Longin's (Leon) Story

Longin (Leon) Marczak was born in 1923, the slightly older twin of Jeremi ( Jurek) . The story of his journey across Russia and through the Middle East is the same as Jurek 's, as they were always inseperable . Here are a few more details about the Marczak background and life in the UK after the Second World War .

Our grandfather Stanislaw had two siblings that we know about. A sister, ( Marianna) died at an early age of TB . She left three children Stanislaw, Feliks and Elzbieta. Stan and Feliks were land surveyors based near Lublin. When the Germans invaded Poland, both were arrested by the Gestapo and taken to Auszwitz. The sister Elzbieta survived and she eventually married Szczerbinski and lived in Warsaw. It is the Szczerbinski family who looked after Regina ( Renia ) after she got separated from the family in Russia. Somehow she managed to get back to Poland even though she was only 14 when she got lost. it would appear that grandad also had two other sisters - Wladyslawa and Waleria.

Grandfather Stanislaw's other brother was Jan . He joined the partisan army and was also captured and taken to Auszwitz. He had two daughters, Lila and Danka , who settled in Wroclaw after the war.

Grandfather Stanislaw originally worked for the forestry commission in Poland ( job was a 'leszniczy') , but then joined the army and fought against the Bolshviks; after the war he was given land in the Kresy region( wojskowa osada) , as described above in Jurek's story .

Leon and Jurek would have celebrated their 1st Holy Communion in Targovica around 1930. (ref picture)

Both Leon and Jurek recall the night when the family were told to pack by the Russians and when they were herded onto cattle trucks . However horrific it seems, they both say it was a blessing that they were transported to Siberia, as any Poles left in the region of Ludsk were murdered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) encouraged by the Germans . The Ukrainians helped the Germans find any remaining Poles ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacres_of_Poles_in_Volhynia

When living in the Siberian hut, Leon remembers wearing 'walonki' ( fur shoes ) and 'kufajki' ( fur jackets) .

When Leon and Jurek embarked on their journey across Russia Uzbekistan and Persia , Ted stayed with Grandad Stan and they both ended up in Palestine and Italy (Karpacka Brygada? 2nd Corps) . Meanwhile Babcia Maria and Mietek were transported to Africa , Kidugala. The Red Cross has a record of all Poles who were sent to Africa ( see link to Red Cross lists from Marysia's story ; Maria and Mietek are on page 17 of the list) .

After their epic journey , Leon and Jurek trained in Scotland and were soldiers of the 1st Polish Armoured Division ( Pierwsza Diwizja Pancerna) . They drove Sherman tanks and were under the command of General Stanislaw Maczek . The division's most notable success was during the battle of Normandy , when they sealed the Falaise Gap - the tanks cut one of the German army's three remaining roads of escape. According to an article reporting Maczek's death at the age of 102 in Edinburgh ( The Daily Telegraph 12 December 1994) 'his troops suffered heavy losses withstanding repeated attacks by two SS armoured divisions as the Germans battled to avoid encirclement. In six days of fighting the Poles took 5,000 prisoners including a general and 140 officers . '

Remember Leon and Jurek were only 18 or 19 years old at this time and although heroes, this experience no doubt had a great psycological effect on the young men- they were never able to forget this time in the army. No post-trauma counselling in those days. They drove separate tanks, as the army did not want to put twins into the same tank.

The division liberated Breda in Holland in 1944 and made its way to Germany, Wilhelmshaven. The troops liberated some labour camps ( eg Uberlangen?) and it was in one of these camps that Leon met Krystyna Malecka. They married and had their first son , Stan in 1947.

The Malecki family were in a German labour camp, because Krystyna's Dad was a wheelwright ( kolodziej) and he was employed by the Germans to make wheels for farm vehicles. There were five children (?) -other sisters were Cieszka and Jadwiga. Cieszka was married to Mike who recently died in Canada.

