Twenty-Six Years Apart: A Family Reunited Behind the Iron Curtain (470)

16:12Aleksander Jablonski:There was a long, long-term contact with one of Dad's sisters. The letters went to and fro. And we used to gather clothes and all kinds of things together and send parcels. He sent parcels on a regular basis to a company called PKO. And he sent wedding dresses, didn't he? Yeah. for two members of the family. He sent wedding dresses. There was always something being saved, being collected. And he used to wrap the parcels beautifully and string or knotted in the right place and send all kinds of things over to the family over there and regularly had letters with his sister. And he didn't know what had happened to one brother until we went back in 1966.

16:57Aleksander Jablonski:And we discovered he'd been shocked for helping Jews to escape. he'd been shopped by a friend and we didn't his dad didn't know that until then until 66

17:10Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:wow so the sister he was in contact with was that the sister who gave him the coat

17:15Aleksander Jablonski:that would have been yanker wouldn't it yeah yanker yeah wow yeah so yeah and once he was

17:21Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:naturalized as british is it that when he considered it would be safe enough to him to

17:26Aleksander Jablonski:actually go to Poland to visit the relatives it was that and there was finance financially as well yeah yeah um fortunes changed shall we say in 1965 wasn't it when he wanted what was then a substantial amount of money on the football pools I'm not sure what it will be worth now it was 6052 pound 76 pence yeah he won yeah he won on the ball that was the turning point going back to Poland. Yeah. We can now afford to go because we went for a month, didn't we? Yeah. So we could afford to go and get whatever the family, buy things for the family, take things with us, et cetera, et cetera. So it was all very exciting.

18:08Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:So can you remember the discussion of the planning for that visit? It must have been very exciting for you or a bit scary for you to go and meet around?

18:18Aleksander Jablonski:I'll put it in context. I was 17. Sue was 10. Yeah. So quite different completely different aspect to what was happening. I had to have a new coat, new dresses, and that was like, for me, what, you know, it's like we're going to this place. I remember Mum having all the maps, no sat nav, of course, and we were driving from Leek to Warsaw. I remember Mum had got all the maps and planning everything and writing everything down, and then it was where we were going to stop to eat, where we were going to get petrol. Overnight stops. Overnight stops. a ferry that was really exciting when we crossed the borders going into poland you'd come to the west germans east germany there were like four sets of guards because you got americans british you'd still got russians and germans going across there we'd stayed in a place in called helmstad hadn't we look this lovely it was almost like an austrian type village very much austrian or that type of village where we slept under duvets.

19:22Aleksander Jablonski:First time we ever slept under a duvet. Oh, yeah. First time we'd ever seen a duvet was in West Germany. And all the guards, they were in everything. They were in the back of your car, in your bags. They got mirrors underneath. And my dad had got things that probably shouldn't have been hidden under the car, the carpets in the back of the car. or he'd got money and stuff that he'd hidden anti-dollars and whatever. And they were like patting down all inside the car and we were all sort of sweating, thinking they began to find this stuff. They didn't, fortunately. But I think that was the most anxiety-provoking, was all those guards with guns.

20:02Aleksander Jablonski:And you were made to feel like a criminal, even though you were. Because I suppose in those days, tourists travelling by car weren't wasn't very popular especially coming from britain perhaps because we traveled with another family as well didn't yes yeah that was in the questions of why you were going when that was the first real anxiety provoking bit whether you were 10 or 70 that was that i remember that because one one car was completely stripped down yeah there was nothing they got it completely my mum was in a bit of a state and got through I went back with them in 1971 and had a similar experience then turfing all your blinking clothes out I was just cursing in English at the time but East Germany so we had to stop on the west east border because you could only have a transit visa to go through East Germany you got to do it in a day you weren't allowed to stop to be planned in didn't it Because that's one of the photographs that we've got taken on the border there.

