Henry Walosik

My DP Story Henry Walosik

When the German Army rolled into Poland in 1939, they had no mercy and rounded up people all over Poland and had them sent to Germany to work on farms to produce food for Hitler's army. The following story is one that describes the lives of two Poles whose destiny it was to meet under these circumstances and subsequently marry and have children. They just came out of a war during which they experienced hard forced labour and hunger. Fortunately, they came out of it alive whereas millions lost their lives. They, now, intended to put the pieces together and get on with their lives. The story is related by the youngest of three children and describes the family's life as best as he could remember. There were three children in all, born in Germany, due to the war, but raised in Canada and today full fledged and proud Canadians. The Walosik name has extended to the fourth generation and on the verge of attaining the fifth. For years and years, there were two families carrying this name in North America. One men was a Canadian, my father, and the other an American, Uncle Frank. Both of them did not go back to the homeland (Poland) after the Second World War because there was no opportunity there to build a good life. The country was just about destroyed and many hardships were on the horizon.