Letter from Leszek to Bohdan (1941)

This letter was written in 1941 by Bohdan’s 15-year-old son, Leszek Pawłowicz. By that time, he had already arrived in Brazil and was safe with his family in Curitiba. Bohdan was serving in the Polish army in London at the time. The letter is a (3 page) abridged recount of Leszek’s departure with his mother and sister from Torun on August 29th 1939, Poland to their arrival in Curitiba in May 1940. The original handwritten letter (pdf) in Polish was glued into Bohdan’s 12th diary.

I have transcribed it into a typewritten copy in Polish and then translated it below into English with some help from ChatGPT. I have also added links and comments in this English version through footnotes to clarify the context.

March 27, 1941

Dear Daddy!

Thank you very, very much for your letter from February 24th and for the name day wishes. We didn’t write for your name day because we don’t know how long letters take to reach you, and the wishes might arrive six months late. But now, with this letter, I’m sending you a big, strong kiss with all my might and these belated wishes that are 10 days late. I really hope that we can celebrate the next name day together, so I can give you a real kiss in Warsaw. We haven’t seen Mr. Czapski or Mr. Niedenthal, and we don’t know if they arrived. Mom asked for money not to be sent through “occasions” but rather through the Brazilian consulate if possible! We received a postcard (from September) and a letter (from January) from Babunia1. Mom sent her half a kilogram of coffee, tea, cocoa, and 200 marks.

Now I’ll describe our odyssey, but there’s little paper (we pay by the gram), and there’s so much to write, so I’ll be brief. Warned by Cichalewski and Mr. President2, we departed from Toruń by boat on the 29th3. We arrived on the 31st, and the next day Czerniaków4 was bombed. On the 7th5, we left by car with Grzegorz 6to Volhynia (Grandma didn’t want to – she said she had business – she was supposed to leave a week later) through the burning Grochów7. On the 9th, we left Łuck for Krzemieniec. Consulates, embassies, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appeared behind us. On the 13th, Krzemieniec was bombed. I was ill at the time (an ulcer). Mom went to the pharmacy. Bombs fell garland like around the house I was lying in, and the pharmacy Mom was in, collapsed; fortunately, she was pulled out, cut by glass. A pilot was shooting with a machine gun. The next day, we got on a cart (borrowed from a prison – driven by a murderer) and went to friends of the Zaleski family – the owners of Jakimowce near the border8. We arrived at night and saw a bunch of people already on carts, ready to leave (the Germans were supposedly approaching). We left with them, and thus began our wanderings.

Here are the travel companions: Grandma – the estate owner, 70 years old, a cranky, despotic, hysterical, choleric woman; Mr. Staś – her son, a 25-year-old, ruddy weakling, constantly afraid of Ukrainians (they were supposed to kill him), a typical nobleman-landlord; and Doctor Mareczek – a 40-year-old wimp, Grandma’s son, a pushover under his wife’s thumb; their crying, sluggish sister, Major Rago’s widow, killed in Zaolzie; Dzidzia – her 13-year-old daughter, a foolish teenager; and Doctor Duglas – Mareczek’s wife, a 60-year-old world-renowned adventurer, morphine addict, a bit crazy; Dzidziuś – Staś’s 2-year-old son; Nanny – a typical nursemaid; Colonel Wróbleski – a 55 years old retired officer from Łódź, dressed in parade uniform, coward, braggart, a wimp; Wątróbska, his Jewish sister-in-law, a strange type; Prosecutor Lola – from the province, a proud young wife, flirtatious, had romances with anyone she could (later she left her husband); and Valentina – a typical peasant woman. With them, we set off. We slept in Dederkale that day, on the 14th, in the barn at a priest’s (we were moving along the Bolshevik border in the Polesie region), passing through Szumsk, Ostroh, and on the 16th we arrived at Stachnik at the Mogielnicki family, our relatives through Babunia. The next day9, the Bolsheviks came – they were very kind in the village. Then they raided the manor – Mom dragged us into the bushes. They searched, fired into the air, wanted to execute us, but changed their minds. Lola hid her jewelry in the car (in the gas tank), but they took the car.

