During several days on their cruise ship ‘Syrena’, we had a chance to listen some memories of Mrs Wscieklica. She met her husband in Belgium after the war in 1947. Both of them fought in the Warsaw Uprising . Janina, as a young woman, served as a secretary and fought in the Gozdawa Battalion. After the fall of the battalion she was moved to stalags- prisoner-of-war camps. For almost half a year she was kept in four camps. These were the first camps for women –prisoners in history. Each time, she was transported in cattle wagons with other 60 women. The first camp she was in was Lamsdorf (now Lambinowice) in the Opole Voivodeship. The second one was Muhlberg in Saxony, then Altenburg in Thuringia ,and finally VI C in Oberlangen near the German-Dutch border. The camp was finally liberated on 12 April 1945 by the Polish 1st Armoured Division commanded by General Maczek. At that time there were about 1,700 women in the camp and they were hugely surprised when they saw the white eagle and writing Poland on sodliers’ clothing. What is more, soldiers were equally surprised as they learned that the first camp they liberated was occupied by Polish women.
For political reasons, return to the homeland was impossible . Returning soldiers were tortured and put in jail. Fortunately, the Polish government –in-exile took care of liberated prisoners of war. It secured basic needs, enabled young Poles to start a new life and get an education. Janina decided to stay in Belgium and got into university there. She expected to get a service pay but instead of that she got a university scholarschip which enabled her to study, accomodation in dormitory, and access to a military mess hall. She also got a free access for use of public transportation and free theatre tickets.
Both Janina and Janusz are sport lovers .They used to play volleyball in the Belgian national teams. The women’s team comprised of mainly foreigners –there were 4 Polish women and one Czech. Two-person teams (woman and man), were very popular in those days . At first, when they didn’t know each other , they were playing in different teams, but later ,thanks to Janusz’s proposition, they created tandem teams. First they were parnters in sport, and later also in life. But the beggining is always the hardest. In the first championship they lost to the team in which played the ex-partner of Janina but after one year of training they won the championship and had no equals. I believe that we can say that both in private and professional life they have won many more championships together.
In 1949, after graduating from University, Janusz moved to the USA to continue his education. However, Janina wasn’t left behind. A year later, as his fiancée, she followed him to New York on the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship. She could afford it thanks to her job in IRO –an organization which helped people who were repressed. She helped them start a new life after years spent in jail, many humiliations, and wanderings. As a reward for hard work, she was given a ticket for the cruise. After 5 years of being transported in cattle wagons, she found herself on the most luxurious ship in the world. Her fiancé was waiting for her in New York City with a new beautiful car. They got married and few months later Janusz was offered a new job as a metallurgist in Brazil. As Brazillians didn’t have many specialists in the country, they had to find specialist from abroad. The married couple claim that they have always been restless, adventurous, curious about the world.They were a little bit like missionaries. After their war experiences , they had a strong hunger for freedom .Another important thing for them was racial and religious equality for all inhabitans of Brazil. The Wscieklicas have never regretted their decisions. They have led a good life in Brazil . Adjusting to a new environment hadn’t been easy as everything was new and different from everything they had seen before. Thanks to their willingness to work, courage in making decisions and accepting new challenges they gained new friends and a respect amongst people.
Janusz was a boss of the biggest steelworks in Brazil , and his wife was taking care of the health and education of the workers’ families. She was helping to create more nursery schools, kindergartens, schools, and healthcare clinics. Moreover, she wanted to hire lots of women. She was also taught local children foreign languages, improved city’s public image, and contributed to the creation of new gardens and parks.
In 1964, Janina was playing in the final of the Minas Gerais state Tennis Championship. Both of them liked to have a good time. Social events were a perfect oppurtunity for them to meet new interesting people. Janina mentions one night, when at one of those parties she was dancing with Juscelino Kubitschek –a future president of Brazil. She claims that he was a good dancer, and a funny and interesting person .
After the cruise, we have met them a few more times in Sao Paulo (where they live), Mogi das Cruzes (where they have their second home) and also in Poland near Lucieńskie Lake. We went on a cruise ,this time a little shorter than the last one; we were sailing on the lake. These were wonderful moments for us, spent with our dearest friends. And we were listening to other great stories and memories. This time, we were under big impression of the fact that, during a stay in Poland ,Janina visited her own grave. As it turned out later, during the funeral of one of her old friends, the body was wrongly identified as a body of Janka Szczepańska (her maiden name). When she had found out about this mistake after years, it was too late to change and correct everything so it stayed the way it was. Now, Janina visits her own grave in Powązki, lightens up a votive candle and puts flowers on the grave.
Fortunately, Janina is still with us and in a very good form. We have a great opportunity to listen to her wonderful stories and memories.
Having met people like Wscieklicas family, we realised how many people like them haven’t returned to their homeland after 1945. I am very glad that I have met them in my life. There is a lot of men of this sort , in Brazil, Argentina, or Chile and we should talk about them more.
Photos © from the private archive of Wścieklica’s family.