From Natalie Kolodziejczyk:

My Grandmothers name is Maria (sometimes known as Marisha or Marianna) Kolodziejczyk, she was born on 22nd January 1921 in a village called wojcice near Blaszki, Kalisz Poland although she has used 21st January as her birthdate and the year as 1926.
Of my Grandmothers teenage life all I know is that on Archive documents from Kalisz it shows that my Grandmother went to11 ul wysoka Lodz in September 1938 it was a type of cake shop. We think possibly it was around 1940 that she was taken to Germany but we are not sure, we do not know either if she went to Germany from Lodz or if she went back home and then went to Germany. We heard from various family little pieces and understand that my Grandmother came back from Germany after 1 year and gave birth to my Father,,however if she went to Germany in 1940 that would not tie up with my Fathers birthdate as June 1942 , we have also been told that my Grandmother came back WITH my Father,We have also been told my Grandfather was the owner of the place my grandmother first worked in Germany, someone else said he was a german farm labourer which somehow doesnt seem right and someone else said he was a German Officer who owned the place where she worked. My Grandmother went back to Germany in August 1942 and worked for a Mr &Mrs Luchau from Celle on a small farm until May 1945, she then went to Osnabruck and met and married my Stepgrandfather Jan Rydelski who was in the 1st Independant Parachute Brigade,they married in a Polish village castro polona in Eversburg osnabruck in August 1946 ( this is when my Grandmother used the year 1926 as her birth year)After a while they came to England. My Father was then brought here in 1959 having never seen his mother in 17 years. What I am desperate to find out is where my Grandmother was the first time in Germany. I think it was in area of Bremen but I have no idea where. There is of course a lot more to this story and I will gladly answer any questions anybody may have we are so close but so far away still from finding out the truth but I will never give up.

Kindest Wishes
Natalie Kolodziejczyk / ENGLAND

“W poszukiwaniu rodzinnej prawdy – Dziadek z Europy”

Tłumaczenie #Galeria GA.PA:

Od Natalie Kolodziejczyk:

Moja Babcia, Maria (czasami znana również pod imieniem Marysia lub Marianna) Kołodziejczyk urodziła się 22 stycznia 1921 r. w wiosce Wojcice / Wójcice kolo miejscowości Błaszki oraz Kalisz, Polska ; czasami podawała jako datę urodzenia również 21 stycznia 1926.

O latach młodości mojej Babci to wszystko co wiem wynika z archiwalnych dokumentów z Kalisza, które podają nastepujący adres: ul. Wysoka 11, Łódź, gdzie Babcia przyjechała we wrześniu 1938 roku do tego miejsca, określonego jako ciastkarnia.

Sądzimy, ze ok. 1940 r. Maria została wywieziona do Niemiec, ale nie jesteśmy pewni, czy pojechała do Niemiec bezpośrednio z Łodzi, czy powróciła do domu rodzinnego i stamtąd wyjechała do Niemiec.

Znamy z różnych rodzinnych źródeł i tak to rozumiemy, że moja Babcia powróciła do Polski po rocznym pobycie w Niemczech i urodziła mojego TATĘ., aczkolwiek jeśli pojechała do Niemiec w 1940 roku to może to nie współgrać z datą urodzenia mojego Taty – czerwiec 1942 ; czasami mówiono nam, że Babcia powróciła z Niemiec Z MOIM TATĄ, ; mówiono nam również, że mój Dziadek był właścicielem miejsca, gdzie Babcia pracowała w Niemczech po raz pierwszy ; inni twierdzili, że on był niemieckim pracownikiem rolnym, co wydaje się być niezgodne z prawdą ; wreszczcie niektórzy twierdzili, że był on niemieckim oficerem, właścicielem miejsca gdzie Babcia pracowała.

