Sunday, February 24, 2008

Recipient of a Random Act of Kindness

I am a fortunate person, this I know. This last week I was blessed with good fortune once again as an angel from Poland visited my blog.

Do you remember the wonderful video of Wojnicz, Poland that I featured on my blog a while back? No? Let me remind you here.

I commented that I would love to know about the video including the places and dates of the photos used in it. Sometimes when I share on my blog that I don't speak Polish some kind soul will translate for me. I am always touched and grateful when that happens. I must admit I was hoping that someone would do this for me again but I never expected to be contacted by the creator of the video himself.

Jacek Redzko sent me an email (in English!) referencing my blog and offering to answer any questions I might have about the video or about Wojnicz. I was sooo excited! I thought it over for a day or two and decided to go for it. I wrote back to him and asked him if he would share the photos with me in a size/resolution that I could use in a printed version of my family history. And I also asked him to tell me about the photos in English.

A few days went by before I heard from Jacek again. His email came with a zipped file of the photos (in print res) along with a guide explaining the photos. I was absolutely thrilled with happiness! I now know about the photos in the video and I can share them in my family history and with you.
  1. The first photo is of Jagiellońska Street heading north to the market.
  2. The second photo is of the east side of the market square. The Apteka is the pharmacy and the buildings to the left of it are the school buildings. The photo was taken in 1908.
  3. The third photo is of the south side of the market square with view to Tarnówska Street heading east to Tarnów. Photo was taken in 1940.
  4. The fourth photo is of the main parish church and bell tower. The photo was taken in 1933.
  5. The fifth photo is of a chapel on Loretanska Street which has since burned in a big fire.
  6. The sixth photo is of the Palace of the Dabski family. The family lost the palace prior to WWII because of debts owed to the government. It is now a school.
  7. The seventh photo is of the brewery of Zygmunt Jordan which no longer exists (for several years now).
  8. The eighth and final photo is of the north side of the market square.
Am I fortunate or what? Jacek is truly an angel from Poland. THANK YOU JACEK! Old photos like these are so wonderful to have in a family history but so hard for someone out of the country to obtain. I have some questions about Wojnicz that I want to ask Jacek and I'm going to send him another email this week.