Narrative

Narrative:

By Payton Willis And Jihyeon Kim

   Zbigniew  Ksiazczak is from the Polish capital Warsaw. He was there through the entire World War II and Holocaust. On August 1, 1944, the Warsaw Uprising began; Zbigniew was only 16. His father and him were at home in their apartment in Mokotow while, his mother and sister were separated at the other side of Warsaw. Then on August 13,The sound of military boots against the ground echoed in the streets, in unison. Nazi soldiers were starting to raid the many Polish apartment complexes including Zbigniew’s. Out the window, they could see the many Nazi soldiers were bursting open the doors of every apartment. The apartment door slammed open, and a soldier entered; he pushed them out onto the street. They were forced to leave everything at home all of their valuables such as, family photos, clothing, food, and more.

Zbigniew and his father had become part of the exodus, citizens of Warsaw who had to abandon their homes and leave immediately. Their apartment building were burnt immediately and they all saw the flames rising up each floor. In the streets, were the many Polish residents, in total there was more than one million Poles were in the exodus. All that was left of their home was the the ruins of Warsaw, and a layer of grey smoke covering the bright sky. They walked all the way to a small village in Piaseczno. One of the local farmer welcomed them into his barn to stay for as long as they needed to. However, they still weren’t safe, they needed a job so they wouldn’t be sent to any camps or be taken somewhere else. Zbigniew tried cutting trees in the forest nearby, he also delivered warm fresh breads from a local bakery.

Finally at the end of the uprising, Zbigniew decided it was time to find his Mother and Sister. As he walked the long way to the village of Perro because, he remembered that his mom would go there often before the war. Suddenly he comes across a carriage on top of it sits a Nazi Soldier. He walks closer and notices he is talking to one of the farmer’s from the village. Soon the Nazi is telling him, “Come, come, come!” with a nice smile on his face.

Then the Nazi asks, “Please show me your documents.” Unfortunately Zbigniew had no documents and once he got to Perro he was in for a terrible surprise. Once he was at the village he sees an horrendous sight many of many military transfer trucks were filled with thousands of citizens. He was shown a truck he had to get in once inside he saw the many people from the neighboring villages and started to cry. Ksiazczak was so overcome by fear that the war was over and that the Nazi’s had won, he cried for the first time. All of the sudden a man that Ksiazczak did not recognize gave him a hug. Soon the trucks began to move forward.

He lifted the fabric of the truck’s roof, he realized that he was heading to Warsaw. However, the truck did not stop even though they were inside the walls of Warsaw and continued going North. Stopping at the front gate of a camp in Pruszków, everyone was forced to get off the truck. During the war, Pruszków was well known to be a temporary camp in between the roads to the labor and concentration camps. Almost all of the Warsaw citizens were sent there; here their future was decided there. He spent the days there with nothing to do and was only provided with one bowl of soup per day. The prisoners were not provided with any silverware or a bowl, so he searched for any junk that could function as a bowl until he saw a lamp covering which was round. Wiping the dust off, he took it and received the soup.

Suddenly, several Polish people with a sign of the Red Cross on their arm announced that there would be jobs for mining and other hard labor. All the people volunteered, because it was better to work than to be chosen for the death camp. Hundreds raised their arms and Zbigniew was one of them. The Nazi soldiers pointed out 15 prisoners, including Zbigniew and they were taken to a buda. Departing for the Rakowiec streets where the military troop base was, his fate was chosen.

Taking them to the center of Warsaw where they were separated into groups of 3 as well as a driver and a soldier. Ksiazczak, soon learned that everything other than the center of the capital was destroyed because, many Nazi’s lived there. They started right away and went to one of the many apartments still standing. At first he felt shocked breaking into someones home and once he got in he was shocked even further. He could feel the presence of the people who had lived their lives there; with every dirty utensil, or bowl of soup left on the dining table. As he’d walk through the houses it was like he was walking through a place frozen in time the beds were all undone and things lied everywhere. The Nazi told the band of Poles that they had to steal any valuables.

One day when they were going to one of the apartments the soldier tells them that they with have to take any metal equipments in the house. That meant phones, radios, sewing machines, and anything else that serves the same purposes. This made Zbigniew feel extremely terrible; he hated the thought of stealing from the many houses. What made him feel worse was the feeling of not knowing where it all was going and he would probably never know. Once when they went to the apartments they were forced to steal porcelain. The soldier that day was a well dressed man and seemed very fancy. As they would bring him the porcelain he would examine them and decide whether if they were efficient enough or not. If they had the slightest crack, if they were made poorly, or if they were made by a bad brand he would throw them to the ground.

As Zbigniew rounded the corner in an apartment he walked into a gigantic library; with a couple bookcases with glass surrounding the books inside. The fancy soldier followed him in and once he saw the many books he got angry all of the sudden. He got out of his gun and started to destroy the glass once most of it was gone he started to tear the books out of the cases. As the soldier calmed down after his rampage he made Ksiazczak continue forward over the books. After about a month, he was ordered to collect clean white bed sheets. Inside the houses, all the sheets were folded and ironed but he had throw them on to the ground and carry them carelessly. He could imagine the people living inside the apartments putting their effort to fold and iron this and he was ruining it. He could not dirty the white sheets, or else, he would be beaten up.

In the same day Zbigniew and his work mates walk into an apartment to find that the Nazi soldiers had let a fire in the center of the living room. Zbigniew and his mates became worried and ran out to grab mud because they had no water. They tried really hard to put out the fire by throwing mud right on top of it. Once they had to steal shoes, and were told by the Nazi that they had to tie the laces together before giving them to them. Then enougher day they had to to steal leather and other articles of clothing. When he went that day he got one pair of pants and one t-shirt for himself. On his last day he stole bed covers.

He spent three months stealing things from the abandoned apartments in Warsaw. To live, he had to continue even though he felt miserable, lonely and guilty. One day a nazi soldier comes in, he tells him to sit down and to not make a mess with your shoes. All of the sudden the can smell the smoke of the burning apartments. The soldier orders them into a truck and takes them to the district wlody. As they got to wlody Zbigniew could see a line of trucks filled with the things he had stole for the Nazi’s. With curiosity he stupidly gets out of the stopped truck and is then attached by multiple soldiers. As he looks up to see his attackers he catches something with his eye. Those evil attackers wore bands that were white with writing that stated, God Is With Us. This is the moment where he lost all hope in god and he realised, that if god is with them then I am alone. After he was beaten one of the soldiers told him to walk away so, he ran away. He was the only one to survive.

As the years passed Ksiazczak found his parents but, sadly his sister had died in the beginning of the uprising because of a bomb. Ksiazczak and his parents went back to his apartment to find it all destroyed and in ruble. Though, his mother had left some jam, a tablespoon, and some of Zbigniew’s old toy soldiers inside of the oven, that he keeps to this day. On their way back to Warsaw they come across a soviet tank, the soldiers inside give them a ride right into the center of Warsaw. They soon decide it is time to make a new life for themselves so, Zbigniew gets a job rebuilding Warsaw. Soon though, he is told by his peers that he is too young and should go back to school. So 17 at the time he finishes high school and then goes on to The University of Warsaw where he got his masters in Polish Studies. Now Zbigniew lives in Warsaw to the day at the age of 81 and has gotten two documentaries made about him because, he is the only living thief.