Moja Babcia powróciła do Niemiec w sierpniu 1942 roku i pracowała na małej farmie dla Pana i Pani Luchau z Celle – do maja 1945 roku, wtedy pojechała do Osnabruck, spotkała mojego Ojczyma Jana Rydelskiego, który był w 1. Samodzielnej Brygadzie Spadochronowej. Ślub wzięli w polskiej wiosce/obozie Castro Polona w Eversburg, Osnabruck w sierpniu 1946 roku (wtedy to moja Babcia podawała rok 1926 jako rok jej urodzenia).
Po krótkim czasie oboje przyjechali do Anglii. Mój Tata został sprowadzony do nich w roku 1959, nie widząc swojej matki przez 17 lat.

Jestem ogromnie zdesperowana, żeby odnależć miejsce, gdzie moja Babcia była w Niemczech po raz pierwszy. Myślę, że to były okolice Bremen, ale nie mogę podać bardziej szczegółowej informacji.

Oczywiście ta rodzinna historia jest o wiele szersza i jestem gotowa do odpowiedzi na wszelkie możliwe dalsze pytania, ale na dziś jestem tak daleko od znalezienia prawdy; jedno mogę przyrzec, że dla jej odnalezienia nie poddam się nigdy.

Z najserdeczniejszymi pozdrowieniami,

Natalie Kolodziejczyk / ANGLIA

Dear Helen!
Dear Natalie!
So happy to join you!
Greetings to all your families,
have a beatiful Polish/English Easter.
Cordially,
Tadeusz
www.narodowa.pl

Hello

I have been searching the internet for ages trying to find something about my mother’s past in Poland and was amazed to find Natalie’s questions on your website as her family is so similar to my mother’s. My mother was born in Blaszki in 1923 and was taken to Germany during WWII. She worked on a farm in Bergen which is very near to Celle where Natalie’s mother was. My mother met and married an english soldier at the end of the war and I believe she stayed at Osnabruck for a while before she came to England. I would very much like to contact Natalie as between us we may be able to build a picture of what happened. Perhaps everyone from that area was taken to the same area in Germany? Perhaps they actually travelled together.

Can you either let me know her e-mail address or give her mine or tell me how to post a message to her.

Best wishes and many, many thanks for your help.

Helen

2.
Dear Natalie !

We would like to send you our advice re your family searching in Poland. We appreciate your efforts to find your Grandfather !
You have done very big job, collecting so many information on your family from Poland. After checking all information and “sources” available for us the most important now, we think, is to find the place when your GMother was for the first time in Germany.
We see from your Father’s birth certificate from Gmina Blaszki / village Wojcice from 1959, that you have, the following data: 4th of June 1942 and “Father unknown”, so we can understand that he was born in Poland.
Now, to find your GFather we would like to tell you the best “source”, we think, taking into consideration the history of Europe and II World War here:
According to your family story your GMother Maria Kolodziejczyk “In or around 1940 she was taken to work for the Germans” so you must know, that many Poles (not only) were forced at that time to work in Germany or Russia during the II WW named as “Mandatory Work”. According to special agreements between German and Polish Governments all these people have been registered and even the special financial compensation program have been developed. You can search all detailed data in Germany or in Poland. From our side below please find full address of special Polish Government Office where you can ask for searching all data possible to obtain (we are stating a full name of the Office and the Evidence and Archive Division):

Urzad do Spraw Kombatantow i Osob Represjonowanych
Biuro Ewidencji i Archiwum
Dyrektor Grzegorz Mroczek
ul. Wspolna 24
00-926 Warszawa
Poland

Website: www.udskior.gov.pl
e-mail: udskior@kprm.gov.pl

Please send e-mail asking ALL data about your GMother working in Germany in 1940 (for the first time !) – mainly the records on ALL places and names in Germany from 1940 (please state all data you have) but our advice is to send also a special letter asking the same. Please enclose to this letter copies of all family documents you have – to prove that you have family rights to obtain these records.

Dear Natalie,

Good luck in your search !

We are always ready here to publish your next asks and to help as much as we can, hoping that all people are ready to share with others their memories, momentos, experience, knowledge and feeling.

Cordially,
tadeusz
#Gallery of Family Memories and Momentos “Narodowa GA.PA”
www.narodowa.pl

Warsaw/ 9th of Jan 2004