Tag Archives: Poland

25.01.2021
Grażyna Oczkowicz

Grażyna Oczkowicz was born in December 1937 in the village of Rzędowice in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. Grażyna was the third of the five children of Kazimiera Tkaczewska (maiden name: Grzywnowicz) and Stefan Tkaczewski. During the war, Grażyna’s father was a guerrilla fighter, so many of the interviewee’s childhood memories are related to the fight against the German invaders. Grażyna Oczkowicz spent her childhood and youth in Rzędowice, and after the birth of her children, she and her husband moved to Silesia, where she started working for an office in Sosnowiec. She still lives in Sosnowiec.

19.01.2021
Zdzisław Cabaj

I interviewed my father who was born in 1959. In the conversation, dad recalls stories related to World War II that he heard from his parents. From an exciting conversation lasting over an hour, I allowed myself to choose the most interesting fragments in which my father, among other things, tells how German soldiers lived in his parents’ house, and about the German gendarme Engelbert Guzdek who terrorized our region (Powiśle Dąbrowskie). This interview is an example of the second generation memories.

16.01.2021
Elli Treptow

I interviewed my grandmother on October 4, 2020. She was born in 1936 in Grünberg (Zielona Góra), close to Lodz (Poland). Lodz was named “Litzmannstadt” during the German occupation from 1940 to 1945. My great-grandmother, grandmother, and six siblings fled from the Red Army in 1945. Since the army caught up with them a few months later, they were drawn back to their home. The living conditions were very bad, so they fled again in 1946. They settled in Lütgenrode, Lower Saxony. A few years later, they moved to Essen in the Ruhr region. My grandmother got married. She has five children and eight grandchildren. She is now 84 years old. My grandmother and I talk about her flight, the trauma, the time after the war, and the question of how her family spoke about the war after 1945.

20.10.2020
Stepan Horechyi

Life story of a political prisoner of the Soviet totalitarian regime, who passed through 10 years of prison labour camps.

14.04.2018
Zofia Mazur

During World War II many families were forced to resettle and head to the West leaving behind all their belongings. It was an exhausting travel in goods wagons. Zofia Mazur was a victim of the process.

23.03.2018
Stefaniya Duts

I don’t know where my dad went. He wasn’t at home for almost a week. When German soldiers left the village he came back and his friend told him: “Don’t show the dog!” But how to hide a dog, where?!

22.03.2018
Andrzej Iwan

An interview with my grandfather about his wartime memories.

20.03.2018
Christa Maischak

This is an interview to find out and record what happened in my family during World War II.

Stanisław Iwach

The story of Stanisław Iwach and his family that travelled all the way to Wysoka, Poland from the Tarnopol voivodship in the Eastern Borderlands. The story is presented by an elderly social activist in his eighties.

Edward Szukiel

The interview was conducted by my grandfather and his wife with her father, Edward Szukiel, and then prepared by me.

11.03.2016
Rozalia Graboń

The story of my great-grandmother taught me how important faith in people is.

20.02.2016
Stefania Jasińska

“Get out of here!” For the journey from Osiek to Grojec we were given one carriage for two families. We weren’t allowed to take anything with us. My brother Grzegorz arrived from Kęty and told me to take the cow. I wen…

15.02.2016
Józef Boba

The oldest member of my nearest family, my grandfather Józef Boba, was born in 1932 in Polanka Wielka. Together with his family, he was resettled to another town in 1940. He lost his father.

09.02.2016
Krystyna Środa

My interview with Krystyna Środa about life in the countryside during World War II and her childhood memories.

08.02.2016
Zofia Listosz

Zofia Listosz was born in 1951, after the end of the war. In the interview, she spoke about the difficult life under the occupation, which her family and her dearest experienced. She also spoke about discovering history.

06.02.2016
Barbara Mudyna

I remember the moment we passed from the Russian to the German side, because the Germans had taken part of Poland as well. It was in Przemyśl.

Emilia Kowalska

An interview with my grandmother Emilia, my closest relative who can remember the war and tell me about it.

02.02.2016
Volodymyr Zalevskyi

Volodymyr Zalevskyi tells his grandfather’s story, who took part in the Great Patriotic War, where he was wounded.

18.01.2016
Zofia Raj

Zofia was born after World War II, but her parents told her about their experiences from the times of war. This interview includes stories which she had heard from them.