My DP Story - Walosik, Henry

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Résumé :
When the German Army rolled into Poland in 1939, they had no mercy and rounded up people all over Poland and had them sent to Germany to work on farms to produce food for Hitler's army. The following story is one that describes the lives of two Poles whose destiny it was to meet under these circumstances and subsequently marry and have children. They just came out of a war during which they experienced hard forced labour and hunger. Fortunately, they came out of it alive whereas millions lost their lives. They, now, intended to put the pieces together and get on with their lives. The story is related by the youngest of three children and describes the family's life as best as he could remember. There were three children in all, born in Germany, due to the war, but raised in Canada and today full fledged and proud Canadians. ?The Walosik name has extended to the fourth generation and on the verge of attaining the fifth. For years and years, there were two families carrying this name in North America. One men was a Canadian, my father, and the other an American, Uncle Frank. Both of them did not go back to the homeland (Poland) after the Second World War because there was no opportunity there to build a good life. The country was just about destroyed and many hardships were on the horizon....

Biographie:
The author was born in a refugee camp situated in Sindenfingen, Germany on November 2, 1948. His parents were both prisoners of war and relocated to this camp as soon as the war was over. When he was one and a half years old, he left Germany with his mother and siblings and emigrated to Val-d'Or, Quebec, Canada where his father already established a home.He was educated in the English language but also possessed the knowledge of the French language. He married a Quebecoise at the age of nineteen, had three children all boys and celebrated his fiftieth year of marriage on December 30, 2017. His children are fully bilingual and college educated.The author spent most of his life working in the mining sector as an accountant. He retired at the age of fifty seven due to the appearance of a hereditary eye disease called Cone and Rod Dystrophy. He lives in Val-d'Or, Quebec with his wife and travels as much as he can....