21:09Aleksander Jablonski:Yes, it was a thrilling time, an exciting time. When we got into Warsaw, it was very different, particularly from my point of view, at 17. And you're going to stay somewhere where there's no bathroom. The toilet wouldn't flush. Silver fish running all over the floor. Silver fish everywhere. Dad, first thing Dad did was pay for a plumber to come, and we were all sleeping in one apartment. But it was very, it was an eye-opener in many ways. The whole of the building, in fact, we can still get it on Google Earth, can't we? The whole of the building was shot through with bullet holes, and it was in a very rough area of Warsaw, wasn't it?

21:52Aleksander Jablonski:When we got into Warsaw very late at night and had no idea where old Brugnowska was, the street that we needed to go to, so dad waylaid a taxi and said if I follow you to this street I'll pay you whatever I'll pay you in dollars I think he persuaded him a dollar and the taxi driver apparently turned around and said are you sure are you sure you want to go there it's the worst street in Warsaw and that was where we ended up and in the end dad was speaking to his sister in English and us in Polish and excitement overflowed up and down the stairs and it was just incredible. It was this thundering down the stairs when they realised we'd arrived.

22:32Aleksander Jablonski:Yeah. On all these feet because everybody lived in this one apartment. It was all going on, wasn't it? Yeah. It was just like me. It was that dark. I haven't got a clue. Oh, and they asked where my mum was. Oh, yes, yeah. Because my mum was very young when they married and they thought it was another daughter. They didn't know who mum was his wife because she was 13 years younger. So it's like, where's your wife? And one of our cousins actually slept in dad's car, didn't he? Yes. To keep it safe, to keep the car safe on the road. He slept in it every night.

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24:03Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:The Dog Stars. Directed by Ridley Scott. In theaters August 28th. Get tickets now. Rated R. Under 17. Not a minute without parents. at that moment yeah did can you remember the moment your dad met his sister after so oh yes oh my gosh yeah oh yes lots wailing very they've set me quite emotional now because they were

24:24Aleksander Jablonski:although they've been apart for so long they were very much alike oh crap and the chat just went on and on and different people came and went and came and went but just where i remember one of the one of the discussions one night my auntie went around the table going and then she closed all the shutters windows and she said if you're going to speak about the government we need to be very quiet we don't know who's listening because obviously it's communist times and these kind of things just were quite it's quite a revelation when you haven't lived through those times

25:03Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:Yeah absolutely Absolutely So was his family not particularly Well off then Not well off at all No

25:12Aleksander Jablonski:They had the basics and they had the basic of the basics Because unbeknown to us An American Cousin of my dad's who'd ended up Being settled in America He'd arrived the day before And he was oh that man could snore Never heard anything like it in my life but he'd arrived and he bought them they haven't got a fridge had they and he bought all singing all dancing fridge and it was like it was you can't describe the they kept looking at it and opening it and putting things in and taking things out i can remember that fridge yeah and just the getting up in the morning my auntie slept in the kitchen with her head on the kitchen table on toilet rolls on toilet rolls in the kitchen table and in the morning sue and herself would be put into the kitchen with two bowls of water and one was the bowl to do from the head to the middle and the other was the bowl to do from the bottom back up to the middle because there wasn't a bathroom there but all of that was done very everywhere immaculate the food just kept coming out again the basic but lots of it yes yeah because there's one thing if the poles have got to do is feed you and then it was the things like every time we moved anywhere fingerprinted having fingerprints taken.

26:28Aleksander Jablonski:Sue and myself going around to explore in one of the gardens around one of the old buildings and then you're faced with a gun in your face. Yeah, armed guards. You would now see us like a public park. Yes. They were everywhere, weren't they? We did actually have two baths in the month because my dad paid the lady upstairs in the apartment with the bath. And you also paid to watch the World Cup? Watch the World Cup, yeah. 1966 World Cup. We paid to watch that upstairs as well. But there were some very sad times. Some very, as Dad sat with everybody all around the table in the apartment and learnt more about what had happened to, we had a brother who was an alcoholic, the brother who was killed.

