Kondradski & Cieslik

Antonina & Boleswal (Children Marisia, Janina, Roman, Ola, Danuta)

Asa and I also went to see our aunt in Torun Marisia Stawiarska who was born in Ulanska Dola.

Her mother was Antonina Kondradska ( married Boleslaw Cieslik and lived in Ulanska Dola ) and was sister to Stanislaw's wife Maria Kondradska.

Maria - Antonnina and Kamila were Kondradski sisters

(The Komdradski's had always lived around Targovica - they were there before Stanislaw arrived. )

Marisia was 5 when our family was deported - she remembers the day very vividly as essentially two close sisters were being torn from each other.

It was February deep into winter with snow on the ground.

In the early hours whilst people slept The Russians began arresting the Polish Soldier families "Osadniks" at gun point. Our grandfather had his hands tied behind his back and told to lie on the floor face down - he shook through fear.

Our Grandmother Maria had to pack essential items.

They then had to put these on a sleigh and were herded to the school at Ulanska Dola and guarded.

Word reached Antonina who was also living in Ulanska Dola at this time, horrified and with just scant clothing - throwing on some slippers she ran through the snow to the school.

Things were quite distraught the two sisters could only communicate through the school window - Maria had packed some of her fine clothes and she was throwing these out through the window onto the snow for Antonina, - Maria didn't think she would be needing then to wherever they were taking them.

Antonina had a bakery ( I think ) and had two sacks of dried breads in store - the guards were persuaded to allow Jurek and Leon to go the bakery and collect the sacks for their journey - they were escorted under guard.

Trucks then arrived and took all the Soldier families to Rowne railway station for the journey to Siberia.

The Kondradski/Cielslik families were not deported - they had always lived in this region.

In 1943 the Wolyn ethnic cleansing of the villages was taking place and Boleslaw Chieslik heard of local village with Poles being burnt to the ground and all the Poles killed by the Ukrainian Nationalists.

So they quickly gathered up their belongings and set of for Lutsk ( 20 miles north ) which was under German occupation - this gave them some protection for a couple of years until the end of the war when they repatriated to Wroclaw before moving to Torun.

All the Jewish and Polish homes/buildings/churches in and around Targovica were burnt to the ground and all evidence of their existence removed. Any Poles that had stayed behind were killed.

The Jews had previously been sent to ghettos and then onto concentration camps.

Marisia told this tale with some tears - it was very moving - and we all had a big hug afterwards.

On the wall of her apartment is an icon picture of Our Lady - the same picture that was in their home in Ulanska Dola.