One of the ways Eddie and I pass the time on these long drives is to tell each other our life stories. This often includes family history and much of yesterday's conversation was about his father's life. This was prompted by the movie we watched the night before.
Katyn is the first Polish movie either of us had seen and this compelling, Oscar-nominated film reminded him of the horrors and hardships his family endured during WWII in Poland.
On September 1, 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland from the west. Seventeen days later, the Soviet Red Army invaded from the east, marking the beginning of WWII. On October 6, Russia and Germany divided, annexed and took control of the country, effectively obliterating the Polish Republic from the map.
While the Nazis busied themselves with rounding up the Jewish population and putting them on trains to the death camps, the Soviets systematically captured the entire Polish military and the "elite" of the country -- sending them to Prisoner of War camps in Russia. Supposedly, Stalin's motive was to deprive Poland of any military and intellectual talent in preparation for the "sovietization" of the land.
Katyn dramatizes what is known as the Katyn Forest Massacre, where more than 15,000 military officers and another 5,000 scientists, engineers, university professors and lawyers were held and then executed. Eddie's father, Wladyslaw Ruminski, was one of the officers who was captured and was on his way to the camp when he and the other soldiers in his cattle car managed to batter down a wall and escape from the moving train in the dark of night.
Wladyslaw rarely spoke to his son about the "war years", but as Eddie grew up he found old photos, eavesdropped on conversations with friends and family from Europe, and gathered a few facts from his older sisters. Many questions remain. Eddie was born in Warsaw while his family was in hiding, but who sheltered them? What role did his father play in the Resistance? How did they escape through Germany to the Displaced Persons camp in England? Eddie was a year old when they left Poland and 4 years old when they emmigrated to Argentina and his earliest memories are of Buenos Aires.
Next week his sister Renee is traveling to South America to visit their older sister, Wanda, who was 5 years old when the war began and almost 12 when they arrived in Argentina. Eddie is certain she recalls more of the war years than he and Renee, and we hope she will share those memories...lest we forget.
Click here to see Katyn trailer
Katyn is the first Polish movie either of us had seen and this compelling, Oscar-nominated film reminded him of the horrors and hardships his family endured during WWII in Poland.
On September 1, 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland from the west. Seventeen days later, the Soviet Red Army invaded from the east, marking the beginning of WWII. On October 6, Russia and Germany divided, annexed and took control of the country, effectively obliterating the Polish Republic from the map.
While the Nazis busied themselves with rounding up the Jewish population and putting them on trains to the death camps, the Soviets systematically captured the entire Polish military and the "elite" of the country -- sending them to Prisoner of War camps in Russia. Supposedly, Stalin's motive was to deprive Poland of any military and intellectual talent in preparation for the "sovietization" of the land.
Katyn dramatizes what is known as the Katyn Forest Massacre, where more than 15,000 military officers and another 5,000 scientists, engineers, university professors and lawyers were held and then executed. Eddie's father, Wladyslaw Ruminski, was one of the officers who was captured and was on his way to the camp when he and the other soldiers in his cattle car managed to batter down a wall and escape from the moving train in the dark of night.
Wladyslaw rarely spoke to his son about the "war years", but as Eddie grew up he found old photos, eavesdropped on conversations with friends and family from Europe, and gathered a few facts from his older sisters. Many questions remain. Eddie was born in Warsaw while his family was in hiding, but who sheltered them? What role did his father play in the Resistance? How did they escape through Germany to the Displaced Persons camp in England? Eddie was a year old when they left Poland and 4 years old when they emmigrated to Argentina and his earliest memories are of Buenos Aires.
Next week his sister Renee is traveling to South America to visit their older sister, Wanda, who was 5 years old when the war began and almost 12 when they arrived in Argentina. Eddie is certain she recalls more of the war years than he and Renee, and we hope she will share those memories...lest we forget.
Click here to see Katyn trailer
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