Emotionally and physically drained, we arrived in Lviv to find a beautiful flat awaiting us. The apartment is one of several owned by two Canadians and I highly recomend them (lvivrent@rogers.com). Hotels are quite expensive in Ukrainian cities while short term rental is cheaper and more convenient. We were very pleased with this place.
This morning the door bell was impatiently buzzing. Two enthusiastic men, contacted by Yaraslava, came bounding in waving a photo of my grandfather as a young man! It's true- Marco was Grandpop's brother and these people are my cousins. We went to Cousin Yarislav's (all these Yaraslav's are confusing!) home for lunch and catch-up. Fortunately his very pregnant daughter, Maria, spoke good English.
The family is lovely and was very gracious to us. His father-in- law, a charming old man, has an interesting story. He was born in East Ukraine and his family hid some Jews when the Germans came through. He and his father voluntarily left for Western Ukraine because their presence raised the possibility of the house being searched. He married and got a job as a bookkeeper for a good company. Times were confusing and no one checked his educational credentials. Eventually he worked himself up to the number two spot in this large company as head accountant-- without training, just ability and drive. The man has had a very good life and the Jewish woman they hid survived the war and communicates with them.
It was frustrating to discover that someone was waiting to show us Grandpop's house in Hubici. Even though the building is now a Roman Catholic church, it has changed little from when Wasyl and Marco lived there. Grandpop's best friend lived across the street and a very old grandson of his still lives there. Grandpop wrote him letters for years but everyone thinks they were burned when it wasn't politically practical to have relatives in the West.
Tomorrow we will kidnap translator Slav and visit Michael, Marco's last living son. A surgeon still practicing at 77, he has tried for 50 years to find out what happened to his uncle--my grandfather. Should be exciting!
Photos: top: Cousin Yaraslav's family; next: Cousins Yaraslav and Dimetro in our Lviv flat; next: Grandpop; bottom: Anna and Catherine in Boyko dress
posted by Sandy @ 12:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home