War!








The streets suddenly grow silent, only to turn twice as loud. Troops are marching through the city. Long, endless, grey. The stomping of boots. Trucks rolling by, on and on. The constant, rhythmic stomping. Boom, droom-droom-droom-boom, droom-droom-droom. The rows of marching soldiers. Boom, droom-droom-droom. Boots. Feet. Boots. Feet—and the stomping. Boom, droom-droom droom-boom, droom-droom-droom. Endlessly. And yet with no beginning. Grey legs. Stomping. Boom, droom-droom-droom.

Special editiooooon!!! Border crooooossssed!!! It's waaaaaaaar!!!






“Attention! Attention! We shall now present to you the speech of the president of the Republic of Poland, Professor Ignacy Moscicki” — [and then]: “Citizens! Today at ... o'clock the enemy declared war on us....”

Again you hear the beating of the boots. Again the grey line of heroes stretches on and on. Stomping. Boom, droom-droom-droom-boom, droom-droom-droom...

Unuuu-eeeeeeeee!!!

The sirens started wailing over the city. Uuuuu-eeeeeeeee!!!

Their giant necks are choking out: “I declare the city of Warsaw to be under a state of emergency. The city of Warsaw. Attention! Attention! Attention! Emergency in the city of Warsaw!”

Barely visible, three silver machines have appeared high in the sky. Harbingers. Their tentacles stretching over the city. The zenitowki sound off. A metallic thud like when you bang on a barrel. Fiery red oranges are flying up at the enemy.

Ratatatat! Ratatatat! Ratatatat! Machine guns are firing. Through the sound of the artillery you can still hear a dull rhythm. Thousands of legs are still drumming. Thousands of boots are still stomping down on the hard, paved streets. Thousands of bullets are waiting in barrels. 3 Thousands of bayonets are longing for the vile, Polish-hating blood of the enemy. The rectangle shape of a propaganda poster peeks out from among the advertisements on the walls. A blood-red mobilisation poster obscures it for a moment. It catches fire, burns, and the fire dies out. Everything resumes its place.

“A VIOLENT ATTACK MUST BE FOUGHT OFF WITH VIOLENCE.”

The grey ranks of soldiers are marching in rhythm. Stomping boom, droom-droom-droom-boom, droom-droom-droom, To war, to war. Left ... left—Left, right, left. To war!

War entered the city. Stormed into it. It penetrated the silent buildings. It brought the depressed people to life, and rent their ties with their offices or workshops. It set into motion that dense swarm of people who make up the population of Warsaw. It surprised everybody.







The declaration was so unexpected, so sudden that everybody lost their heads even before they were hit with German shrapnel.

Nobody believed that the Germans would start a war. Not after Poland, France, and England had signed the treaty. Thus, all the greater was the surprise of 4 those two-legged creatures that squirm all over the city and listen to amateur politicians perorating here and there. Despite everything they still believe that the Germans will retreat. Because such thinking comes easiest.







Text and document: An eyewitness account of the German invasion of Poland in 1939, during which Warsaw suffered heavy air attacks and artillery bombardment at the hands of the Nazi forces. A ghetto resident penned their account in a diary entry and dated it 1 September 1939. It was contained in the Oyneg Shabes Archive. Translation courtesy the Jewish Historical Institute.

Video: Montage of clips from a German propaganda newsreel of the German invasion of Warsaw.

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The Ringelblum Archive 
Life Amid Destruction
Bearing Witness 
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