Whenever I talk to the foreigners, they often have difficulties with empathizing with me, probably due to the fact that they believe Poles weren't victims, but accomplices. This is evidenced by the fact that I have Jewish and other westerner (from many Western European countries, as well as American and Canadian) friends and some of them don't understand that Polish people were through my family, I will prove them that it's not true.
I often feel like I can't tell the whole story, because I didn't listen to my grandmother, when she told her story, I hope my cousins and my uncle from my mom's side can help me with clarifying her story, as I'm since getting used to the politics and history, deeply interested in it. My father claimed that his grandfather, didn't tell many stories, but he was one of the wartime heroes. Same with my great-grandfather from my mother's side.
So, to tell the whole story, step by step:
- My maternal grandfather Jan Nesterowicz was a survivor of Volhynian massacre and successfully avoided getting drafted to the German army as a Belarusian, using many subterfuges in front of German Nazis. He saw the monstrosities that Ukrainians did and his good Ukrainian friend warned him about it, and he ran away. Allegedly none of his family died, some moved to Armenia (he was actually rumoured to be of Armenian descent and I noticed that Stefan Nesterowicz was an Armenian merchant, possibly he was related to me), some to Russia and some to Ukraine, ironically (I need clarifications from my cousins and uncle). And likewise, Geddy Lee's father, he pretended and bribed German Nazi soldiers, so they would leave them alone, they believe he was their ally, but it wasn't true. Sometimes one has to lie to survive. Trivia: I bear after him my last name.
He had severe post-war trauma and he continued having severe bloody nightmares from the occupation, especially Volhynia Ukrainian-made anti-Polish massacres;
- My maternal grandmother Mira Nesterowicz, nee Kucińska was rumoured to have Jewish descent and she was deadly afraid of the German Nazi soldiers, she ran away through the hops fields with a llama from the Warsaw Zoo in Masovian Voivodeship, as she was severely sick during that time and had a fever. It's believed that my great-grandparents aren't even related to her, she was possibly adopted (I need my family for clarifications), she then was denied education for the criticism of the Communist regime and didn't pass the Matura exam, fortunately they didn't violate her much, other Poles had it worse;
As for rumoured Jewish descent, she told me about her Jewish-sounding last name and I found this in Mława genealogy: https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/BROMBERG. My mom told me, everything is accurate. But she claimed that there were some Germans in her family (she was trying to deflect that) and she might have been threatened with Volkslist and burn the whole village, if didn't comply (nah, applies to the Jewish people more and her last name was definitely Jewish, there were rumours about the Jewish girl in the Kuciński's house, talking about my great-grandparents, but my great-grandmother, Helena was rumoured not to be Mira's mother, even... sigh...).
She couldn't stop talking about the trauma she faced... alas I didn't listen to her wartimes stories, as I was afraid of the politics and history talks, because it led to the verbal arguments, at least at my school, it gave me some "modern" trauma, as I like to call it;
- My maternal great-grandfather, Jan Kuciński was a Polish Home Army soldier, fought against German Nazis (for what my mother I think told me, he was snitched by his acquaintice, not sure if of Polish descent or Jewish, if so, then Anne Frank was snitched by her fellow people as well), his adventures were depicted in the Polish book called "Pod Kryptonimem Wkra", alas I don't possess this book, maybe someone else in my family does and as he was captured by the Communists for his collaboration with Home Army, he witnessed his friend being shot by the Communists. But he signed the loyalty agreement and thus he avoided being killed. He is rumoured to be directly related to my grandmother from my mum's side.
- My paternal great-grandfather - Władysław Garula, fought in the Polish legions and fought against German Nazis in the September campaign. He's got the entry as well. Alas allegedly, hope it's not true, but according to my mother, my paternal family didn't take care of him, as he was getting older and kept him in the barn. Thus my mom doesn't really like my father's side of my family and thus I never interacted with my paternal grandparents. But I still hope for reconciliation.
I'm speaking about it for many reasons:
- Geddy Lee defames virtually all Polish people and thinks all Poles were German Nazi accomplices and refused to perform in Poland. I understand his and his family's trauma, I think there were some jerks among the Polish population, but still no reason to think all Poles were like that, many Poles were simply afraid of the Germans back then as well as Russians, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Austrians etc.;
- I'm tired of having to explain that Poles were also the victims to many people who have no clue about my country and my own people;
- The neo-nazi, pro-German propaganda about WWII is getting stronger, whether on YouTube or on imageboards I happened to read and even troll some folks there, to see their reaction to the Polish folks;
- I think one ought to remember the history and not to deny it (although as you know, I'm not in favor of punishing with jail-time anybody who have their own views on historical events, as I love free speech);
- Polish people are still Polish, regardless, if they have Armenian, Jewish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Lithuanian, German relatives, we were such a multi-cultural country, some politicians forget about it. But I don't blame them for wanting to spare the misogynistic and pedophillic tendencies in some migrants, as a centrist;
Yet, I have to quote Wincenty Lutosławski, a famed Pole in this regard:
The Polish nation includes Polonized Germans, Tatars, Armenians, Gypsies, and Jews
if they live for the common ideal of Poland. (…)
A black or red-skinned person can become a true Pole if he adopts the spiritual heritage of the Polish nation,
contained in its literature, art, politics, customs,
and if he has an unwavering will to contribute to the development of the national existence of Poles.
And if I become famous as a rock/metal musician, please, listen to my story, it's true.
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