On the 18th, we arrived at the Zakrzewszczyzna farm. On the morning of the 19th, bandits (Ukrainians) with huge revolvers and their fingers on the triggers came by car. They made a bit of a mess with the suitcases. On the 20th, we passed through Równe – we were sent to a concentration camp outside the city. There were masses of women, children, men, policemen, soldiers, and railroad workers. A bare field, cold, we were given no food nor drink – surrounded by bayonets (a loaf of bread for a gold watch). Frost at night, shootings, bullets whistling, we lay down under a cart and slept (Ukrainians mistakenly fired at policemen being led under escort). On the 21st, Mom yelled at and scolded the “commissioner” of the macaques – he got scared and let us go. Terrible cowards! Once, when I was walking with pockets full of apples, they stopped a tank (!!) and searched me (they thought there were grenades). Hungry and cold, we reached Łuck at the Grzegorz family. We stayed there for over a month. Mom worked for them as a servant. Bolsheviks are dumb! Comrade women go to the cinema in shirts – comrades lick flypaper (chocolate). Kilometer-long queues for bread. They wanted to buy me for 2000 rubles. Mom was in Lviv, she saw and talked with Zygmunt Nowakowski (I.K.C.)10. Later she had a huge ulcer. On November 9th, we went through Hrubieszów to Ustyluh on the Bug River (border). After a night in a Jewish hut, we crossed the border illegally (on the 10th). We traveled by train through Lublin and were at the Praga station11 on the 12th. We took a cart to Czerniaków. From under the rubble, the smell of corpses came up. Grandma didn’t want to believe it was us. For a month, she thought we were coming. She didn’t eat, didn’t drink… There were battles in Czerniaków. No roof tiles, windows, holes in the walls and furniture from the shrapnel. Grandma cooked food for soldiers at the church during the siege. A few times, shrapnels knocked her over. Grandpa Jan12 is alive but childish. Hunger, cold, persecution. Schools closed – private lessons. No fuel – we dismantle the fence, cut the poplar trees. Only money from tenants in Czerniaków. The Kanonia is somewhat destroyed. Mom was almost arrested when she went to see Aunt Krysia’s apartment. There was a search by the Gestapo. Trying to get out through the Brazilian consulate in Berlin. We heard Daddy on the radio. I went to friends who had it hidden, but Daddy wasn’t speaking at that time. The first card from Daddy came through Sweden. From where? We don’t know! We get the Paris address through the Red Cross. Passport from the consulate. Mom goes to Krakow. April 25th, departure from Warsaw to Berlin. It will be easier for Grandma (more money), Grandma Jagódka13 will come. On the 26th in Berlin – formalities. The consul gave 20 Swiss marks – we have 40 German marks. Traveling through Munich, Innsbruck, Verona, Milan to Genoa (on the 27th). We stayed at a “bandit” hotel. The consulate pays. We have 150 liras. We telegram Daddy. Answer on May 1st. A flurry of telegrams. We want to go to Paris. No money for visa and travel. Telegram “go.” On the 3rd, we travel on the “Vulcania.” On the 4th, Barcelona – a dead city. On the 5th, Gibraltar – the English took the mail. The Italians are furious – serves them right. The sea sways – Hanka is sick. On the 6th, Lisbon; on the 7th, Madeira; on the 8th, Las Palmas; on the 14th, Bahia; on the 16th, Rio de Janeiro. The aunts14 and a letter from Daddy are waiting. We stayed a month in Rio – lived with Ciocia (aunt) Dziunia. I got clothes. My “long pants with a patch” reached my knees – the jacket to my elbows. We saw the Skowroński and S. Warchałowski families. Ciocia Nina found a job for Mom in Curitiba. We found a house at Lamenha Lins 534. Tadzik and Ciocia’s foster child (23 years old) live with us. Mom has a lot of work. Office from 9 to 11:30 and from 13:30 to 17. Then shopping, dinner, and in the evening, making lunch for the next day. Morning departure and so on. I went to school. I passed the exam and go to the first grade of middle school. Brazilian law does not allow going to a higher class. I feel like I’m wasting my time (during the war, I finished the second grade!) – it doesn’t make sense. Daddy writes that I should study. I want to learn, not waste time like I do now. What kind of “intellectual” and “future of Poland” will I be? When I finish middle school, I’ll be 22 years old… is it worth it? Now we moved to Av. Vicente Machado 1028. Iracema and Tadzik 15 live with us (and the foster child) – they are unbearable. Hanka also goes to school. We get news from local newspapers. They exaggerate terribly. We often listen to BBC news at 9 o’clock.

