polar bears´, as the saying went, to Siberia. My parents were also marked for transportation to Russia. My father did not want to enter a collective farm; he said categorically that he would not do it. I somehow also remember that there was a guy who told my father: ´You will come and ask us on your knees for us to take you.´ Well, but at that time the whole family was already marked to be sent to Russia, to the polar bears. ´We will send you to the polar bears.´ It was not only the Poles who were deported, the Ukrainians were as well because they did not want to turn over their land and work on a collective farm. I remember that my mother baked bread, dried it, and stored it in bags so that we could take it with us. In this way we prepared ourselves for the deportation to the ´polar bears´. But than it happened as it happened ... in the beginning the Russians were here, but by 1940, or even by September 1939, the Germans were here. Some people might have thought that was a good thing - that the Germans came because they had had enough of the Russians. The Russians had sent everyone to Siberia and started collective farming."

„My parents did not have the feeling that they would be here for good. My father always said: ´There will come a day when we will go home.´ But there was Ukraine, the border... in other words, I would like to have a look, but I have had so much trauma. I think to myself...no one remains there whom I know. I don´t know why, but I can´t. I am a woman from the East, from Volhynia, even though I have been living here since 1945.“

„And this was in 1942; Poland fell apart, at least this is what people said, Poland fell apart. At this time, Ukrainian gangsters started to emerge. They were young men...everbody was calling them „students“; they were very elegantly dressed, high class, and they were comming to take weapons from my father. When they came, they took him to the courtyard. Mom was always saying: ´Go, go to your father, hold him, hold his arms, legs, do not let them to take him, do not let them take him.´ Later, after some time, they came at night, again for weapons. If he gave them weapons, no one was harmed. They knew he had weapons. Then they searched the whole apartment from to top to the bottom and created lots of chaos, but they did not find any weapons. They did find some lockets and bracelets and took them. Normally [these gangsters] burnt people alive; they surrounded a building and did not let anyone leave the building. As a result, people were either burnt or choke to death from smoke inhalation. That´s why people left their homes, they preferred to stay out in the courtyards at night instead of dealing with the fires. I remember one time when they came ... I can´t say how many of them there were....´Open, open, open!´ Such a knocking on the doors, on the windows. ´Open, open, open. We are on your side!´ When I started crying one of the gangsters came with a pistol and said: ´Be quiet, otherwise I'll shoot you like a dog.´ When I saw the pistol, so... ´Give us your weapons immediately, take off your cloths, and come with us.´ So my father took off his cloths and went with them. We were terribly afraid, but we hadn't heard any shooting. After a while someone came, it was our father. There was no shooting, but regardless, our parents were concerned. At this time I was still going to school, and the Ukrainian kids were already teasing me: ´They were already at your house, many times. One more time and you´ll be gone and so wise!´ This was because I was a very good student. ´Ty Polaczko´ (You little Polish), that´s how they always talked, ´ty Polaczko.´ My parents decided then that it would be better to stop sending me to school.”