They came with a scythe and an axe to kill me and my brother - Józefa Bryg p. 2 Witnesses to the Age

The interview was recorded by the PILECKI INSTITUTE as part of the WITNESSES TO THE AGE project.
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Our today’s interviewee:
Józefa Bryg (born 1938) miraculously survived the massacre in the village of Palikrowy on 12 March 1944. Having escaped from the meadow where the Banderites killed more than 300 Poles and Jews, Józefa Bryg and her brother found refuge at the house of their Ukrainian acquaintance. The woman’s Polish husband had been killed by Ukrainian nationalists. The woman set up a hideout for several individuals. Apart from Józefa and her brother, among those hiding in her basement was at least one Jew who also survived the massacre. The Ukrainians from the Galician Division of the SS came to the house twice and carried out a thorough search, but luckily they didn’t find anyone. As they were leaving, one of them was so enraged that he shot the good Ukrainian woman in the arm. On the next day, everyone left the hideout. Józefa and her brother returned home, but the house had been looted. They managed to find some food and sometimes received some from Miss Róża, who had taken them away from the meadow earlier. Suddenly, Banderites armed with an axe and a scythe showed up - if they found Józefa and her brother, they would have killed them. Thankfully, the children hid in the basement and remained safe until the advance of the Red Army. The Russian soldiers took Józefa and her brother to a safer territory. In 1945, they were sent to the newly established Polish lands. Józefa lived for a while in Radymno, where she pastured cows. Due to exhaustion, hunger and recent traumatic experiences, she wasn’t always able to keep the cows from damaging other farmers’ crops. After one such instance, she was beaten very badly by the woman who had taken her in. Józefa escaped from the farm to a nearby convent. At first, the nuns were afraid to take her in, as they suspected she could have been collaborating with the Ukrainians, but they eventually realized that Józefa was an innocent child. The girl found peace and received loving care from one of the nuns, Sister Kazimiera. She was able to graduate from elementary school.
Copyright by Instytut Solidarności i Męstwa im. Witolda Pileckiego.