Remembrance "I Thought the Heavens Had Fallen"

By WOJCIECH JARUZELSKI

Poland's President, now 66, fled with his family to Lithuania and then Siberia three weeks after the Nazi invasion.

I still remember that sunny September day, the whizzing sound of German planes strafing defenseless refugees, exploding bombs, the stench of burning and dead horses at the roadside. I thought the heavens had fallen in on me. Relations between Lithuania and Poland were not very good, and we were held up at the border, adding to our sense of alarm and fear. We were convinced that we would return home soon, that a British-French offensive would enable the Polish army to go on fighting against the overwhelming forces of the enemy. Not for a moment did I think I would not return to Poland for more than four years.