Kazimiera Mika (née Kostewicz) was just ten years old when her most painful moment became international news.

Kazimiera Mika (née Kostewicz) was just ten years old when her most painful moment became international news. Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1929, Kazimiera and her older sister Anna (born 1925) lived a happy life on the outskirts of the city.

On September 13, 1939, (just twelve days after the beginning of WWII) Kazimiera and her sister were gathering potatoes from a field along with some of their friends. Suddenly, a nearby home was bombed. The women in the field fell flat, hoping they wouldn’t be seen. As the German bombers flew away, they resumed working, thinking that the threat had passed. 

However, just a few minutes later, two German Luftwaffe pilots returned to the home they had just bombed. The flew very low to the ground, and were able to see that there were only women and children in the field. Despite this, they opened fire with machine guns, killing two of the seven women.

Kazimiera’s fourteen-year-old sister was one of those killed. American journalist, Julien Bryan, was nearby and captured the heart wrenching scene. After the war he said “The child looked at us in bewilderment. I threw my arm about her and held her tightly, trying to comfort her. She cried. So did I and the two Polish officers who were with me. But what could we tell her? What could anyone tell that child?” he recalled. Kazia was beyond consolation, but the stranger nevertheless managed to gain a little bit of her trust.”

In 2010, seventy-one years later, Kazimiera said “Even today, despite all the years, I still cannot forgive them.” Kazimiera died on August 28, 2022. 

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