We maintain relations with the consulate (Gieburowski, Rydygier, Niedenthal, Neuman, Kossobudzki (young). The Charwat family (ambassador to Lithuania) is here, their son was in Rydzyna16. Another Rydzyna boy (Krzyżanowski) is in Rio. The consul from Rome, Mazurkiewicz, is here. His wife died a week ago. We saw the Malinowski family. He has no function – looking for work, brought diaries. I feel bad in Brazil – foreign. Mom has a mass for Daddy and Grandma every month. I met Brother Nikodem – nice.

I’m ending my lengthy adventures. I kiss Daddy very, very much, with all my might. Leszek.
P.S. Mom works at the Instituto Nacional do Mate.

  1. Babunia is an endearment word for Granmother and how the family called Helena Pawłowicz, Bohdan’s mother. She stayed in her house in Czerniaków and didn’t leave Warsaw during the war. ↩︎
  2. The President referred to is Władysław Raczkiewicz ↩︎
  3. 29th August 1939 ↩︎
  4. The Pawłowicz family house was on Goraszewska 8, in Czerniaków (presently Old Sadyba) ↩︎
  5. 7th September 1939 ↩︎
  6. Grzegorz was the secretary of Aleksander Hauke-Nowak, the governor of Volhynia. ↩︎
  7. A district in Warsaw ↩︎
  8. Jakimowce is an Ukrainian village in the Kremenets district which used to be part of Poland in 1939 and was then near the Russian border ↩︎
  9. On 17 September 1939 the Soviet Red Army invaded the Kresy regions in accordance with the secret protocol. At the opening of hostilities several Polish cities including Dubno, Łuck and Włodzimierz Wołyński let the Red Army in peacefully, convinced that it was marching on in order to fight the Germans. ↩︎
  10. Zygmunt Nowakowski, real name Zygmunt Jan Błażej Tempka (born January 22, 1891, in Kraków, died October 4, 1963, in London), was a Polish writer, columnist, journalist, actor, theater director, and doctor of Polish philology. IKC was the Illustrated Daily Courier, a Polish daily newspaper as well as a publishing house, for which he wrote. ↩︎
  11. Warszawa Praga railway station is a railway station in the Targówek district of Warsaw, Poland. ↩︎
  12. Jan Pawłowicz, Kazimierz’s brother and Bohdan’s uncle. ↩︎
  13. Jadwiga Bożeniec-Jełowicka Ciąglińska, Helena‘s sister. ↩︎
  14. Jadwiga (Ciocia Dziunia) and Janina (Ciocia Nina) Orla Salmonowicz, Wanda’s sisters, who were living in Rio de Janeiro ↩︎
  15. Tadeusz and Iracema were Ciocia Nina’s children ↩︎
  16. The romantic palace of the Leszczynski and Sułkowski families in Rydzyna, one of the largest and most beautiful in Poland, was the site of a remarkable experimental school in the 1920s and 1930s. ↩︎