Polish stories of war at Nenagh school

Each May, Polish people the world over commemorate ‘Constitution Day’ – which celebrates the implementation of the first democratic and progressive constitution in Europe, which came into force all the way back on May 3, 1791 – only a few years after the American Constitution of 1789.

Sadly, Poland’s fate in the subsequent years was to be a tragic one; not only would the Polish people lose their constitutional rights but also their country, which was taken over by the empires of Prussia, Austria, and Russia.

Then, for a brief shining period between the two World Wars, Poland regained her independence. For much of those inter-war years Poland was governed by the famed Marshal Józef Piłsudski, whose grandmother was Teodora Piłsudska (née Butler) - a descendant of ‘the Wild Geese’, those people who left Ireland to go to Europe following the Treaty of Limerick in 1691. (Incidentally, it was the famed Marshal Piłsudski who defeated the Red Army in the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–21.)

STUDENT STORIES

The following are stories from some students of St Mary’s Secondary School, Nenagh, who reveal some fascinating family heritage concerning their family’s history in Poland during the tragic years of 1939 - 1945.

First Year student Kornelia Kosmicka pens the following details about her great-grandfather, who was held captive by the Germans during World War Two: My great grandfather’s name was Józef Kośmicki. He was born in 1930 and died in February 2012. He was taken to a German camp for children in 1942 just for taking some coal.

This German labour camp for children was located in the town of Łódź, on Przemysłowa Street. At the end of the war in 1945, he was let out. He returned home on foot, in winter, walking the whole 250km journey. Due to his detention, he was very skinny, and along the way home, people he met gave him sugar to eat, because they were afraid that if he ate a normal meal, he would die.

Extra Information: His Eminence Jozef Cardinal Glemp, Primate of Poland (1929-2013), who was also Archbishop of Warsaw from 1981 to 2006, was related to my great-grandfather Józef Kośmicki. Cardinal Glemp’s mother, Salomea Kośmicka, was my great-grandfather’s cousin.

Third Year student Nikola Majkowska reveals the following story about her great-great grandmother: In the village where she lived in with her family, Russian soldiers would arrive and demand she make them a dinner. She had no choice and had to make the Russian soldiers something to eat.

One day, while the soldiers were waiting for food, one of her daughters was sweeping the floor and she accidentally dropped one of their bowls of food on the ground. A Russian soldier present was so furious that he came at her with his rifle, and the daughter ran outside to hide. Fortunately, a friend of the Russian soldier told him not to pull the trigger on the girl.

It is so sad to think that anyone could be so cruel, as to even think about pulling the trigger at a small child. The daughter was only five years old.

UNDERGROUND WORK CAMP

Fifth Year student Marika Kreft reveals the following fascinating details concerning her own family history during the Nazi occupation of Poland: My great-granny, from my dad’s side of the family, was forced to work in a labour camp in Germany during World War Two. Her name was Stefania Karwala, and she was born in 1919 in Jasło, Krakow district.

At the age of 17, and still living in Jasło, she was captured by the Germans while walking home. She was put into a carriage and was told she was going to be brought home.

Grandad informed me that she was first transported to the Szebnie concentration camp, located 10km from Jasło; then one day, after a long journey, she woke up in a different camp - this was an underground work camp.

Here, she was expected to work very long hours, with barely any rest. The work camp was underground and there were only secret doors - so nobody could try to escape. The camp was also invisible from the outside and so no one knew that they were there. Great-granny was given the job of making ammunition for the guns used by the Germans. The camp was for both men and women, and both were expected to do hard work.

She was given very little food, and the food that was given was either porridge or bread, which was almost always mouldy and full of bugs. Great Granny was given bread once a week and that’s the only ration she got. There were no windows in the camp but noises from the outside could be heard; she often heard bombs go off and so she would eat the rest of her food, because she always feared that it would be her last meal. When the bombs didn’t affect her, she wouldn’t be given any more food until her next ration. The amount of food given caused many of the people in the camp to die of starvation and malnutrition.

After great-granny worked there for five years, the camp was finally discovered and the people were rescued. Great-granny survived this terrible experience, and once released, she got sent back to Poland to her sister. She weighed 37kg after she was released from the camp. Her sister had to take care of her as she wasn’t capable of doing anything herself.

It took her a long time to recover, but eventually she met Franciszek Kreft, who became her husband and they had two children - a son and a daughter. She struggled a lot after this experience and rarely talked about all the details that occurred.