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DP Police Force and the
"Nowy Kacik Theatre Group"
Alicia's father used to be a member of the Wildflecken DP Police, her
mum was with the
"Nowy Kacik Theatre Group", that entertained residents and staff of
the camp.
See below to
read Alicia's story...
Please
click on the thumbnails to find out more:
This is Alicia's story:
"Like most parents from that era, my parents did not talk about
their experiences during those years and unfortunately my brother and I
didn't think to ask, until it was too late.
I don't know exactly how dad ended up at the camp......
All I know is that my dad was with the Polish underground as a
"partizan", fighting against the Russians and Germans. He
comes from Radom. He joined the Polish AK (Armia Krajowa - Polish
partisans) when he was about 20/21 years of age. Dad has been
awarded various medals for his efforts whilst in the AK. He was mainly
in the Sandomierz Valley and hence when the war was ending, knowing that he
could not stay in Poland because of his underground activities, he made
his way to Germany through Czechoslovakia, eventually ending up in
Wildflecken, probably in about 1946. While in Wildflecken, Dad was
a DP policeman at Durzyn having completed an indoctrination course at the
Displaced Persons Police School at Regensburg. A certificate was
presented to him on the 10th of January 1947 by Lt. Col. Aubrey W. Akin
U.S. Army, Director of the School.
My mum was interviewed by a lady here in Perth, Western
Australia, who was doing her PhD on migrant women to Australia and the trials
and tribulations that they underwent during their first few years here.
In that interview mum states that she was deported to Germany in 1944
following the Warsaw Uprising. She was a 16 year old schoolgirl
who was separated from her family and sent to Dresden where she worked
in a factory that made parts for tanks (she thinks). She recalls the
Germans referring to them as "Warsaw Bandits" because of the
uprising occurring during German occupation. She apparently worked in several
factories in Germany but does not recall where they were. She eventually
ended up in Wildflecken, probably in about
1945/46. Mum belonged to the Nowy Kacik Theatre Group;
they provided entertainment for the camp residents and staff. None of her
family were there with her.....they had returned to Poland at some
stage. She eventually was able to contact them through the Australian
Red Cross in the early 1950s. Even though mum was born in 1928 she listed her
date of birth as 1926 - so that she was eligible for cigarette rations!!
Eventually mum and dad met at the camp and married. They had a
civil ceremony on the 23rd of June 1947 then a church ceremony on the
20th of January 1949. This ceremony was performed by Father Marian Switka and
her witnesses were Karol Wronski and Alicja Bielecka (whom I was named
after). They were waiting to go to America when mum found out she was
pregnant with me and was told that they would have to wait until I was born,
wait for my papers and then rejoin the queue for America. In the meantime,
dad found out that they could go to Australia straight away and so they chose
to come here. They left Wildflecken probably in April 1949 travelling to
Genoa by train and arrived in Fremantle, Western Australia on the 21st
of May 1949 on the SS Mozaffari and I was born in August of that same
year.
Alicia
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