Destination England -
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7. Departure for England
The next day, Monday 13th November 1939 at 1.00 pm, we were ready to
commence our journey on bicycles. My bicycle had been 'loaned' to
me by one of my stepsisters. Of course it was just my luck that
as we were mounting our bicycles, the wife of my German neighbour who
lived downstairs came out of her shop. She took a long look at
me, with a smile on her face. Until this occasion I hadn't been
aware that anybody, especially not someone from the older generation
and opposite sex, let alone someone from another Germanic race, would
hold me in such high esteem. So I decided to return the smile
and, with wave of my hand, mounted my bicycle. Several years
later I learned that she never did report me to Gestapo.
After this unexpected episode we eventually set out on our journey
which I named 'Destination England'.
Why England? Because it was our hope that together with English
forces and us joining them, we will be able to defeat Germany.
Neither of us, especially myself, could imagine what our destiny would
be and that it would take over three years and around 26,000 miles by
land and sea in order to reach this goal.
As it happened we couldn't choose a shorter route, through Germany,
Belgium or Holland, because we would have had to travel about 500 miles
through enemy territory. We decided to go the longer way, across
Poland, even though it was occupied by German and Russian
forces. As I had done on my journey home, I once again relied
entirely on the help of our own people. We wanted to make our way
over the Carpathian mountains and reach Hungary. Once there,
with the help of the Polish Consulate, we hoped we could join the
Polish forces which at the time were being organised in France under
the command of general Sikorski. So we began to make our way
towards Hungary.
Before I continue further with my story, I would like to say few words
about my friend. As I mentioned before, he was about a 10 years
older than me and our national upbringing taught us respect for older
people. However, from the military perspective I had the
seniority so we made a compromise. Before leaving home, my
father, knowing the mischief I used to get up to, asked this man to
take care of me, which meant to try to prevent me from doing something
which I might regret or which could endanger my life. This
man, named Ferdinand Pilarski, not only spoke fluent German, but was
also a good boxer and wrestler and I will always be very grateful for
help he gave me.
After cycling for 50 miles, we decided to stop for the night at the
house of the daughter of his ex boss. Her father was the owner
of a large shopping centre and of the house in which Ferdinand and my
family were living. This was the boss, who I mentioned
earlier, was a prominent Jew, had already been arrested by the
Gestapo. By giving us shelter, his daughter was risking a similar
fate. After the war I learned that fortunately, this girl and her
sister had escaped safely to America.
The following day my friend, whom I will refer to as Ferdek for short,
returned home to fetch something he had forgotten to bring, leaving me
with this Jewish lady and her sister. Returning two days later,
he brought me a nice warm civilian overcoat which he had purchased with
money my father had given him during his visit. We spent one more
night at this house and then made a start early in the morning for the
second stage of our journey. We cycled South East, avoiding
Warsaw and the German patrols. We had to cycle during the daytime
since at night there was a curfew. At night, we would try to find
a safe place to rest, very often in barns. If we were in a
town,we sought some kind of restaurant or café which had rooms
upstairs, or even just an attic. Quite often we had to put up
with German soldiers singing and shouting downstairs. In a few
places, Ferdek got a job as an interpreter between German Command and
the local Polish community, for which he was paid. Ferdek, having
a way with Germans, also obtained a pass, not only for himself but for
me as well. I was 'officially' made out to be his cousin and we
pretended to be on our way to visit our relatives (non existent, of
course) who were living in a place 100 miles away. As a result we
enjoyed uninterrupted travel.
We managed this deception twice more, until we arrived at the border
dividing German and Russian military zones. The border crossing
was on the road itself and the house from which we were trying to cross
was 25 yards away from it. Our hosts advised us to sell them our
bicycles, because it would be easier for us to get onto the other side
(all lies) and that we would not need them, so we got rid of the
bicycles. When it got dark, the people with whom we were staying
and whose job it was to smuggle us across into the Russian zone, were
watching the movement of the Russian patrols and for the flash light
signal from their neighbours, at which moment we were to run into the
woods on the other side of the road and at same time into 'Soviet
Paradise'.
The next morning, as we came out of the woods, we were sighted by two
Russian soldiers on horses, only about 500 yards away and galloping
towards us. Without any hesitation we turned and hurried back
into forest. We remained in the woods for the next two hours,
emerged again in a different place and were then able to make our way
to the railway station at Rawa Ruska where we boarded a train going to
Lwow, about 50 miles away. During that journey we befriended a
young man who was working on a farm near Lwow, and who was just
returning from a visit to his family. He became interested in our
story and told us that he knew a priest in Lwow who might be able to
find place for us to stay for a couple of nights.
Eventually, the three of us arrived at the door of the priest's
house. After introductions and listening to our story, he
apologized and said that he couldn't let us stay at his place, because
his vicarage might be under observation and it would be too risky for
all of us. However, he told our friend to go and ask his
employer, who was a village alderman, whether he would be willing to
accommodate us. The answer was "Yes", so we went there and were
made very welcome. We spent two days with this family, who had
two young, nice looking daughters, who later on made it difficult for
me to persuade my friend to make an early departure. In the end I
alone bid farewell to our hosts and made my way towards the railway
station. A few minutes later I was followed by my disappointed
fellow traveller Ferdek so we arrived at Lwow railway station
together.
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© Nick Bailey & Krys Bailey (nee Stendera) & Jozef Stendera
2013-2020