27:12Aleksander Jablonski:The younger Tom, he was shot, wasn't he? He was shot, yes. And then we went to visit another auntie and Dad was so shocked when he saw where she lived that he hit the curb with the car and ripped the tyre. Ripped the tyre. because she lived in a wooden hut that was padded out with brown paper. And she sat in the middle of the garden with her legs crossed, a headscarf on, peeling. Got a little bench, hadn't she, outside. Yeah. And it was, yeah, he realised how fortunate he was, really. I think that was another thing that he saw how tricky things were for his family. But he did a lot to help them.

27:51Aleksander Jablonski:on the lighter side you weren't very impressed because you were 17 hours you had to go into the hen house in the morning with your bucket and then you do whatever you needed to do with your bucket and you had to take your bucket down the bottom of the field and get rid of like a big cesspit wasn't there yeah down there and then you would take your bucket back and wash it out and put it back in the hen house ready for the next ablution so yeah it always makes me smile I just You think it was hilarious. I say it isn't so funny when you're a teenager, but when you're 10. I can't wait to tell my friends about this one.

28:24Aleksander Jablonski:So it was all very... We stayed in somebody's house, didn't we? Just up the road in an apartment. But again, I remember us being warned there to be quiet, not to talk very much. So where was this?

28:36Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:Because you were previously in Warsaw, so the aunt was somewhere else?

28:40Aleksander Jablonski:She was in Chesterhove. No, it wasn't. It was Chesterhove. She lived in Chesterhove, the Black Madonnas in Chesterhove. Yes, yes. And I think it was on the way, because you're already with us, wasn't you? It was on the same road out. It was further east than Warsaw. We stayed in Warsaw and that was going east out to there. And then it was even further east when we went to Wapi.

29:08Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:And Warsaw in 1966, I'm presuming there was still a lot of war damage there because it was almost completely destroyed.

29:16Aleksander Jablonski:Absolutely, absolutely They were doing an incredible job of what was being rebuilt weren't they? The street, like we said the flats were just riddled with bullet holes all that area was riddled And balconies falling down at the back I do remember the road We did go to the Palace of Culture which is a horrible they call it the Christmas cake in Poland, given to them by the Russians gifted it. He'd have loved to have gifted it back, I think. It's just the most horrible dower. And where Yurik, dad's cousin, lived, that was just blocks and blocks. Gray buildings. Gray buildings, faceless flats. The nicest part was the old town, Saraniasta, that had been rebuilt and was being rebuilt.

30:04Aleksander Jablonski:But we did see that at a later date when we went back again, when it was really lovely. And travelling on the trams and places, you had to be careful. in fact I think was it Yola got her purse taken off snatched from her when we were going somewhere on the tram I think so yeah

30:23Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:your dad's car must have been a real curiosity in Poland

30:30Aleksander Jablonski:registration number BH562C it was a red Volkswagen sedan lovely car yeah lovely car that's the reason that Andre slept in it because he said it Otherwise, if it wasn't safe, the wheels would be gone. Yes, it was. And I do remember one day coming back and one of my cousins, she'd obviously been trying some of my clothes on while I was out. And I think mum, David mentioned it and mum said something. I offered to give her a blouse and she turned away and she wouldn't have it. Far too proud. Far too proud. You know, I can buy my own clothes. Yes, yeah. We did leave, you did. But when we went in subsequent years, we used to leave no end of stuff, didn't we, really?

31:18Aleksander Jablonski:To leave things behind. When we went, Dad had taken things in the car, hadn't he? Got things to sell. For them to sell. For the younger to sell. Yeah. Because jeans were something that everybody wanted at the time. Couldn't get. Couldn't get them. But shopping was also very strange because when you went for your bread in the morning, you queued up and paid for half a loaf and then you went to another counter where they gave you the half a loaf and then if you wanted to look at anything or try anything in the shop it was all behind counters you couldn't go in and just touch things and browse you couldn't browse you had to go in and say what you wanted and there was jobs for everyone if you went into a cafe or a restaurant somebody had to take your coat off you had to leave your coat That was later on as well when we went there wasn't it?

