Kraków 2018-05-17
The military compound – Jagodne.
The Jagodne military training ground is one of the few operating training grounds in Poland at the moment (2018). Like a typical training ground, yet with an extraordinary history of the unparalleled struggle of the Polish nation for freedom, independence and dignity.
At a distance of about 80 km, in a straight line, at an azimuth of 120 degrees, from Warsaw, among the Łukowski Forests and the "Jata" reserve, there used to be a quiet town called Jagodne. Geographic coordinates: 51 ° 59′05 ″ N 22 ° 10′30 ″ E. Administratively, Jagodne, today it would be in the Lubelskie Voivodeship, in the Łukowski poviat, in the Łuków commune. Domanice Parish. Jagodne was situated exactly halfway from Domanice to Żdżary (about 6 km on each side). It was about 17 km from Jagodny to Łuków.
The village of Jagodne.
In 1920, Jagodne had nearly 60 farms and almost 400 inhabitants. This development was the result of natural increase – many children were born here. The local community willingly accepted new models from neighboring towns and even from Warsaw. In 30 years, the inhabitants built the People’s House, and one of the rooms was an auditorium with a stage. There was no church in the village, so the inhabitants went to the church in Domanice. The believers celebrated picnics and Czerwcówki at the chapel in the village. In 1928, the parish of Christ the King was established in Jedlanka (towards the south) and the parishioners from Jagodne joined it.
The Second World War
During the defensive war in September 1939, the 1st Legions Infantry Division fought in the local forests. Already at the end of 1939, the first units of the Polish partisans, and then the Home Army and the National Armed Forces, began to station in the nearby forests.
Partisans (a forestry unit from Jata), then the Union of Armed Struggle, and later regular soldiers of the Home Army (35th Infantry Regiment of the Home Army in Jata) set up a camp in the forest, partially separated by marshes. The camp could hold about 300 soldiers. In 1944, the unit consisted of 320 soldiers. There were dugouts and barracks, and even a chapel. There were stables for the horses. There was also a shooting range. The Germans were afraid to enter there, although from at least 1942 they knew about the existence of a military camp.
In 1944, a branch of the Home Army from Jata under the command of Captain Wacław Andrzej Rejmak "Ostoja" left the forest camp and began a new fight with the new occupant. On October 18, 1945, on the road Lublin – Warsaw, near the town of Pociecha, captain Wacław Andrzej Rejmak "Ostoja" was brutally murdered by officers of the Security Office, along with his adjutant Lieutenant Mieczysław Kański "Czeczot". At the time of his death, he was 28 years old, his adjutant 21 years old.
After the Second World War.
After World War II, Jagodne was revived again. Unfortunately, the inhabitants were not allowed to enjoy the peace. Since the communists had not yet pacified the entire independence underground, which had great support in the nation, they decided to liquidate the village of Jagodne, and to relocate the inhabitants to the area near Olsztyn, to the so-called regained territories. In February 1953, at a village meeting with the participation of communist district authorities, it was announced that Jagodne would be relocated to the regained territories. The area of the village was designated for the development of "National Economic Plans". Not all farmers believed it and started field work in the spring. It is possible that several families left their homes in the spring and moved to relatives in nearby villages in order not to go to the "Teutonic Knights and Prussians."
In March 1953, a professional fire brigade appeared in the village. Additional civic militias and later troops arrived. In May 1953, the communists held a second information meeting. Then the residents decided to act. Letters were written to all possible levels of power of oppression. The delegations traveled to Lublin and Warsaw. The hosts suggested moving the village to Jeleniec where the State Farm was established. The power of oppression, so as not to irritate the farmers, made promises from which it then withdrew.
In early July 1953, the congregation matured, and the power of oppression even allowed the establishment of threshers. However, in mid-July 1953, each of the land owners received an act of expropriation from the land and a farm, indicating that he was evicted on August 1, 1953 to the Olsztyn Province. The tragedy was twofold at least. The hosts lost all their possessions and crops of one year. It is known that the farmer Władysław Zając was arrested for a desperate attempt to demolish his own building. He planned to dismantle the house and move it to a new place. At that time, Stalinist methods of fighting against "the enemies of the people" were used.
August 1, 1953 was warm and sunny. Large trucks with trailers came to Jagodne. These were probably FSC Lublin-51, ZiŁ-151 and ZiŁ-164. The latter had a load capacity of 4,000 kg, and its trailer was 6,400 kg. According to the license plates, they were from different regions of Poland. Each farmer had a designated car and a so-called "dispatcher", who was to be careful about transporting the farmer’s belongings to the assigned freight wagons standing from the morning at the Łuków Łapiguz railway station in Łuków. Amid grief, sadness and tears, the property of the inhabitants was transported to a freight train that took everyone north in the evening. The old Mrs. Pucyk did not survive the drama and died on the way.
In the area of Olsztyn, former inhabitants of Jagodne received fallow lands and collapsing hovels, which even the local population did not want. What the communists called farms was on the sidelines. Away from the water, shop, school, church and even the neighbor. These were the so-called leftovers. The land required heavier plows and the farmers did not have these. It is difficult to describe the tragedy of the families from Jagodne who were treated so cruelly by the authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland.
Written by Karol Placha Hetman