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The Carpathian Mountains From where I took this photo it is 5 kilometers to reach the top of that mountain, above the tree line. My father and Artur walked over 215 kilometers (125 miles) before they reached the town of Presow, Slovakia; where they took a train before getting off close to the Hungary border. Based on how I felt after reaching this peak, I have no idea how they traversed these mountains on foot over days of travel. From the top of this mountain in southern Poland you can see the Ukraine and Slovakia. Dad and Artur had to slip past border guards when crossing into Slovakia. Fortunately, they eventually ran into a gang of Slovakian teens in a forest. The teens were planning their own uprising against the Germans, and guided the two tired and hungry Poles to Presow.
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Here my travel moves out of synch with my fathers journey, but it works logistically with my own travel plans. In August 1944 my father was a runaway. He escaped a butchers farm in Austria where he was forced to labor for the Germans (more on that later), and returned to Poland in hiding. Had he been found, he would have been imprisoned, possibly a concentration camp. While in hiding, he met with an old friend named Artur Wlosek, and together they made plans to trek along Eastern Europe, reach Palestine through Turkey and Northern Africa, and take a ship across the Mediterranean to join Anders Polish Army in Italy. The photos that follow capture parts of that journey. I will be leaving the US soon (my home will be occupied) to visit Europe. From Bochnia Poland, I'll begin the journey my father travelled, first with his family at the outbreak of World War II. On September 3, 1939, their party of twelve fled the Nazi invasion on a horse drawn carriage, only to enter a region (now the Ukraine) ten days later that proved to be just as dangerous. Early on a Sunday morning, my father (Ian) ventured out into the countryside where he was surprised to see a mounted Russian soldier. The two made eye contact before the scout galloped west, preceding a tremor that revealed a line of Russian tanks rising beyond the eastern horizon. Russia's unlikely collaboration with Germany surrounded Poland with enemies from both east and west. The family lived in constant peril for seven months, torn between the danger of living as refugees under Soviet occupation or going back to their home under German occupation.
Amidst this turmoil, they managed to travel back west as far as the Polish town of Przemysl. The San River cuts directly through Przemysl, and was the agreed upon demarcation point between Russian and German occupation. The family could go no further, and settled in a monastery next to a church on the Russian side of the river. From December through April, they crammed in with hundreds of fellow refugees in the tight corridors and narrow stairwells of the monastery. I'll be in Przemysl July 2 - 3, staying in a hotel right down the street from the monastery. My father and I viewed the street on google maps and he sketched a layout of the monastery for me, so if the monks allow us in I'll feel like I've already been there. My next blog will include photos of Przemysl, and hopefully some from inside the monastery. From Przemysl, I'll travel through the Slovakian mountains and Hungary to reach Romania... all part of the trek my father made, mostly on foot, in his quest to join the Polish Army. But that's another story, and for another blog post. The main part of the book ends with my parents meeting in England. There was a World War that led to this romance, my father travelled across 12 countries in a quest to join the Polish Army and fight to liberate Poland. I'll be sending photos of some places where my father travelled and share snippets of his story on this blog. Let the journey begin! Among the places I'm sorry to miss is Munich, where my father had an improbable reunion at the train station with his childhood friend, Mulek. Mulek miraculously survived Auschwitz, and was waiting to board a train to Italy, from where he would take a boat to Palestine and start a new life. My cousin Marc here stands before the wailing wall at a former concentration camp near Linz. New arrivals were required to stand here upon entering the camp, chained and facing the wall for hours, sometimes days. What awaited them inside the walls was even more ominous. Over 140,000 people lost their lives in this satellite camp, over 30,000 of them Poles. After weeks on the road and maneuvering between train stations and new lodgings in foreign cities, it was such a joy to stay with Marc's family for a few days, and to see my cousin Rhylla and her husband Gunther. We explored Linz and just chilled and chatted long into each evening. And of course how can you not be happy and smile with Sophie around. The goodbyes at train stations are never easy, but we will see each other again soon, and now I travel to Poland to reunite with my family there, the home base for my fathers story. |
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August 2022
Author - Andrew BajdaSince publication of my book in December of 2016, so many amazing things have happened on both a personal and professional level. As the journey continues to evolve, I'll update my travel adventures on this blog, and invite you to join me along the way. Categories |