(Picture of Krystyna and Leon in Germany 1946)

After the war, the division was sent to the UK , nr Salisbury ,Wiltshire.Meanwhile , Krystyna and Stan were sent to a family camp in Dorset. Leon and co.were demobilised and got £46 plus their army uniform. Ex Polish soldiers were encouraged to find jobs and the lads did not fancy working in the coalmines or in steelworks, so they took ...forestry jobs in Dollgellau , North Wales . ( This love of forests and planting trees must be a genetic family trait !) . Leon , Jurek, Grandad Stan and Ted lived in barracks whilst working for the Welsh Forestry Commission . Eventually Leon found private digs with a family in Trawsfynedd ( he remembers a young girl called Betty) and brought Krystyna and Stan to Wales. Another job laying cables for the electricity board in Betws y Coed followed ,before the family moved to Manchester in 1949. ( Krystyna's sister Cieszka was aleady living there.)

Leon found digs in Lloyd Street , Moss Side ( near to where the Polish Church is now) in an attic room . Grandad Stan, Babcia Maria and Mietek went elsewhere - Grandad had kitchen work somewhere.

Leon worked in Budiga restaurant in the beer cellars ( he remembers the chef would drink beer all day and not eat a thing !) and then in a Jewish sausage factory (veal ). Eventually he bought a house in Stockton Street and then Grandad and co came to live with them . (Henryk and Helen born ) All the brothers eventually bought houses in the Moss Side area and were employed by Jewish people in small handbag factories. They worked all hours ( no holiday pay back then !) and were able to buy rather large detached houses in Whalley Range ( posh area then ). Leon lived in Burford Ave, Jurek and Mietek in Burford Drive and Grandad and Ted in Burford Road .

Leon and Krystyna separated in 1960 ( ?). Around this time Leon worked with a partner , Stempkowski, making handbags in Union Street, off Stretford Road . He decided to set up his own business with Jurek and Ted ( Ted had been working as a cutter for a Jewish handbag manufacturer) and they rented premises in Manchester for £3 per week . They were very busy and moved to larger premises near the Mancunian Way ( rent was £5 /week) before buying their own factory in South Croston Street , Brooks Bar . ( Tadlon Productions _ TAD eusz/LONgin )

Krystyna, Stan, Henryk and Helen emigrated to Canada.

One of Leon's machinists was Alicja Wilczek who had come to Manchester from a camp near Doddington , Crewe . They married and had 5 children - Elizabeth ( 1962 ), Roman ( 1965) , Wanda ( 1966) , Basia ( 1971 ) and Renatka ( 1979). They moved to Washway Road , Sale in 1970. While their families were growing up , Leon and his brothers worked at the handbag factory six days a week (with a two week holiday in July in ...North Wales ) until thay all reached retirement age. Ted moved to Disbury and Jurek to Fallowfield.

In 1992 Leon and Alicja separated and Leon bought a house on Newgate Close ,Sale ( this was formerly Jurek's daughter's Alice's house !) . He married his next door neighbour Marjorie Dolan , who recently passed away. Meanwhile, Jurek and Ted moved to Sale and both bought houses on Pimmcroft Way in Sale. Sadly, their youngest brother Mietek died in 1999 and Regina died in Poland in ...?

Amazingly, after travelling through Eastern Poland ,Siberia, Uzbekistan, the Middle East, Scotland, Italy, Holland, Germany ,Wales etc etc , the three brothers are still living in the same town , Sale, Cheshire , England and get together once a week to talk politics !!

Elizabeth currently lives in Worsley, nr Manchester ; Roman in Sale with Mum Alicja; Wanda is in San Piero in Bagno in Italy; Basia lives in Sequim , Washington USA and Renatka in St Alban's, Herts.

Leon became President of the Manchester Branch of the 1st Polish Armoured Division and the vast majority of ex -soldiers have now passed away . However, the remaining ex soldiers still organise annual church masses to remember General Maczek and Leon proudly carries the Division's standard which is kept in a display cabinet at the Sala Parafialna. Mietek's son , Chris also gets involved . Leon's story can be found in the archives of the War Museum North in Salford Quays.

Picture - Leon , Alicia , Rissio and Jurek in Warsaw 1968.