I'm not sure what triggered my Babcia a few days ago on the phone. But, suddenly, she recalled her parents full names. And where they were from. And when they left Poland. And so much more.
My Babcia's mother was from Grodno when it was still Poland. Now, Grodno falls in Belarus.
My Babcia's father was from the Bialystok area, and she told me the name of the town.
They both left Poland before World War I and fled to France, where they met in a small village. My Wujek remembered the name of the village and what my pra-Dziadek used to do there.
My Babcia was born in France in the interwar era. After WWII, they returned to Poland to Wroclaw. Where she met my Dziadek. And had my Tato, who had me.
I found other people while looking online that lived in those towns with the same last names around the 1850's through the beginning of WWII.
When Alzheimer's veils the memory, it's subtle but keeps claiming more and more.
I'm planning on writing down as much as possible of my family history so that when it happens to me, my children's children won't be left wondering what stories were lost to them.
Na razie...
A Mama born in Poland with "Gypsy Blood" living on the American Prairie with her daughters, two future Miss Poland and Nobel Peace prize recipients :: Food, Travel, Life...
1 comment:
That's wonderful that she was able to have a spark of those memories!! I am the family historian for mine and my husband's family, any information is good information!!
My husbands Babcia carried on her mother's Polish cooking traditions,(they came to the US in 1913.)Babcia passed away in 2009 and this French/Irish/English/Dutch Mutt aka Me, has been trying to keep those family recipes alive. I'm so glad I found your blog.
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