71 YEARS AGO TODAY

Today the new semester starts in Polish schools, and in the little town where I live and teach, we started with Mass at the church, the local state schools too, followed by a ceremony at the communist era social-realism war memorial.

The mayor, who is everyone's friend, spoke movingly of the cruelty and barbarity of the occupation by Germany, during which 6 million Poles, half of them Jews, were murdered. He thanked God that Poland survived and is now free.

Among the people present were two of the parish priests, old soldiers in their spledid uniforms, the police, the fire brigade, teachers, school pupils, and ordinary citizens.

At 11 o'clock, the air-raid sirens sounded. A memory of my childhood in wartime London, when I had to listen for the siren, as my grandmother was stone-deaf.

Then each of the groups present laid flowers at the memorial and bowed. A little dog following one group to the memorial stretched out its front paws and, believe it or not, bowed too, not comic but moving.

We sang the Polish National Anthem and went our ways.

Thank God here piety and honour are still very much alive.