Stinky ham, paid trips to Golgotha, rules for sharing an egg and ... Easter eggs filled with TNT for the occupant! Polish soldiers could spend Easter better than anyone else. And they had some really weird things to say about it.
It is known that Christmas greetings are the basis. This opinion must have been shared by a columnist for "Skrzydeł" - a newspaper published by Polish airmen in Great Britain. To make it more interesting, he was not an aviator, but a cavalryman who wanted to reveal to his colleagues what he envies in their work. In the 1942 Christmas issue, he devoted his text to ... Easter eggs. Very specific Easter eggs.
Polish soldiers on the military trail could also have Easter under palm trees.
But it's great imperceptibly at night […] drop some bombs and in the legs some 300 miles. […].
There is one thing we envy you - these Easter eggs . It's Easter for you every day. With tractors they bring you Easter eggs that you can constantly throw away. And on each Easter egg you can write:This is for Warsaw, this is for Kutno, this is for Zośka.
Write as many of these Easter eggs as possible - paint them and then drop them. […] Give them as many eggs as possible!
Tradition must be respected, that is ham on a light gauze pad
Polish soldiers interned in Switzerland, after losing the fights in France in 1940, approached the subject of Easter in a completely different way. They just couldn't drop bombs on anyone, so they focused on ... maintaining the national tradition
In their magazine "Goniec Obozowy" they jokingly instructed one another about good manners that should apply during this festive season. And they took advantage of the wisdom of the greatest pre-war singer of the capital's folklore, Stefan Wiech Wiechecki. Homer's column of the Warsaw language (as Tuwim called it) years after its publication, even very far from Poland, did not lose its relevance:
The rush of modern life and post-war infatuation made us eat "holy" dishes as if they were horseradish sausages or a mountain schnitzel.
No anointing, no straw for centuries-old tradition, no trace of appreciation for the work of a breeder and cook! Sad!
Easter chicken and an Easter egg according to Polish soldiers, perfect for the Nazis! ("Werinajs", The Black Brigade Happy Biweekly, Perth, No. 12/1942).
They started their comments, of course, with the issue of sharing an egg. After all, this is the very beginning of Easter breakfast:
First of all, an egg! It is a religious dish and is not intended for chafing , a sign of this should not be stuffed with every single wish, but while holding the quarters on a fork, at least two people should be taken care of with it.
If the company is bigger, then both three and four. […] WITH you do not fly to everyone, because this one may not wish to kiss just any scoundrel.
Poland's Way of the Cross? ("Fighting Poland", Polish Soldier in Abroad, London No. 14-15 / 1942).
As for the rest of the party, take your time and get over the top. Pushing to the table isn't good either. So soldiers translate in soldier language with the words Wiech:
Don't push the egg to the table, because in a decent house, the host has his calculation and so calculates that there is enough gas and trough for everyone or even if not, the dog danced with him and then I go elsewhere.
Knowing the food supply realities of the time, the "Camp Runner" kindly admonished the internees who were reading it:
It may happen that the gazik letki ham has it, that is, it arrives , then the rash does not rise, but it spreads more horseradish more and it will fall off.
It could always happen that a Polish soldier had to spend Christmas somewhere far away from Poland, even outside Europe. Even then, he did not lose heart. Instead of putting his nose on the fifth, he tried to turn things to his advantage.
The Pole can do it! Even in Jerusalem…
Soldiers from the Reserve Center of the Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade spent Easter 1941 in Palestine. Polish soldiers did not waste time, performing a guard of honor at the Holy Sepulcher in one of the churches of Jerusalem. There was also a solemn Resurrection and, of course, no less sublime field mass.
Happy Hallelujah!
Trips to Jerusalem were also organized as part of the celebration of the Resurrection. Because where is it better to experience Easter if not in the place where the events described in the Gospel took place? Are there any "natural circumstances" more suited to making the Way of the Cross than ... Jesus' path to Golgotha?
And next Easter may it be in free Poland! The soldiers thought ... ("Dziennik Polski", London, No. 533/1942).
Of course, trips from the barracks to Jerusalem were organized for an appropriate fee. 110 milds (local currency) for the officer, 80 for the private, where the reduction in the fees for the rank and file is the result of efforts made by the O. Z. officer group.
For the vast majority of soldiers, the stay in Palestine was the only opportunity to see live places still remembered in the church. It would be a sin not to use it, especially since these attractions made it possible to forget, even for a moment, that somewhere in the distant, occupied Poland, those closest to them were suffering.
The general situation and dilemmas of the soldiers were perfectly understood by the commanders, which was expressed in the daily orders and various kinds of appeals. Władysław Anders did no different when he wrote for Easter 1942:
Our relatives today in the country, our mothers, wives, children, sisters and brothers will sing "Today is a happy day" with a smile, not in tears, because they know that we are the army again because they believe that we will bring them freedom.
And the soldiers could only believe and keep fighting.
Easter battle chicks. ("Werinajs", Black Brigade Happy Biweekly, Perth, No. 12/1942).
Sources:
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- "Gazetka Obozowa", Journal of the Soldiers of the Reserve Center S.B.S.K., Palestine, No. 88 (1941).
- "Goniec Obozowy", Journal of the Interned Soldiers, Bern, No. 7 (1942).
- "Orzeł Biały", Fighting Poland in the East, Jangi-Jul, No. 11/12 (1942).
- "Wings. News from the World ", Journal of the Polish Air Force Soldiers, London, No. 7 (1942).