It was July 21, 1945. Harvest day. The families of the settlers had fled the estate in Bolesławice immediately after the brutal attack by the Russians. We write about this incident in the article Brutal attack in Bolesławice. County officials had to take care of the harvest. They began work at dawn and, although there was a great deal of it, everything proceeded without problems.
At around 9:30 a.m., they ran out of straw ropes, so the officials decided to go together to the farm buildings for a new supply of ropes for tying sheaves. As they were carrying the ropes out, someone accidentally stepped on an inconspicuous pile of roof tiles. At that moment, an explosion occurred. The roof tiles flew apart, intensifying the blast of a mine that exploded.
As a result of this tragic incident, four people died at the scene: Władysław Burakowski, Józef Jasztal, Jan Kolendra and Wacław Orlik. Two others, Anna Pawełkiewicz
and Bolesław Kubik, were injured. The woman died later that same day. Bolesław Kubik died the following day. Nine people suffered less serious injuries. The victims' funeral took place on July 23, and Kubik himself was buried the next day.
It is worth noting that conspiracy theories and legends grew up around these events. One of them blamed the Germans for the deaths of the Polish officials. It attributed deliberate actions and sabotage to them, carried out with the help of... a sofa.
A story was told that Poles working on the harvest, looking for a place to rest, sat on a sofa that several Germans working at the estate were allegedly carrying in. When the piece of furniture was supposedly about to touch the ground, an explosion occurred, and those standing nearby were either killed instantly or seriously injured. This story made no sense. The first question that comes to mind is: if the Germans were carrying and setting down the sofa, why were only Poles killed? Kubik himself did not confirm this story while he was still alive.
According to intelligence information, part of Bolesławiec County in the triangle of Kliczków – Bolesławiec – the western bank of the Bóbr River had been mined, and the mines had not been removed. A map was available that was supposedly to show the locations of the mines, but it was inaccurate.
The tragedy of July 21, 1945, was caused not by the Germans, but rather by the haste with which the harvest had to begin, as well as by a lack of knowledge about the dangers. The inaccuracy of the Russian sappers and, unfortunately, the victims' own carelessness also played a part.
The text was based on the article by Adam Baniecki and Mariusz Olczak, "The Death of Bolesław Kubik in the Light of Archival Sources," in the Bolesławiec Yearbook.