My mother, Wanda Wajszczuk, née
Herman was born in 1914 and had no siblings. She belonged to a
generation, which not only lived through many calamities and wars,
but also through severe cultural upheavals. She was born in Riga,
Latvia, where her father was sent to work in a large family company.
After the outbreak of Revolution in Russia, they escaped to Poland
via Russia, Kharkov and further,
to the vicinity of Dubienka (in Poland, where her mother’s
family lived*). At first they stopped in Hrubieszow. Then they
lived in Zamość, where my mother started her high school education.
Next, they moved to Siedlce, where my grandfather was employed in
the Tax Office (Izba Skarbowa) and mother continued her high school
education (Queen Jadwiga High School). She got married in
1933, right after graduation, as a very young 19-year old girl
(her future husband was at that time a school physician). She
started studying law at Warsaw University, but after a year, in
1934, a son was born. Her main role was now to create “a home” and
to raise the children. A daughter was born during the war, early in
November of 1939.
Her husband, Lucjusz Wajszczuk,
who was a physician, was mobilized and followed the Army with a
military hospital. It was not known for some time, if he was alive
and where he was. He returned home in the middle of November, after
remaining in hiding for several weeks. During his absence, she had
to take care alone of the home and the family. During the duration
of the (German) Occupation, he was frequently absent from
home, sometimes for several days at a time, traveling to take care
of the sick. Often, we did not know, where he was going and for how
long. We were then small children, but nevertheless news reached us
about the family tragedies. Father’s older brother, Fr Karol
Wajszczuk, a parish priest in Drelow was murdered in Dachau. Some
time later, his second older brother, Edmund Wajszczuk died suddenly
(or was murdered) in Krasnystaw, where he worked as a
physician – he had strong connections with the Underground
Resistance. Later on, three of Edmund’s four children died (fighting
as insurgents) in the Warsaw Uprising (in August of 1944).
Father loved mother very much, but
he was very involved in his work, taking care of his patients. He
worked for many years as a physician in the Public Health Service
(Ubezpieczalnia Społeczna) and as Head of the Infectious
Diseases Service at the City Hospital in Siedlce. He was
particularly busy, when he was heading the Heine-Medin (disease –
poliomyelitis) Regional Treatment Center.
Mother always cared a lot about
the home, the children and our father. We were for her the most
important, the best, and the smartest. She was trying to create for
us the best environment. I remember Sundays: always a big breakfast,
after which we all went to the St. Stanislaus Church, where parents
had their special space. I also remember frequent visits at our home
of the Parish Priest, Monsignor Kobyliński and his charming sister
Apolonia.
Mother was always the soul of the
house, she thought about our learning, and our University studies.
She was the one looking for an apartment for us in Warsaw. She
enrolled in the X-ray technicians course, so she could meet the
right people in Warsaw, to help us in entering the new environment.
I remember her leaving by train at dawn and returning late at night.
She did all this, while thinking only about us, so we will have
easier life later on. She always had on her mind the home, husband
and children.
Early in 1952, our parents got
arrested by the Security Service (U.B.). Mother was released
after one week and then she moved heaven and earth to have father
released, to allow the son to return to his studies, and daughter,
to be allowed to enter the high school. Then we both completed our
studies. My brother moved abroad, got married and had two sons. I
also established my home, got married and had two children.
Mother, on one hand was very
strong, decisive, demanding, on the other hand she wished for warmth
and to be taken care of. She loved to have people around her, won
many friends. She was always very interested in what was happening
around her. She was involved for many years with the Society of
Friends of the Library in Siedlce. I remember visits by Melchior
Wańkowicz (an internationally famous contemporary writer),
Monika Żeromska ( daughter of a famous 19th century
Polish writer) and many others. She was trying to attract as
many as possible of the famous people to come and to visit Siedlce.
In 1976, my parents moved to
Warsaw, to be closer to us. Their new residence was in the Jelonki
District, where mother established close contact with their new
parish. She made friends with the neighbors. Because of her several
long visits in the USA, she learned English and then was helping the
neighbors’ children to learn the language. Father was very sick
during the last two years of his life and required her constant care.
When, after his death in 1978, she remained alone, she became very
active in the Warsaw circle of the Club of the Catholic
Intellectuals (Intelligentsia). She loved reading books and
was interested in politics. She traveled several times, initially
with the Father and later alone, to visit my brother in the USA. She
helped to take care of the children, but also made many new friends,
who treated her with great respect and liked her a lot and remember
until the present time. For the last few years, she was too weak to
visit them. We received many sympathy letters from her American
friends, who also send flowers and notifications of special masses
held for her in several churches and monasteries in the USA.
In the early 80-ties, she met in
the Jelonki Parish a priest, Fr Aleksander Seniuk, whom she helped
during this difficult time period (rise of Solidarity and
introduction of the marshal law in Poland) to organize meetings
and lectures in the parish house. She was always involved in
discussions and community development. At the same time, she was
increasingly involved in the activities of the KIK (Club of
Catholic Intellectuals – an anti-communist resistance organization).
She was traveling into the countryside to help in organizing various
rural communities and to participate in explaining the contemporary
problems. After father died, she, with the assistance of Fr Seniuk,
established contacts with the SS. Wizytki Church in Warsaw. A mass
was being held there twice a year for the soul of our father. She
went there frequently, visited with Fr Twardowski (a famous
priest-poet) and established friendly relationships with the
nuns.
She was always very busy, active
and interested in the world affairs. She was the one, until the last
year of her life, taking care of preserving the traditions of all
religious holidays, also our own holiday traditions at home. During
the last few years, she was not strong enough to prepare everything
by herself, so she always reminded her daughter (me), what dishes
and how to prepare them for Wigilia (a traditional Christmas Eve
family gathering and a meatless 12 course-meal, lighting-up the
Christmas Tree and attending the Midnight Mass) and Easter (egg
coloring, food basket blessing, attendance at the early Sunday
morning Resurrection Mass). It was unthinkable to organize the
Holiday celebrations any other way than, as mother did it before.
During the last two years, She was
already very weak. She was slowly getting fainter and slipping away.
In spite of our attempts, we are left with a feeling that we could
not provide her with an adequate environment and warmth, which she
desired and which she truly deserved.
Her Warsaw friends said good-by to
her during a Mass at the SS. Wizytki Church. The last farewell and a
Funeral Mass for mother was celebrated at the same St. Stanisław
(St. Stanislaus) Church in Siedlce, in which our parents were
married**, both children were baptized, the daughter was married and
a last farewell was said and Mass held for her husband dr Lucjusz
Wajszczuk. They are both resting in the “old” cemetery in Siedlce,
where also can be found the graves of mother’s parents and of the
parents and siblings of our father.
* cursive – comments and explanations by
Waldemar
** we were not sure, however, whether the parents
were actually married in the St. Stanislaus church in Siedlce or
rather in a parish church in Drelów, where Father’s older brother
Karol was a parish priest at that time.
Added later (submitted by
Anna in August of 2012):
Additionally, I found in the
documents that she was active from 1935 to 1939 in Siedlce in the
PCK (Polish Red Cross), and she was a member of its Administrative
Board in Siedlce (or more precisely – in the PCK District Council,
Podlasie Chapter)
23-05-2024
19-10-2012
