We arrived in Bolesławiec on 17 September 1945 on the first transport from Drohobych. The sight of the ruined city did not encourage people to settle there, so the then Station Master, P. Władysław Zieliński, resorted to a ruse, announcing that this was the end of the route and that he had to send the railway cars back. Then officials from the State Repatriation Office (PUR) appeared, explaining to the people that Bolesławiec had a bright future ahead of it and that all it needed was people. We decided to stay. In any case, people were tired after the six-week journey. They scattered around the city in search of a roof over their heads. The houses were ruined, without doors or windows. Some of the arrivals settled on Gdańska Street; I settled at 21 Sikorskiego Street (I still live here today). Residents of villages near Drohobych settled in Łaziska or Tomaszów.
I was happy to be under a roof. One day, while taking care of something at the Municipal Office (in the town hall), I met P. Stefania Tajcher, who had returned from Ravensbrück concentration camp. She was very pleased that I was a teacher, just like her. She said that she had to open a new school. A few days later, Inspector Dziubiński arrived, still wearing his military uniform. Mrs. Stefania had brought him from Legnica. We went to the building of today’s economics school on Komuny Paryskiej Street. A brief teachers’ meeting was held there, at which it was decided to open the school on 1 October. On the reverse side of German-printed forms, Miss Tajcher wrote an announcement about enrolment at the school and put it up on a post near the school and at the town hall.
On 1 October 1945, Miss Tajcher went to church with the children (I did not make it because I had to take care of official formalities), and then the first school year began. The first pupils were, of course, children from our transport, but there were also children of parents returning from German camps. I remember some of the surnames, some without first names: Irena Bojko and her brother, Danuta Czernigiewicz, Lusia Potocka, Regina Dziemianko, Basia Dzięgielewska, as well as Zubiak, Nowińska, Szulc, Dąbrowska, Pawliszak... There were probably 38 pupils. After a week of classes, a transport from the Ternopil region arrived, bringing the teacher Marysia Rożenko (Żamirska). We divided the subjects among ourselves: Mrs. Tajcher taught history, Marysia biology and geography, and I taught Polish. Mathematics varied—each of us taught a little; the children’s levels differed because they were of various ages, but we had to manage.
Mrs. Stefania would usually take one or several pupils and set off with a handcart on so-called “procurement trips.” She brought back chalk, blackboards, desks, forms, some paper to write on, pencils and ink.
At the end of November, a transport from Stanislaviv arrived, bringing P. Olga Zyzoń, a teacher. There were now four of us. Mrs. Rożenko and I prepared a St. Nicholas celebration: there was a performance, dancing and singing. St. Nicholas gave the children modest, poor gifts, but there were little packages. The entire “Mexico” hall (later “Zodiac”) was full. Children with their parents, the county authorities, the Municipal Office with the mayor, and party representatives attended. The PPR authorities supplied us with coloured paper, tissue paper and other materials. We prepared fancy little packages from St. Nicholas for the city authorities.
We taught in the building of the present-day economics school until December 1945, then moved to the building of today’s “number five” school because the frosts came, the radiators there were broken, and there was no heating at all.
After the Christmas holidays, Inspector Dziubiński (who was already living in Bolesławiec), together with Mrs. Tajcher, opened the first class of the secondary school. I am trying to recall the first pupils in that class: Adam Czupkiewicz, Wiktoria Czupkiewicz, Adam Humenny, Maria Ursel, Krystyna Włóczkowska, Halina Ożga, Jadzia Kucharczyk, Jadzia Galusińska, Stanisław Merdas, Tadeusz Szewczuk, Krystyna Perkowska, Marian Zieliński, andzej Markowski, Stanisław Milan, Dziubiński, Gomółka, Łapczyńska and others whose names I did not remember. Once again, we divided the subjects among ourselves, with the addition of mathematics teacher Bronisław Mazur in the spring.
In the meantime, Mrs. Tajcher was dismissed from her position as head because a man, Mr. Tatarczan, arrived, accompanied by the teacher Mrs. Maria Markowska.
Thus ended the first school year, 1945/46.