32:08Aleksander Jablonski:Take it from you, yes. It took me until the 90s that was. Yeah, because it was supposed to be that everybody had a job but there certainly wasn't any money, particularly in 1966 and there had been lots of shortages of different foods. Shopping and as Sue said before, the food was very filling but very basic. Lots of potatoes and sausage.

32:35Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:and what did your mum make of it all because it's new massively new to her these are the new

32:41Aleksander Jablonski:relatives mum was 16 when she married dad and he was 13 years older so she was only 17 when she had me so from my memories particularly when we all lived in an overcrowded council house were that things were very tricky. My same mum was very young. Married to a Pole, which was like, that will never last. Had a baby, goodness, that's just far too young. But the day back is through. There were some bad times. There were some, and obviously dad has still got his Polish friends here and that was one bone of contention to disappear off to the Polish club and leave me with mum, with granny and the household full of people.

33:29But she was always full of positive ways of looking at things and doing things.

33:35Aleksander Jablonski:But I do know that she took me as a baby one night, one afternoon down to the Polish club, put me in my dad's arms and said, she's your child as much as mine. I'll leave her here with you. And she left me there with him. There were some hard times. Dad's the language. Initially, Dad was working at Bolton and having to learn the language, different cultures and living overcrowded. No privacy. It was tricky for them. I know from different things that happened that one did find things difficult at times, but they worked through all of that. They worked through it all and came out. As far as me and Sue were concerned, we had a great childhood.

34:20Aleksander Jablonski:My friends used to come home for brownies and say, will you make your dad talk? Because they wanted to listen to the accent. We're a bit of a novelty, aren't we, really? Yes, yeah.

34:36Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:And your mother was welcomed into his larger family as well?

34:41Aleksander Jablonski:Oh, yes. Absolutely, yeah. They couldn't do enough. They did the best that they would say. I can clearly remember sitting around the table. they say to dad, tell mum, make sure that he was interpreting and telling her everything that was going on so she wasn't left out. She did understand some Polish, didn't she? Oh, she did Polish classes for a while. She went to Polish classes for quite a while. She understood quite a lot but couldn't answer. So it was hard for dad to keep interpreting, but the family weren't just going ahead talking to dad. They were saying, tell Jesse, making sure that mum joined.

35:15Aleksander Jablonski:But I would imagine if we asked her now, she'd probably say she was a bit like a rabbit in the headlights really because it was quite overwhelming, wasn't it? Yes. I think we were saying many of them and we got to meet them all and whatever. After a week or so, my memory, although it was only little, was it things settling down into a bit more of a, really, of what we were doing. There was a plan made of where we were going to go. We were going to visit and we should see. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we did get time to go out and about and sightsee and people took us out to see things and go places, didn't they?

35:49Aleksander Jablonski:So it was a holiday as well as this sort of very emotional reunion, if you like. It still was a holiday as well. And there were one or two members of the family, Irma and the guys in the choir. Yeah. They were quite well to do. Yeah. They were quite, they took us out and bought things. They were a little bit better off side of the family. Lovely to meet our cousins Because Dad had told us About life in Poland And at Christmas he used to Always send presents over to Send a big parcel over And it was great to actually meet To meet them all

36:31Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:How did you Communicate with your cousins You don't speak Polish I'm presuming they didn't speak English

36:37Aleksander Jablonski:It didn't seem to matter really to me No it didn't Yeah We just seemed to cope with some sign language. I was taken out by Andrew, who is a little bit older than me, the one who was going to be a vet or whatever, and he spoke a little bit of English, and they got a couple of friends, and one of them spoke a bit of English. And we just seemed to just get on with it. They were great. They would try to make themselves understood, and I remember having, or they'd write things down or draw things or just try and make it as easy as possible. But I don't remember it being a big problem. Big issue. No, I don't.

