Day 9 - Poznan Relatives

Relatives in Poznan

This is absolutely amazing! Through Ancestry.com 3 years ago, I was contacted by Slawomir Wazbinski who is actually my 3rd cousin.  Our great grandfathers were brothers.

We made our way from Krakow to Poznan and called him after we ate dinner. As we spoke on the phone, a young voice shouted in the receiver, "Hello!"  I guessed he had children under 12.  He gave terrific directions from the restaurant traveling on Jana Pawel II then Baraniaka and we met him at the BP Station. We parked around back and were about to call him again to let him know we had arrived and he was already there! After hugs and introductions, we followed him to his flat.

NOW I understand the address being Moscibora 68/5. Moscibora is the street; 68 is the building number; and 5 is the flat number.

We arrived at the flat and walked the 5 flights up to meet Michal (Michael, 12) and Bartlomiej (Bart or Bartek, 9). 

They go to an international school where they study both Polish and English along with their other mandatory classes of music history, math, science, P.E. and history.  Anna (or Anya), their mother, is a teacher of English at the same school. Slawomir is a sales manager who deals with multiple companies around Europe in the buying and selling of goods. He learned Russian at an early age during the Russian occupation of Poland and it now comes in handy for his job.

Both Slawomir, born in 1973, and Anna remember the coupons in the 1980s Russian occupation for food, sugar, petrol, and bread and their parents standing in line to get these items. At the time, having one of these items was worth more than money for bartering. You couldn't speak ill of the government or express your thoughts outside of your home or you could be arrested for speaking out. Poland has only been an established free, self-governing country since 1989 after years of occupation by the Russians, Poles, and Austrians throughout their history.

Martin and Bartlomiej made the journey to America in 1880 but Bartlomiej returned to Poland and his fiance and purchased 3 farms with the money he had made in America while Martin remained in the States. The farms were purchased around 1900 and are still in the family.  Tomorrow we will visit 2 of them.  Slawomir is the oldest of 3 brothers and his middle brother took over the running of the farm in Czerlejnko while a cousin runs the farm in Kostrzyn. 

We shared photos and Slawek brought out a book of the Wazbinski family history written by his cousin Apolinary Wazbinski in 2014 in which he helped provide information and photos. Slawek states that there are only 20 or so Wazbinskis in Poland and that there are more in the States than here.

We stayed up until 22:30 talking and then blogged until midnight after they went to bed. A great day tomorrow touring Poznan.