english version

16-10-2003

16-01-2001

 wersja polska

The beginnings (and some initial thoughts)

March 20, 2000History of this page including some early thoughts
January 14, 20011. New information - from the Parish records in Trzebieszow 
January 16, 20012. New information - new discoveries
July 10, 20023. New information - new contacts
October 28, 20024. New information - subsequent trip around Podlasie
 January 13, 20035. New information - Modifications on the Tree page and a CD record
April 18, 20036. New Information - meetings and discoveries in Argentina
July 27, 2003 7. New information - subsequent tour of Podlasie and vicinity
II Gathering of the Podlasie Branch of the Family
November 21, 2003  8. New information - the Wajczuk family in Argentina 
October 19, 2004 9. Summer visits in Poland in July 2004
January 05, 2005  10. Search in the Archives in Lublin
August 31, 2005  11. Search in the Lublin Archives - parishes in the Zamosc region - SUMMARY
February 06, 2007 12. NEW INFORMATION FROM TRZEBIESZOW - Podlasie branch
April 03, 2007 13. Earliest Appearance of the name WAJSZCZUK in the records of the Public registry books
October 28, 2008 BARBARA MISZTA’S (0156) COMMENTS BASED ON HER CONTINUATION OF PUBLIC RECORD BOOKS’ REVIEV IN THE TRZEBIESZOW PARISH
May 2, 2009 BARBARA MISZTA (0156), TRZEBIESZÓW
Most recent discoveries
March 7, 2011 PRÓBY USTALENIA DAWNYCH SIEDZIB Wajszczuków w Trebieszowie

 

March 20, 2000

And everything started (for me) in the early fall of 1999 when, after returning from Poland (where I, my wife Carmen and some American friends attended in my hometown - Siedlce, a mass celebrated by the Pope - John Paul II) and while searching the Internet for reports and pictures from the Pope's pilgrimage to Poland, I came across the name of a studious, investigative and hard-working young man in Poland - Pawel Stefaniuk, the webmaster of this page. Pawel, fascinated by the history of persecutions of the members of the Uniate Church in Poland by the occupying Russian Tzarist authorities during the second half of the XIXth century (occupation which lasted since the time of partitioning of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austro-Hungary during the last quarter of the XVIIIth century until the end of World War I) published an acccount of these persecutions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Brest (Members of the Uniate Church follow the Eastern Orthodox rites, but recognize the supremacy of the Pope). While preparing his account, Pawel encountered the name of my uncle, Fr. Karol Leonard Wajszczuk, who was a parish priest in that region and collected testimonies from the few still surviving eyewitnesses of those atrocities, and who was also involved (as a chaplain) with the Polish underground resistance movement (POW) during both, the First and Second World Wars and sub-sequently died in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau in 1942. Pawel subsequently published his story and I had a chance to assist him in gathering some of the information about the family and old photographs http://www.drelow.siedlce.opoka.org.pl/wajszczuk/index_e.htm.

At that time an idea of researching and publishing in the Internet the Wajszczuk Family Tree was born and Pawel volunteered his assistance (which really means that he does the whole work since my knowledge of the computers does not go that far!).  

Resulting from new contacts, which were established during the preparation of this Tree and exchange of correspondence, one of the newly-discovered cousins wrote to me recently (after examining one of the recently added Tree branches):                       

"never until now have I thought so much and so warmly about our family".  

Adding from myself, I can only state that my sentiment and respect for the Name and Family and its past increase along with the arrival of new information and learning new facts. Now I would like to cite a few examples, some of them known to me previously and some learned recently, which exemplify the varied and diverse fates of the individuals or whole branches of the "Big Family of Wajszczuks" and which lead to some deep thoughts and reflections regarding their past:     

1) three young cousins (from the same family of Edmund, ages - 14, 16 and 18), members of the Underground (A.K.) died fighting in Warsaw Uprising in 1944; the oldest was Barbara - an Underground Army nurse - we used to play together as small children);     

2) two of the ancestors from the Zamosc region died as young soldiers fighting in the Marshall Pilsudski Legions during WW-I against the Russians and Bolsheviks;      

