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Authors: Matthew Zajac
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conflict in the village. Everyone treated the same! We grew up with Jews, we grew up with Ukrainians, was no animosity between anybody! When they appeared, when all the conflict start to show its ugly head – when Hitler came into power in Germany – it spread so quick, there start discriminate against this religion, against that, oh he’s a Jew and he’s a Ukrainian and he’s a Pole! Don’t buy from him because he’s a Jew. We never heard that before. There was no such a Nazi movement or anything like that. There was in the west of Poland, but in the east of Poland, no. Not until after Hitler came into power. The propaganda, it spread like a wildfire you
see? You see?
But with us there was not even think of that er, any discrimination , you know. Like, with us, was all services in one church! The Greek Orthodox priest was having a service, the Roman Catholic was having a service in the same church, alternative Sunday.
And we celebrated two Christmases! The Catholic and the Orthodox. Perfectly in order! Oh Christmas, tremendous celebration it was. The preparation went on for a week beforehand . The great pleated doughnut been made, the special kolacz, and when Christmas come, we have Christmas Eve supper after the sun set. Usually carp and kucza, the poppy seed and wheat boiled so that it opens up, very tasty. And a poppy seed and a honey, about half a dozen courses, and then father used to have a bottle of vodka and that home made wine so we got a wine and they got a vodka. It was, oh tremendous and the celebration went on for about three days.
I remember when I was little my older sister got married, the man that played the trumpet was blind and the man that played the violin was blind. Two blind men. I was four years old and I remember that to this day. And the preparation for the wedding went on for weeks. Baking, cooking and preserving and when the wedding day came in it was so many people! I never seen so many people before in one spot! Nobody took much notice of me and I cried most of the time!
My sister. Of course she is dead now, aye. Milanja. She was the oldest. 1906 she was born. That’s where my mother was, living with her in Gnilowody, behind the Iron Curtain where we come from you know. Milanja got married to another farmer. And she moved about kilometre or two away. Smaller farm than ours. But we didn’t know she had a heart condition. She died of a heart trouble, she was quite young, about 50-odds when she died and Pawel, her husand, och he lived about twenty years after that, looked after mother of course. And well he’s dead now too. There you are. They had a boy, exactly
the same age as Adam, but during the war, he disappeared, don’t know what happened to him…he was too young to fight, just like Adam. What happened there, nobody knows, he might have got mixed up with some underground organisation. Some people say that he was shot, by the Germans. Some people say that he was shot by the Russians. So there you are.
He was their only boy, so there’s nobody from that side now. He was very very clever boy. He was so bloomin’ good he practically spoke German before the war! You know, when he was little, there was a village of Beckersdorf, not far from us, German village from the time of Czarina Katerina. They were Polish citizens but they still retain German language, German culture you see? And he got mixed up with those boys from there. Well, they spoke German obviously. So did he! He spoke German just like them! Before he was twelve! Very clever boy he was.
There was a lot of jealousy because if you see the village, I’m picturing now. When you enter that German village, the building were sort of symmetrically built, they were so clean, there was a gates and a hedges and this and that. And you got other village was everything sort of a haphazard you know? Was not any discipline or symmetry to anything but with them it was. Discipline was there, you see! So there was a lot of jealousy
see? You see?
But with us there was not even think of that er, any discrimination , you know. Like, with us, was all services in one church! The Greek Orthodox priest was having a service, the Roman Catholic was having a service in the same church, alternative Sunday.
And we celebrated two Christmases! The Catholic and the Orthodox. Perfectly in order! Oh Christmas, tremendous celebration it was. The preparation went on for a week beforehand . The great pleated doughnut been made, the special kolacz, and when Christmas come, we have Christmas Eve supper after the sun set. Usually carp and kucza, the poppy seed and wheat boiled so that it opens up, very tasty. And a poppy seed and a honey, about half a dozen courses, and then father used to have a bottle of vodka and that home made wine so we got a wine and they got a vodka. It was, oh tremendous and the celebration went on for about three days.
I remember when I was little my older sister got married, the man that played the trumpet was blind and the man that played the violin was blind. Two blind men. I was four years old and I remember that to this day. And the preparation for the wedding went on for weeks. Baking, cooking and preserving and when the wedding day came in it was so many people! I never seen so many people before in one spot! Nobody took much notice of me and I cried most of the time!
My sister. Of course she is dead now, aye. Milanja. She was the oldest. 1906 she was born. That’s where my mother was, living with her in Gnilowody, behind the Iron Curtain where we come from you know. Milanja got married to another farmer. And she moved about kilometre or two away. Smaller farm than ours. But we didn’t know she had a heart condition. She died of a heart trouble, she was quite young, about 50-odds when she died and Pawel, her husand, och he lived about twenty years after that, looked after mother of course. And well he’s dead now too. There you are. They had a boy, exactly
the same age as Adam, but during the war, he disappeared, don’t know what happened to him…he was too young to fight, just like Adam. What happened there, nobody knows, he might have got mixed up with some underground organisation. Some people say that he was shot, by the Germans. Some people say that he was shot by the Russians. So there you are.
He was their only boy, so there’s nobody from that side now. He was very very clever boy. He was so bloomin’ good he practically spoke German before the war! You know, when he was little, there was a village of Beckersdorf, not far from us, German village from the time of Czarina Katerina. They were Polish citizens but they still retain German language, German culture you see? And he got mixed up with those boys from there. Well, they spoke German obviously. So did he! He spoke German just like them! Before he was twelve! Very clever boy he was.
There was a lot of jealousy because if you see the village, I’m picturing now. When you enter that German village, the building were sort of symmetrically built, they were so clean, there was a gates and a hedges and this and that. And you got other village was everything sort of a haphazard you know? Was not any discipline or symmetry to anything but with them it was. Discipline was there, you see! So there was a lot of jealousy
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