37:19Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:And what was it like for your father to return to the village that he'd been snatched from by the Soviets?

37:28Aleksander Jablonski:That was harder, wasn't it, I think, from what I recall. Because, again, his auntie, he did go back. His auntie was still alive, wasn't she? Yes, yes. steam yeah and then he got another auntie who lived up near the cemetery but i remember him going to his dad's dad's grave yeah and that that was probably hard because i don't think i can't hardly ever recall my dad crying but he did that day that's the thing i can see the street now there's rowing trees all the way up this street and auntie or niscova lived on the right hand side little way before the cemetery you had to go over a railway bridge so sometimes you had to wait for the trains to go before you could go over and right at the top they took him because this was a wooden cross and it had rotted at the base yeah and my dad was there and I went and picked flowers that we went to pick some flowers and my dad put this cross back straight on the grave and that's the thing I remember that stands out the most I think that and sitting on the picking cherries on out of the tree in the garden where we were staying I think he also showed quite a lot of emotion when he learnt about his brother because we were all sitting around the table and we didn't know why he was upset and then he explained that Jan could have told him.

38:42Aleksander Jablonski:She said that she couldn't write a letter to tell him what had happened because her tears washed away the words. That was his youngest brother wasn't he? Because he had three. He was the one that was shot. Then there was Stasic who was the alcoholic and then there's the other one that disappeared during the corn riots seen Gdansk or Gdynia in the 60s, wasn't he? He was still alive, but then he was never seen again. He just went off the radar, just never seen again. Yeah, don't know what ever happened to him. He was involved in those riots on the docks in the late 60s. So quite a history reel, yeah.

39:20Aleksander Jablonski:Yeah, but Dad, it was an amazing time. And as Sue said, we went back again and Mum and Dad went back again. But there was nothing that was going to attract him to go back and live in Poland. his life had become settled here that was where he was happy was that even after

39:40Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:poland threw off communism and became a democracy he still wasn't gonna entertain staying no no he's

39:49Aleksander Jablonski:by that time i've been in this country longer than he'd been in his own country really he didn't have that affinity with i think we've always had an affinity with what goes on in poland and polish people and our Polish relatives, but the country itself, he never had that affinity to go that made him feel he wanted to be there. He kept very much up to date with the political situation. He wasn't an academic man by any means, but he was very knowledgeable. He read up on the politics and he was very clued up and knowledgeable on world politics. And he read up a great deal about what was going on in Poland.

40:27Aleksander Jablonski:He was very aware of changes and what was happening. Because when I was little, they used to talk between themselves. And these things came up about reds. They used to say, the reds were under your bed. I used to check under my bed at night, thinking, who are these reds that might come out? And when I was about 10, because the polls would sit and talk and chat. And of course, I didn't know what communism meant. How many times did those men fight that war, though? How many times did the poor grab in coffees and whatever? Yes, if we could have understood more Polish, we probably would have picked up more of how they felt and their experiences coming through the war.

41:14Aleksander Jablonski:Because when they were together, that was when they all chatted. But, of course, we didn't understand the Polish. I think that was when it came out about difficult life had been, when they all got together and all chatted. A lot of arm waving, wouldn't there?

41:33Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:Were any of the family involved in Solidarity, the Free Trade Union movement?

41:38Aleksander Jablonski:Not as far as we know. No. We did have the, it was Jurek who was dad's, we called him cousin, but he was relative. It was a step relative, wasn't it? A step relative. A step relative. Him and his wife, Zitka, they weren't involved then. But when the Russians first started impounding the poles, they were what they called the intelligentsia. And Yorick's, or Zitka's parents, were sent to camp, weren't they? Yeah. Because they were educated, they were clever, they were... Professors or... Professors. Academics. Academics. And they were treated dreadfully.