3) Fr. Karol (above) - connected with the freedom fighters - died at Dachau; his cousin, Fr. Feliks was also deported to Dachau but survived, went to France and tought at the Seminary in Paris, where he died;      

4) a young soldier (from the family deported at the beginning of WW-II to the Soviet Union), returned as a member of the Polish Army and died as a tank commander in the Studzianki battle against the Germans in 1944, already on the Polish territory (the biggest tank battle of World War II);      

5) a Family branch from the Zamosc region was deported at the beginning of the war to Kazachstan (as a punishment for one of the member's participation as Pilsudski's soldier in fighting the Bolsheviks in WW-I and in 1920 war; after the war they were alowed to return to Poland but were forcibly resettled by the communists to the so-called "Western Territories" ("Regained Territories" - from Germany after the war);      

6) similarily, several families (branches from the Zamosc region) were deported in 1942 to Germany as forced laborers, some returned after the war to Poland, some emigrated to the U.S.A. or to Canada;     

7) another Wajszczuk family (married sister followed by a brother) came to the U.S.A. at the beginning of the XXth century from the area of a village Nur on the Bug river (Nur n/Bugiem), rest of the family still lives there? where did they originally come from? why did they come to the U.S.A.?     

8) a cousin, who became a prisoner-of-war in the Soviet Union at the beginning of war in 1939 - subsequently joined the Polish Armed Forces (formed by General Anders in the Soviet Union, moved to the West via the Middle East and fought the Nazis at the Western Front), after the war remained in the West and settled in Argentina, where his family still lives - a few years ago I had a chance to visit with them (the son - Adam and daughter - Ewa still speak good Polish!);      

9) a Wajszczuk family in Canada - we do not know, where did they come from and how did they get there?

10) another family member was jailed in the Soviet Union at the beginning of WW-II as a prisoner-of-war (he was a Polish soldier, when the war with Hitler started) !

11) another member of the family fought the Nazis in the Underground Army (as a partisan hiding in the forests, lost his leg in fighting), was awarded after the war the highest Polish military decoration - Virtuti Militari cross;

10 years later - (March 20, 2010)
- what did we learn in the meantime?

ad 1) - see- http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/059piotr.htm#0075; http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/0075edmund.htm

ad 2) - we learned about the fate of one of the brother - Antoni
see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/1591antoni.htm, - fate of the other - Piotr, remains unknown -
see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/zamojszczyzna_pawel.htm

ad 3) - see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/0074karol.htm

ad 4) - see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/0423kazimierz.htm

ad 5) - we still know very little about the war experiences of this family
- see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/polski/drzewo/422kazimierz.htm

ad 6) - see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/wysiedleni.htm

ad 7) - we still were not able to find out the exact place of their origin in Poland,
- see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/234franciszek.htm, - in the course of this search, we discovered another Wajszczuk family in the vicinity of Sokołów Podlaski - information about them is still very incomplete
- see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/polski/drzewo/1679walenty.htm

ad 8) - see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/0062zbigniew.htm

ad 9) - see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/wysiedleni.htm

ad 10) - see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/300pawel.htm#301;
http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/wysiedleni.htm

ad 11) - see - http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/329antoni.htm#0330; http://www.wajszczuk.v.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/0330stefan.htm

What else are we going to learn? In the meantime, my warmest thanks to all - closest and more distant relatives - who so enthusiastically supported my efforts and responded to my requests and unbelievably rapidly supplied me with a large amount of information (the computers undoubtedly were of significant help, but the most important was their interest and good will). It took only about 6 - 8 weeks to reach the stage we are now at - the Tree is well advanced, but there are still many missing branches and several gaps and I will very much appreciate your continuing help and support. The updates will follow. The English version will be available very soon - will let you know. My special thanks to Mr. Pawel Stefaniuk who so willingly devoted so much of his precious time to this project.

Prepared by: Waldemar J Wajszczuk & Paweł Stefaniuk 2000-2011
e-mail: wwajszczuk@comcast.net