PolScapes
IMPRESSIONS
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| REMINISCENCES
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by Zofia T. Bradbury
IMPRESSIONS
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| REMINISCENCES
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I was born in Poland just before W.W.II, as a small child I was taken to a labour camp in Germany. Thankfully, I survived and eventually emigrated to Canada.
I had promised myself that I would never go back to Poland as long as it was occupied. I always dreamed of my country of origin being free and of one day visiting it. Well, I finally did it.
Two years ago I went to Poland on my own (I still speak Polish). I was born in Torun and it was the first city I visited. I travelled by train, visited Gdansk, Gdynia, Torun, Malbork, Warszawa, Krakow,
Zakopane, Czestochowa, as well as other places. My entire trip was of pure nostalgia. I loved the history, castles, the old buildings, market squares and the art. I was even lucky enough to get a ticket for an opera and the Grand Opera Theatre in Warsaw. That alone was worth the trip.
Even though I had been very young when last I saw my country, I remembered many things and even managed to find the house I lived in. It took a lot of doing but I found it. I liked the people (with the exception of some of the older generation who still speak very fondly of the Russian occupation). I loved the food and most of all I loved to see my country free after so many years of oppression.
Poor Poland has had so few years of liberty this century despite the fact that we have always fought for freedom for others. Perhaps one day my entire dream will come true and Poland once again will become the giant it used to be.
One of the main reasons for going to Poland was to try to track down my father's relatives or the cemetery where he is buried. Unfortunately, I failed to accomplish this after going from one church to another. My father died when I was a baby, therefore I have no recollections of him. Happily I did manage to find the church in Torun where I had been baptized. Please appreciate that like millions of us during W.W.II were marched out to labour camps as we were standing.
I would have been thrilled to find someone to help me, however, I am afraid that government records and the beaurocracy in Poland is enough to want to tear one's hair out. Had it not been for my agility in looking over old records I would never even had obtained either birth or baptismal certificates (which I never had until my trip to Poland).
Torun is very beautiful but I found it full of Germans who still consider it part of their territory. I had a few chuckles in Krakow at the Germans' expense (I speak their language), whenever they asked local people where they should go, they were given directions to go to Oswiecim (they know it by the German name /Auschwitz/). Anyway, a lot of them went and returned to the hotel rather shaken. That was my revenge for all the years I suffered at their hands.
I very much hope to be able to return to Poland once more.
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