Dear members of the group,
It is with tears in my eyes that I post this first message... a strange
combination of happinnes, excitement, sadness, anger and pride. It has
been a long journey and I finally feel like I found home, with some many
writers-in-the-process in this group. Let me explain...
I am the son of one of the women that stayed in Santa Rosa Mexico, very
close to Leon Mexico, my hometown. I heard stories about her ordeals
during the war my whole life, but they were hard to understand for a
young boy who always had everything in life. The fact that history has
not been fair to our parents did not contribute to make this process
easier. I love the Internet. Everything is clearer now, but sadder, at
the same time.
The idea of documenting my mother's journey and earlier life in Poland
has always been around in the family. It was not until I read "Band of
Brothers" (nothing to do with my family, but enough to put the splinter
in my mind) that I decided that something had to be done and started my
research. The rest of my mother's siblings migrated to Canada, so along
with one my cousins, we have been "formally" working in this project for
almost one year.
Now we have several interviews with the survivors (never enough) and
among the books that I have in my collection are:
- The Polish Way by Adam Zamoyski
- The Polish 2nd Corps and the Italian Campaign by Witold Madeja
- Without Vodka by Aleksander Topolski
- El Convenio Ilusorio (The Fictitious Covenant) by Gloria Carre?o and
Celia Zack de Zukerman
(This is an excellent book about the life of the Polish Refugees in
Santa Rosa, however it is in Spanish)
- An army in exile by Gen. Wladyslaw Anders (this one should be in the
mail, it took me one year to find it)
- The forgotten Oddisey video (in the mail too).
I am sure that during my research, questions will arise. I am humbly
requesting and thanking in advance your help and patience. If there is
anything that you would like to know about the Polish Refugees that
stayed in Mexico or any other topic that you think I could be of some
help, do not hesitate to contact me.
I will be in touch.
Ricardo Villalobos-Grzybowicz
