After dinner—another siren. The first big air raid on Łódź. Twelve planes in triangles of three have broken through the defence lines and are bombing the city. We stand in front of the entrance to our block of
Page from Dawid’s diary, September 1939.
flats and watch the battle. Little clouds of smoke appear around the planes from the shots fired by our anti-aircraft artillery. The squadron manages to evade them, then we see clouds of smoke coming from somewhere in the town centre. Incendiary bombs! Soon we can see smoke in other parts too. All of a sudden we see the planes coming towards us. Terrified, fighting the urge to watch, we take cover on the staircase, then come out again, repeating this about twenty times in five minutes. Three planes fly overhead, it looks like we’re about to be bombed, but no. We breathe a sigh of relief. The next three pass over and leave us in peace too. The rest of the planes disappear. The danger is over, for now at least. We tell the terrified, distressed women in the shelter what has happened. Some of them are holding small children in their arms. It’s a truly moving scene. Suddenly, a neighbourhood liaison in a gas mask runs in and reports that gas has been thrown in several places in the city. Panic sets in. The lucky owners of gas masks put them on, others take out their gauze pads. Outside it gets cold and windy. We beat the gong as an alarm. Tumult, fear, commotion. At last everything calms down. The gas warning turns out to be a false alarm.
This evening’s news is as welcome as this morning’s—France and Australia have joined the war! And the Polish soldiers on Westerplatte are still holding on, not letting the Krauts advance a step further, even though there are many more of them. And the station in Zbszyń has been taken back from the Germans! We say goodnight and go to bed full of joy.
4 September 1939
Two sirens during the night. It was bitterly cold. We crowded together in the shelter, warming one another as we slept. This whole war business is starting to get tiring and boring. This morning I slept until ten. It was nice and sunny, after the cold night. After the third siren we got some shocking but good news. The Germans torpedoed an English passenger ship carrying several hundred rich and influential American citizens. Eight hundred people were killed! Roosevelt has already said that the United States will not stay neutral in the war, even before this. What will he say now? All the air raid sirens today were false alarms. I have nothing to do. We sit and talk, we flirt with the girls…School on Monday, at last!
Expecting further news of Allied assistance, Dawid remained in Łódź. However, President Roosevelt responded by reassuring his citizens that America would remain neutral, despite the attack. The next day, Edward Niesobski tried to locate the rest of his family.
4 September 1939
This morning I started looking for my mum. There are twelve villages in the Mazev district, so I have asked around to try and find her address. My dad took a train back to Łódź to join the army. There are checkpoints at every bridge. I couldn’t get any information at the first place I was sent. The town hall is struggling to cope with the numbers of refugees who need housing, and they’re not working very hard at it either. There was a big poster at the town hall, calling on soldiers to join up. It said our eternal enemy was threatening our right to life and to freedom, and called upon everyone to fight. It made me feel sure we are going to win.
My search for my mum brought no results today. She wasn’t in any of the villages I’ve been to so far, so I decided to stay the night at the fifth one. I am starting to lose all hope of ever seeing her again.
5 September 1939
I went back to Mazev this morning to look for Mum. There were only four villages left to search. In the afternoon I borrowed a bike and cycled towards Leczyca to look for her. I must have been going for about 5 miles when I suddenly heard someone calling my name. I turned around—and there was my mum!!! My search is over at last. How lucky to have found each other again!
Two hours later we got back to Osendowice, where Mum’s been staying. The first thing I did was scrub myself clean. I hadn’t had a proper wash since September 1st! It was already dark when I heard a voice, not just any voice, it was my dad!!!! He came looking for us, all the way from Łódź, and finally we are all back together again. My sister Krysia was happiest of all. She must have thought the Germans had eaten us all up. She was wrong of course, because Germans wouldn’t eat lean meat like ours.
As the German army approached Łódź, the Polish government ordered all fit men between the ages of sixteen and sixty to march to Warsaw’s defence. Fifteen-year-old Dawid, just a year too young to be mobilized, stayed behind on air-raid duty.
6 September 1939
God! What’s going on! Panic, mass exodus, defeatism. The city has been deserted by police and other state institutions and is just waiting in terror for the entry of German troops. What’s happened to people? They just can’t stay put, running around in fear and confusion, pointlessly shifting worn out pieces of furniture. My duty ends at one in the morning. I go and wake up Rysiek for the next shift. He’s in a pessimistic mood, it’s from him I hear the so-called plans to evacuate the city. He says that in the office where his father works everything is packed up and that they’ll be leaving Łódź any moment. But how? I’m told the Germans are going to take the city any moment now.
Run, run away, further and further away, step by step, wade, cry, forget—anything to be as far as possible from the danger. My dear, oversensitive mother is showing self-control. She comforts Mrs Grodzieńska and talks her out of her crazy plan to run away, gradually calming down the mass psychosis of a crowd about to be slaughtered. Father’s losing his mind, he doesn’t know what to do. Other Jewish neighbours come to talk. They talk about the order given to all those fit to carry arms to leave the city so as not be sent by the enemy to labour camps. They don’t know what to do. They deliberate, then decide to stay put. People are leaving all the time: hordes of men are walking to a rallying point in Brzeziny. Reservists and conscripts are leaving the city. Behind them, women with bedding, clothing and food in bundles on their backs. There are small children with them. All our commanding officers have left the city and their posts, so we appointed ourselves as a joke and kept up the pretence until noon.
8 September 1939
Łódź has been occupied. It’s been quiet all day today, too quiet. This afternoon I’m sitting in the park drawing a portrait of one of the girls when suddenly there’s terrifying news. Łódź has surrendered! German patrols are in Piotrkowska Street. Fear, surprise…surrendered without a fight? Perhaps it’s just a tactical manoeuvre. We’ll see. In the meantime all talk has stopped, the streets are empty, faces and hearts have hardened into stern severity and hatred. Mr Grabiński comes back from town and describes how the local Germans have been greeting their compatriots. The Grand Hotel, where the generals are to stay, is bedecked with garlands of flowers. Civilians—boys and girls—are jumping into military