February 14th
I remember when I was a kid, those crosses at the end of Rolna St in Pieczurki were standing on the edge of a pasture. Local people would bring their cows there to graze. I remember that as a child I would help Mrs. Malyszko with her cow — to bring back her cow from there in the evening. My reward was a cup of warm, frothy and fatty milk fresh from the udders. I don’t know how healthy and hygienic it was, but then I didn’t care — it was good, and I still remember the taste.
Now there are houses around where pasture was, a couple of new streets as well. There was a path toward the railroad track there that I used as a shortcut to get home from grandma’s. The path is blocked now by a new house there.
There was a local legend about how those crosses came to be there. All around this area you can find crosses or small chapels or religious figures on the side of the streets and roads, it’s a common sight showing devotion of local people. But for those crosses there was a whole different story —
It happened during the Second World War. There was a local guy who was a partisan. He had a girlfriend who lived right there on the Rolna St. One day he came to visit her and somehow German soldiers found out and went there to get him. He and his girlfriend were able to escape and run along the railroad tracks to a church which is now on Traugutta St. They accosted a priest there, it was then an Evangelical Church and the priest was German, but it was the closest church to where they were. They asked the priest to get married right there and then since German soldiers were closing in on the church. The priest obliged just in time and when German soldiers got to them, they died at the altar as a husband and wife. The priest was killed as well, or so they say…
The girl’s family blamed the partisan on her death, refused to accept their marriage and didn’t let them to be buried together. They were buried at Dojlidy Cemetery in separate graves. Local people decided to put those two crosses as a memorial to this couple, so symbolically they can be together since they couldn’t rest in the same grave.
After many years, the girl’s family relented and accepted their love and that they were married and finally let them to be buried together. Crosses are still there in Pieczurki, there to remind everybody about love and absurdity of war.
I don’t know if there is any truth to this. Several people who told me that story were adamant and convinced that’s what really happened. As legends go, especially local legends, there might be some truth to it. I will keep that story in my memory as I heard it when I was a kid, and I hope those crosses will stay there for a long time, so the story can be passed on the future generations.
