People Who Are Polish: A Video And Why We Share

I found this video on youtube and wanted to share it.

It's a slide show of people who are Polish or have Polish roots and who are famous.  Perhaps you might recognize a few?

I also want to explain why I share information about famous Poles and people who have Polish roots, or ancestry. 

It's not about thinking Poland or Polish peoples are better than America or American people.  Neither is better than the other, America and Poland are both amazing in their own ways.  

My children may one day feel inspired to not be ashamed of being Polish American.  I want them to be proud and not bow to Polack jokes or sneers by others. 

I don't want them to feel superior, it's not about that.  It's about celebrating who you are, whatever or whoever you are.  Whether it be Polish, Cherokee, Ethiopian, Indian, or whatever culture your family comes from.

I also want them to understand what it means to be Polish American.  That it is a culture, that we have certain foods, songs, traditions, a language, roots in a far away land where some of our family still lives and who we still have contact with because distance has nothing to do with love and family. 

It's about growing their souls as little people, making the world more understandable, helping them to become compassionate towards others, giving them the idea that the world is open to them and that they are a part of it.

I want them to also see that America is a land filled with stories like this, full of people who's ancestral ties are with countries around the world, and how wonderful that is, how unique.

I want them to grow, to be, to become, to feel inspired, to truly dream, to be kind, to know.

So, while I get a hard time by some for sharing stories about my heritage, my children's heritage, I just want to say that if you still don't understand why I share, that's not my or my children's concern.

We are here, we are living, we are celebrating who we are while respecting and celebrating who everyone else as well.

As it should be.

Na razie...

Visiting Graves in Wroclaw

Some of you might be researching your genealogy and having a difficult time.  If it's because you are having difficulty locating which city or town your ancestor was buried, or their date of birth and death, that can really cause issues tracing them in the records department.

The digital age is beginning to make things easier in many aspects of life.

Including, finding family graves.  Wroclaw now has the graves of each cemetery online.  On the website for Zarząd Cmentarzy Komunalnych we Wrocławiu (or ZCK), you can go to the tab "Wyszukiwarka Grobów" (Search for Graves).

In the field marked "Nazwisko", put in your ancestor's last name. 

Remember, if you are looking for a female family member, it's highly probably that their last name ends with the feminine "a", instead of the masculine or group "i".

In the field marked "Imię", put in their last name.  Or, you can leave that blank.

"Data urodzenia" means "Date of Birth".  "Data zgonu" literally means "Date of Loss" but actually means "Date of Death".  "Data pochowania" means "Date of Burial".  You don't really actually need any of these dates, if you don't have them.  Simply enter what you have.

Results will show the person's name, all three dates explained above, which cemetery in Wroclaw they are buried in, which plot, group and row.

The database is not yet complete, so don't be discouraged.  The office of the ZCK is also staffed with (Polish speaking) people who are very professional and very helpful, as well.  But, I cannot stress this enough, they are not there to help you with your genealogy research.  They are there to care for the graves of our dearly departed.  Which includes helping us find their graves so that we can visit.

If you find a family grave in their database, you can call the ZCK to check that their account is up to date, which would mean you have family around there as well.  If not, would you do an act of kindness to your departed ancestors, and kindly pay for their continued care in their final resting place.

This is not intended to be for genealogical purposes, but rather, for people to find their family's grave in order to visit.  It's helpful for me, since my Babcia is the one who knows where our family is buried there and her memory is slipping.  I visit the graves whenever I am in Wroclaw, but eventually, I will be visiting on my own.  And then, one day, my children's children will be visiting.

The information on this site cannot be used as part of "proof of citizenship" documentation. 

Other places around Poland will soon be having sites like this for people to find their families graves, as well.

When that happens, I'll be able to find and visit the graves on my mother's side, since as of right now, nobody I have contact with knows that information.

Na razie...




Note:  Traditional Polish lanterns for use on All Saints' Day can be purchased at dom itp.

Disclaimer: An affiliate sale link is used in this post for those looking to purchase lanterns as is traditionally used on this holiday.




Related Posts:

Understanding Flower Traditions in Poland

Calling Babcia

It Isn't Just Another Day, It's All Saints' Day

A Cemetery in a Small Village in the Polish Countryside and WWII

Letter To Heaven: Dear Dziadek, a Letter to My Father's Deceased Father

When Memory Revisits My Babcia

When Memory Revisits My Babcia

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...