Getting to know my father through his wartime diaries
Another memorable date has come around reminding me it’s time to post an update on progress. Today is my father’s birthday – Józef was born 110 years ago today! Since my last post in June I have been continuing to work on the daily notes covering the period from Dec 1939 to Jan 1941 as … Continue reading Recent Progress and a Discovery
Józef has been very much in my thoughts this week, as today – 3rd June – is the 70th anniversary of his death. So we have our own, but very different 70 year commemoration. Yesterday evening I was discussing some of the content of the first book with a Polish friend, who has very kindly … Continue reading An Anniversary
I was especially thinking about my father last Sunday as the 19th March is widely celebrated in the Christian Church as the feast day of St Joseph. It was therefore Józef’s name day (“imieniny” in Polish). Many Poles celebrate their name day rather than their birthday and every day on the calendar has names assigned … Continue reading History Repeated
Today I translated the final page in the second of Józef's two exercise books. I feel elated to have finished and can't quite believe I've reached this point after such a long process! As I explained in my last post a few months ago, there are still some daily notes to translate which cover a … Continue reading Project Update July 2021
It’s been quite a few months since I posted anything and I hope I haven’t lost all my followers! I have been totally engrossed in translating this second of my father’s two exercise books (over 150 pages of handwriting) and I’m now very close to finishing it. After this I have a small number of … Continue reading Delving into Book 2 of Józef’s Diaries
I was so pleased to be asked to give a presentation about Józef's diary to the (virtual) Polish Language and Culture Meet Up yesterday. It was the first time I had formally presented any information about this project and it was really encouraging to receive such positive feedback from everyone - so thank you very … Continue reading Project Update
In the aftermath of the devastating attack on the procession of carts, work continues to provide a safe crossing over the Vistula. 11/09/1939 [cont.]A cart was passing by so I requisitioned it in order to transport the casualties.More and more aircraft were appearing over the crossing point to try to prevent us from using the … Continue reading About Turn…
After emerging from a difficult, night time journey through the forest, Józef’s journey towards Sandomierz with the supply column continues. They soon come to a halt however, due to yet another bottleneck of a huge number of other supply column carts. Eventually things start to move and they find a way through 11/09/1939 At last … Continue reading The Call for a Doctor
Hearing all the reminiscences and recollections of VE Day 75 years ago today, made me think about what Józef might have been doing on that day. His diaries didn’t continue to that point, but looking at his military service records I can see that he was in Fordoun, Scotland where he was the doctor in … Continue reading VE Day at Polish Army Camps in Scotland
In this entry, the extent of the occupation (after just the first week of action) starts to become clear. 8/09/1939 Dawn broke as we glimpsed the Nida River in the distance and beyond that Nowy Korczyn. With the Nida came the hope of creating an organised resistance against the pursuing enemy. But we were naïve … Continue reading Two Glasses of Good Vodka and a Very Brief Respite
In the previous post I shared some of Józef’s words from a different part of the diaries, to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the invasion of Poland. The extract below now returns to the chronology of the earlier posts I’ve shared, the last of which can be found here: My Beloved Kraków Just prior to the … Continue reading Pandemonium and Sandy Terrain
On 1st September 2019 people across Europe are remembering the events of 80 years ago today, when war broke out following the German invasion of Poland. Józef’s experience of that day is recorded in the entry he titled, “War… War… War” which can be found here: Waking up to War. In a subsequent entry covering … Continue reading 80 Years On
Well this week I am so pleased to have finally finished translating the 1st of my father’s 2 exercise books, in which he wrote his wartime diaries. I feel quite a sense of achievement having got this far and am trying not to think too much about the fact that I still have to … Continue reading A Milestone Reached!
Click here to read part one. Part two below. During our stay in Chorzów my uncle took us to Kraków and showed us the wonderful, historic places there. The magic of Kraków definitely made a lasting impression on me even as a child. We then drove further south to where the rest of the family lived. … Continue reading Discovering Poland – part two
The diary extracts posted so far have covered the period from Józef being commissioned into the Polish army in 1938 up until the outbreak of war on 1st September 1939. Before posting extracts from the next stage of his journey, I’d like to describe briefly another European journey; my family’s trip in the early 1960s … Continue reading Discovering Poland
A Life in Translation 