Stanislaw Wierzba and his friends

This picture was taken in 1944 in front of the Saski Garden in Warsaw. I, Stanislaw Wierzba, am standing in center. I only remember the name of one of my friends - he was called Kalinowski and he was my collegue from the orphanage.

And then after, when the war was over, I remember the day the Germans were running away, near by Grojec, they were moving in waves, and the Soviet tanks. It was wintertime [January 1945]. As soon as the Germans were gone, the Russians moved on. Once that was over, I got into the first army car that was passing by and headed for Warsaw. Warsaw was in flames just then. I met a friend - one of the boys, he had come to the orphanage, and we found the building all burnt down, except for the basements. It turned out that the Germans had made some of the basements into living space when they were defending the Vistula. And we moved right in there. It was furnished quite nicely, beds and everything, there was even food, German cans put aside. So we began cooking in this bunker - it was alright. The other boy's name was Kalinowski, he was one of my friends.