St Declans N.S.

Work based on the book ‘The Silver Sword’

Setting the scene.

The story is set during the Second World War. Joseph Balacki is a teacher in his home town of Warsaw. He has three children Edek, Bronia and Ruth.

Joseph is taken away from his family and is enrolled in a German camp in the Polish mountains.

Savagely their mother is also taken away. Their house is then burnt down by the Nazis. The three children manage to narrowly escape. They are now in search of their Mother, Father and a place to stay.

We have been wandering around the murky, war-torn, formless remains of what was once Warsaw. Rubble, wood and hundreds of corpses litter something like streets. We may have been lucky to escape the house before it was blown up, but I’d rather have died.

Our mother was savagely taken away from us, and as if that hadn’t caused us enough depression, all this time we can do nothing but think endlessly of our father being captured by the Nazis. Every day, we hope and pray that he will return, but every day we are crushed. We are supplied food by Mrs Krause, but we just wander the streets in search of lodgings.

Our insides now feel like the rubble on which we live. We are pressing on, although I just wish that a German guard would just finish this misery for us. I feel happy we are alive, yet with a huge blanket of depression haunting us, along with anger that this is all happening and nervousness about what will happen next, every time we turn a corner.

My mind is racing. Will we make it through this? Will we ever see our parents again? Where will we live? Will my sisters be all right? It looks like Bronia has found something that resembles a rabbit hole. We’ll stay here tonight. This whole experience feels like a dream. Sounds seem like echoes, footsteps aren’t felt, and emotions multiplied

Written by Adam Phelan