42:20Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:It's time for a short break. These adverts help preserve more extraordinary Cold War stories. Thanks for listening and supporting our work.

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44:03Aleksander Jablonski:after when Dad was dying, he made his way from Warsaw to Leek by train, ferry and bus, train, ferry and bus, and actually got his way into Leek, walking to where we lived and he'd just made it so that the after dad had died. Yeah, two days after I think. Two days after. And we didn't... We didn't know he was coming, did we? We didn't know. Well, we did, but we found out a little later on that he was on his way. Yeah, yeah. But he stayed with my mum, didn't he? Yeah, yeah. It was just incredible that he was... His way, because he didn't speak English. He made his way. Or very little. He understood quite a bit, didn't he?

44:44Aleksander Jablonski:But didn't speak any. But didn't speak any, yeah. So all these things made up just memories, really. Mostly good memories, happy memories. And as Sue said before, Dad was a very contented man. Very much valued what he had. Didn't look for greater things. Yes, up to when he died, Mom looked after him. And he considered he'd had a good life. Certainly after he'd landed in the leak anyway.

45:17Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:Linda you married Phil in 1971 I did yeah And there's a few complications there aren't there

45:24Aleksander Jablonski:That's right yes that's what happened We got married in 1971 and went to live in Mary Quarters in Milksham Phil was based at RAF Lyon Very different for me moving away and living elsewhere No phone and whatever And then one evening these two guys came that looked like something out of a spy film with the trilobies on and long coats and came in and sent me in another room. They said they needed to speak to Phil. And then they were there for I don't know how long, an hour, perhaps something like that. And then when they went, I asked Phil what it was about and he said, I'm not supposed to tell you.

46:06Aleksander Jablonski:You just got married and you've just been interviewed by these two. And it was investigating my dad and investigating the background, how many relatives were in Poland, my background, all the family. And we do know that they did contact Boltons, where we're pretty sure where Dad worked. And it was on the basis that if Phil was involved in anything secretive in the Air Force, that pressure could be put on Dad's family in Poland for Phil to give them information. It seemed a bit like something so extreme, But obviously those things happened when you married a Polish girl, a girl with a Polish name.

46:48Aleksander Jablonski:So that was quite interesting. That was your experience of the possible Reds Under the Bed. The Reds Under the Bed, yes.

46:55Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:I was still laughing over your Reds Under the Bed story, actually, Linda. That's a brilliant one. But I can see how a kid would think that. Because you make those weird connections, don't you?

47:04Aleksander Jablonski:I know we'd just moved to the council house, which I'd be about seven. Yes, I'd probably be seven, eight or nine and listening to these conversations. Because we didn't have a television. We didn't have a car. Dad would sit and chat and tell. He did actually used to sit and tell his stories about being in Poland. Skating. Skating on the skates. Yes. I skated. The skates. Making skis out of two pieces of wood and skating. Yeah, we'd done all of those things.

47:36Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:Did your dad live long enough to see Poland being a free country?

47:43Aleksander Jablonski:Yeah. Yes. Yeah. 1993. Three. May 1993 he died. Yes.

47:51Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:Because he must have thought that was never going to happen in his lifetime. It must have been a huge surprise and an immense source of pride that they'd been able to throw off these shackles that had held them for so long.

48:07Aleksander Jablonski:It was, and it was also that there was a future to look forward to. Unfortunately, we've lost touch with some of the cousins now in Poland, but they felt that they'd got then a better future to look forward to, and travel became much easier. because we did have a relative come over from Poland, one of my cousins, with her daughter. That was in, that would be 73, 74. Yeah. Because we were in Trowbridge. Yeah. But she had to have permission to travel and Dad had to sponsor her because it was... And she had to get permission from her ex-partner to bring the little girl over. And there was a lot of paperwork that had to be done and then checked upon that she would go back and she would go back on the right date.

