Stanislaw Wierzba with his friend

This picture of me, Stanislaw Wierzba, and my friend was taken in Poznan, in the early 1950s, I don’t know when excactly. I don’t remember the name of my friend, I only know, that we were working together.

So when the war was all over I read an announcement they were recruiting for the army. I hurried to Filtrowa street, to the RKU [Regional Recruitment Center] in Warsaw. They drafted me on the basis of my kenkarta. This was 21st April 1945. I wasn't yet 20 years old when I volunteered for the army. They immediately sent me to the Officers' School in Andrzejewo, near Lodz. I was so glad to be alive, so happy, the food, the uniforms, the sleep - this was a whole new world! It was really something! I was overwhelmed. And I tried my best, because all that was there for me! I was quick to learn - so quick that they thought of sending me to Warsaw after graduation. But I said no. So where do you want to go? To Poznan! I don't know why. So they sent me to Poznan. I stayed there for 6 years in a unit that was under the KBW [Internal Security Corpus]. It was 1947-1953. This is where I began my military career. It wasn't until 1953 that I came to Warsaw.