by Monica Wiant | Jun 24, 2017 | Personal, Poland Project
On a Sunday morning in the fall of 1942, my grandfather, Major Antoni Wegrzyn, walked into the Church of St. Wojiech in Krakow at 9 a.m. sharp. He was scheduled to meet with his new commander, Major Galica, of the Polish Underground Army, or Armia Krajowa.Major Galica...
by Monica Wiant | Jun 23, 2017 | Personal, Poland Project
My proudest accomplishment of the trip so far: I got my rental station wagon out of a tiny underground parking garage and into another one 300 km away.In between, I saw a stretch of central-to-southern Poland that sometimes reminded me of Minnesota or Wisconsin, and...
by Monica Wiant | Jun 22, 2017 | Personal, Poland Project
Warsaw is at a latitude of 52.2 degrees north. It’s farther north than Calgary and Saskatoon. These are the things a person learns at 4:12 a.m. while trying to figure out why it’s so light outside.It was a good day, albeit a long one. My mom, also awake at 4 a.m.,...
by Monica Wiant | Jun 21, 2017 | Personal, Poland Project
On the summer solstice, I flew above the north Atlantic, midnight sun glowing outside the airplane window, illuminating the clouds below us in a suspension that melted from violet dusk into pink dawn without ever touching the dark shades in between.It was a night...
by Monica Wiant | Jun 15, 2017 | Personal, Poland Project
For 18 months, I’ve dreamed of visiting Poland to research my family’s history and to share it with my daughter. Last fall, I booked the flights. I persuaded my mother to join us. Three generations of women are going to explore our ancestral homeland.When it was far...
by Monica Wiant | Nov 19, 2016 | Personal, Poland Project
I went to Poland once, when I was 15. It was one stop in my last European vacation with my parents. We visited relatives, my mother’s childhood home, and my grandfather’s grave. It was a powerful emotional experience for my parents, and while I know the trip was...
