Gulliver's Travels 12/04/2023

Not Dale Sievert

Dale Sievert

Poland--April 2023
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   Zywert (Sievert), Leszcz (Leschke), Bac (Bonk), Szczpinski, Nowak, Woda, Osesek, and Glyzewski (Glish) were the surnames of my Polish ancestors, who emigrated to America from 1866 to 1883.  I estimate that I have 92 percent Polish ancestry, so I travel to Poland a lot. 

This April I made my fourth trip there, along with my cousin and his daughter.  My mother, who spoke fluent Polish (but, unfortunately, did not teach it to me), went to Poland with me in 1983 and 1987.

   Poland was initially formed of West Slav Lechites, referred to as "people who lived in open fields" in the early Middle Ages.  Duke Mieszko is considered as the founder of Poland when he adopted Christianity in 966 A.D.  Poland rose to be a great European state during the Jagiellan Dynasty, lasting from the 14th to the 16th Century.  It hit its first low point from 1795 to 1918 when the country was swallowed up by Russia on the east, Austria on the south, and Prussia (a German state) in the northwest, where my family lived. 

Poland arose again on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, following the loss of WW I by Germany and Austria.  Finally, Germany again did horrors to Poland from 1939 to 1945, killing many millions.  In 1983 my mother and I spoke with several survivors of WW II, all of them shedding copious tears, quite a moving experience.
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Warsaw Old Town, rebuilt following the destruction of WW II

Birthplace of Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473-1543 in Torun, who established the heliocentric view of the solar system

St. Mary's Basilica in Krakow, built in 1347 in Polish Gothic style

Wawel of Krakow, begun in 970, with the castle added in the 14th Century

An avant-garde restaurant in Krakow requests men to use urinals according to what they drink: Mleko (milk), vodka, piwo (beer), or woda (water).

With Jozef Zywert, Dale's third cousin, at the Zywert ancestral farm since the late 1700s. The house was built in the 1870s.

The church in Wiecbork where Dale's great grandparents, Lorenz Zywert and Antonina Leszcz were married in 1860

A monument in Gdansk to the Solidarity movement, started by Lech Walesa and others during the strike at the huge shipyard in Gdansk

A Russian Orthodox church in eastern Poland near the border with Belarus.

Old house in eastern Poland near the border with Belarus

Another Russian Orthodox church

This meat counter had seven different types of kielbasa, or what we call Polish sausage. None of the kielbasa I ate in Poland had any resemblance to "our" kielbasa "including taste".

The Lublin Castle was built and rebuilt until 1828, after which it served as a prison until 1954, used by the tzars, Nazis, and communists--not a nice history.

The Folk Culture Museum in Kolbuszowa, where some 80 buildings of the 18th and 19th Centuries were moved

Russian Orthodox cemeteries intrigued me.

Sadecki Ethnographic Park, housing some 60 buildings of the 19th Century

More cool old buildings

The High Tatras of the Carpathian Mountains along the border with Slovakia

Church in southern Poland

Morskie Oko Lake in the High Tatras The High Tatras of the Carpathian Mountains along the border with Slovakia

​Epilogue

   Pope John Paul II, a Pole, was pope from 1978 until 2005.  I often told Dorothy of the sacrifice I made when I married her in 1966, as I, being 92 percent Polish, and a Catholic, might just have followed John Paul as pope following his death.  He was known for his extensive travels, as am I, so our reigns would have meshed well.  Ah, the tradeoffs life presents to us all....
   Next up, my September trip to Iceland, so see you then.