Trip to Oświęcim

A Typical Polish BreakfastThe day began with what you may find as a typical breakfast, which consisted of coffee or tea, sliced meats & cheese, bread & butter, tomatoes, a vegetable salad,and some eggs (in the photo they are deviled eggs with a dill filling). Normally they will make an open face sandwich with the bread, meat and cheese. Sometimes chopped onions may garnish the tomatoes.

This morning I took a quick trip to Oświęcim, which is the birthplace of my father. I have been to Oświęcim before, but this time I had a special mission to complete. Last year my father passed away and I brought along a copy of his death certificate, so I could have his death recorded in the church books where he was baptized (Parafia Wniebowziecia Matki Bozej). I was greeted warmly and the woman puled the book for his baptizism. I must note that when he was married in the USA, my grandmother informed this church of the details of his marriage and that information was also noted by his batismal information. Now the circle is complete and I have "brought my father home". The woman in the Kancelaria (Church Office) added his death information to his baptism and put the copy ofhis death certificate between the pages of the book to be kept DSC00726a

My father's baptismal record with marriage and death notationsthere forever. I was able to get a photo of the completed record.

Some of you may not know that Auschwitz the camp is in the city of Oświęcim. Actually Auschwitz is the German name for Oświęcim. I have been to Auschwitz two other times, and decided not to go there on this trip to Poland.

After I finished at the church office I went to the cemetery to look for names of my Grandmother's family. As you can see, the cemeteries in Poland look much different than we have in the US. With the help of Łukasz and his father Jan, we were able to find a number of family graves in about an hour.

Cemetery in Oświęcim

I completed my visit to Oświęcim by going to the Civil records office to get two offical copies of my fathers birth record. It was quick and painless. I only had to fill out a request form and pay for my two copies. The woman in the office was quick and helpful.