Dear Antoni and group,

 Firstly, thank you so much, Antoni, for your guidance in my quest for a birth certificate from the Rzeszów UrzÄ…d Stanu Cywilnego. I told you I had emailed the manager and had not received a reply. Anyway, I did find the offices  - to be told my email had been received and replied to (I have still not received it). They remembered my email, remembered the family name (Surowiec) and village (Bratkowice) and said they had sent my details to Åšwilczy, where the records were.

There, I did get a copy of my uncle’s birth certificate, which was the last thing I needed for the MoD requirements for my maternal grandfather’s war records.

The woman in Åšwilczy was officious to the nth degree in the beginning but ended up a honey. In my email, I had made it very clear about the day I was planning to visit and was also clear about the names and birth dates of the people I was interested in, but it was in English. In spite of this, she had the books showing details of my grandparents and their parents and others I was interested in, although some of the entries had Christian names spelled differently from those I later received from the village church.

 My message is: don’t be afraid of asking in writing, even if it is in English as there always seems to be someone around who will translate but be prepared to have questions asked in Polish. My Polish isn’t the greatest on earth, but I am able to hold a conversation. Also, I had documentation to prove who I was and was politely tenacious.

While I was doing the official bit, my mother’s cousin, bless her, went to their local priest in Bratkowice and not only got the baptism certificates of my grandparents, but also included wedding details. The priest even wrote out the names of their parents and grandparents.

 Before I left, Aniela had reminded me to ask my rellies about how those in the village had fared in the war (sometime we get too absorbed in our own needs to remember those left behind must also have suffered). And indeed, the tiny village of Bratkowice had its own ZoÅ‚nierze Armii Krajowiej. In the cemetery there is a memorial to the 19 men who lost their lives between July 26, 1944 and August 2, 1944, fighting German advances.

 Both my very English husband and I thought this would be a one and only trip to Poland. We are used to Polish hospitality but were overwhelmed at the absolute loving embrace of this distant family. One scheduled visit ended in three – and in the true Polish way, all three round the dining table! We were humbled by their graciousness and generosity.  Even though a young cousin was the only one who spoke a few words of English, and I had to rack my brain at times for the correct words, the visits were easy. They were so pleased to see us. We both came away with a better understanding and a determination to return.  

 As for the MoD, while I was in Poland, an early letter of mine had been returned by Royal Mail with a ‘gone away’ sticker. I had used an address I’d found on this site, Army Records Centre (Polish Section), Bourne Ave, Hayes, Middlesex UB3 1RF. (No trying to forward to another address, heaven forbid someone should try and be helpful.) The correct address is the Northolt one.

 Kind regards – Barbara Scrivens, NZ