48:52Aleksander Jablonski:so that was difficult then but later of course that all became much easier so I did go back I can't remember the last year the last time when we all went back 92 the ability that he started to be poorly yeah that's when we went back in 94 yeah

49:13Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:how much had Poland changed at that point from that first visit

49:18Aleksander Jablonski:oh it was incredible you could just go to places and it was all very it was all more cosmopolitan i suppose the word is really and you could freely walk around places that we couldn't freely walk around before and in fact it was absolutely pleasurable wasn't it to see the family and to see all these things openly and freely and sit out and have coffee yeah sit out yes yeah yeah it's more of a cosmopolitan to see the old town staring me after everybody sitting out the restaurants people eating out in restaurants however our family found it very odd why would you go and buy a coffee in a cafe when i can when you can make one at home they were very uncomfortable with that culture weren't they yeah some of them were that that hadn't like yorick and jika were okay because they were a little bit more in that into that way of life anyway but our other cousins it was like Why would you do it?

50:11Aleksander Jablonski:They'd be uncomfortable with it, wouldn't they? Yes, yes. It was just something we did all the time. Just one other little thing that springs to mind, which I know was noted in the story that we did, was the courtesy of the men getting used to having your hand kissed every time where you went very much still. And Dad dropped into it, didn't he? Yes, yeah. Straight away meeting different members of the family. I mean, it was for you. Obviously, I was a child. Yes, you were a child, yeah. You were treated as an adult, weren't you? As an adult, and this courtesy of having to have the back of your hand kissed when you're young people.

50:47Aleksander Jablonski:And then the other funny story was that on the way there, when we were planning to go, my dad said, if they ask where the wedding photographs are, tell them we've forgotten them. Because he didn't tell them that they hadn't been married in church. They'd been married in a registrar, so we were supposed to say that they'd forgotten the wedding photographs. although none of them were practicing Catholics were they? that was more my dad's anxiety than their issue I think wasn't it? yes it was it's interesting our families are all very interested in the history our children, Sue's children grandchildren because my mum's amazing at 94 and they love being with Gigi, great grandma and she's told them all about the history and she's written my dad's history and giving them all a copy of that.

51:40Aleksander Jablonski:A book pamphlet that she wrote in. Yeah.

51:43Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:That's really good that it's being passed down, the memory of your heritage there.

51:49Aleksander Jablonski:One of my youngest twin grandsons is considering, off his own bat, of adding our dad's name, our family name, to his name when he's old enough to add it. Add Jablonski to his name. whether he will do that formally I don't know or whether he will just call himself that but he said he would love to be able to carry on the name he's nine at the moment going on 27 but he said my son was talking to him about losing the name will is lost really so to speak and wanted to know why and how that could change and he said he's seriously considering when he's older adding the family name, which I said you can call yourself what you want.

52:33Aleksander Jablonski:Legally, you have to have legal names. Call yourself what you want. And our youngest son, who isn't that young anymore, he's only got one tattoo that isn't really shown, and it's the Polish eagle. They were all very close to Grandpa. He's their hero, wasn't he? Yeah. Quiet, because he could arm-wrestle anybody, and he'd always up for a challenge. Like Sue has said before, he was small, but by gosh, he was strong.

53:00Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:It's been lovely hearing your memories of your father and the rest of your family as well. I feel very honoured to have been able to listen to that. Additional thanks to Stefan Hales, Josef Czik and the Leek Polish Connection for welcoming me into their group and allowing me to record this story. want to learn more about this episode don't miss the extras such as curated videos photos and other content just look for the link in the episode information special thanks to the generous efforts of our financial supporters who keep the show on the air if you'd like to join this select band go to coldwarconversations.com slash donate the cold war conversation continues in our facebook discussion group just search for Cold War Conversations on Facebook.

53:54Daughters of Aleksander Jablonski:Thanks very much for listening and see you next week.

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