
There were moments in the Second World War that are remembered for turning the tide of the conflict.
But often events such as D-Day are in the forefront of our minds when we should remember the suffering that many people went through.
Inside the lands of Poland in September 1939, hell was brought to millions of people’s doorsteps.
Within a matter of months, thousands were rounded up and were executed, and many more would in the years after inside of Poland, succumb to the evils of the German army and the Nazi regime.
But in September 1939, one single photograph captured the suffering of a whole nation that justified the fighting for many allied countries.
One image showed the evil of the German armed forces.
This image changed the war for those who saw it.
A young 10-year-old Polish girl crying over the body of her older sister who had just been shot by machine gun fire from the skies by a Luftwuffer aircraft.
But what exactly happened that day? The 13th of September 1939 began as normal as it could for Annie and Kazmira Mika in Warsaw.
The two sisters children were desperate for food and there was no flour in their region and they found a potato field outside of their settlement and they began to dig potatoes out of the ground.
The German occupation of Poland and the invasion had begun weeks before and many were already suffering.
People who had been marked out for execution were being shot brazenly in town squares and inside of cities and lofa bombing aircraft were striking towns and leaving ruins wherever they release their payload.
But that day would be very different for the Mika sisters.
They innocently picked potatoes in the field hoping to take these back to their family.
And there were seven others who were doing this.
But above in the skies, Lwafa aircraft was circling and they noticed these people picking the potatoes and then decided to strike.
As the planes got closer, some of those in the field made a run for it and some tried to hide out in a small house.
But the Germans dropped their bombs on this house and trying to get away, Annie and Casemier Mika tried to run for their lives.
The bombs had been a few hundred yards from them and two women who were taking shelter in the house were killed.
But not satisfied with their work, the Nazi pilots decided to pass by for one more strike.
Minutes later they doubled back and swooped down to around 200 ft from the ground.
And this time they fired their machine guns into the field and more were killed.
One of these killed was Annie Kazmira’s sister.
Her body was twisted and disfigured by the ammunition that had been fired and struck her.
And Kazmira was stood over this, crying her eyes out.
Minutes before her big sister had been alive, and now she was dead.
Kazia tried to speak to her sister, but she was stood in floods of tears.
An American photographer arrived minutes after, and he captured the images of the two sisters.
the little girl crying over her big sister’s body.
He later wrote, and I quote, “As we drove by a small field at the edge of the town, we were just a few minutes too late to witness a tragic event, the most incredible of all.
Seven women had been digging potatoes in a field.
There was no flower in their district, and they were desperate for food.
Suddenly, two German planes appeared from nowhere and dropped bombs only 200 yd away on a small home.
Two women in the house were killed.
The potato diggers dropped flat upon the ground, hoping to be on notice.
After the bombers had gone, the women returned to their work.
They had to have food, but the Nazi flyers were not satisfied with their work.
In a few minutes, they came back and swooped down to within 200 ft of the ground.
this time raking the field with machine gun fire.
Two of the seven women were killed.
The other five escaped somehow.
While I was photographing the bodies, a little 10-year-old girl came running up and stood transfixed by one of the dead.
The woman was her older sister.
The child had never before seen death and couldn’t understand why her sister would not speak to her.
The child looked at us in bewilderment.
I threw my arm about her and held her tightly, trying to comfort her.
She looked at us stunned.
I took her in my arms.
She cried.
I cried, too, as did the Polish officers who were there with me.
What could we do? What could anyone have said to that child? He later claimed that this was the most harrowing site that he saw during the whole of the Second World War.
When the image was sent back to America and published, it showed the world of the evils that were happening inside of Europe.
The photographer Julian Brian tried to appeal to the American people to understand the suffering of the Polish people.
It shocked the world, a young girl’s emotions and suffering stood over her sister’s body and showed that the Germans were ruthless and were willing to take out civilians.
The anger this invoked may have even led Allied forces to become more determined in their fighting.
But soon after, Poland would crumble and the Nazi occupation of their part of the lands would bring in many more terrible massacres and killings.
Kazmier Micah died in August 2020 and she is buried at Warsaw’s Poansky Cemetery and this is not far from where the images were taken of her and where her sister had been gunned down from the skies.
But this shooting was in a sense a mindless execution.
The girls were helpless, exposed and the Luwaffa pilots decided to try and bring their lives to an end in one of the worst ways possible.
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