Dear William (and Daniel, Catherine, Michael & Baby Girl Y) (and your parents), (and any future descendants and their parents),

Let me share with you a letter I received from my Aunt Teresa (my Father’s sister), which I received March 21, 2000:

Translation:

Dear Paul

Please note that I am writing to you on letterhead stationary that is more than 80 years old from the bank where your grandfather ZYGMUNT KONSTANTY (KOSTRO) worked.

ZYGMUNT was born April 30, 1880 in the settlement known as SEREJE, and was baptized in OLITA on December 20, 1880 – after the pharmacy was moved from SEREJE to OLITA.

SEREJE and OLITA were in the SUWAL (Ziemie Suwalskie) Region. After World War I, these lands were in Lithuania. OLITA is on the NIEMEN RIVER between WILNO and KOWNO. Before 1939, OLITA was close to the Polish border. Because of poor relations between Poland and Lithuania (who felt Poland took Wilno), my father (ZYGMUNT KONSTANTY) – after experiencing difficulties succeeded in gaining permission to visit his family in OLITA in 1937. His sister, JULIANA-MARIA still lived there. News of her came in 1940 (a postcard, lost).

ZDICH KOSTRO (ZDZISLAW) who visited OLITA in the 1980’s while on vacation, determined that near the Niemen River there stands a wooden residence (budynek mieszkalny) and masonry family graves in the cemetery (They also found MARIA’S grave there.)

My father’s parents (ed. note: JULIAN & STEFANIA MOGIELNICKA — parent’s of ZYGMUNT KONSTANTY) were married in Warsaw on June 22, 1874 – while JULIAN was a pharmacy student at the Warsaw University (at that time the Main School – Szkola Glowna).

I think that KAROL (b. 1875), WACLAW (b. 1877) and APOLINARY (b. 1878) were born still in Warsaw. I don’t know exactly when they moved to Sereja. WACLAW was buried in 1886 in Warsaw as the first in the family grave in the POWAZKI CEMETARY (“na Powazkach”).

When I inquired as to who was Maciej Heftman, my cousin Roza wrote to me: “Maciej Heftman – siostrzeniec cioci Lodzi (Leokadia Olszewska) – żona Karola Kostro. Nie mieli własnych dzieci i Maciej był ich wychowankiem.” — Translation: Maciej Heftman was the nephew (son of a sister) of aunt Lodzia (Leokadia Olszewska) – wife of Karol Kostro. They did not have children of their own, and so they took care of Maciej.

Translation:

Your great-grandmother – STEFANIA MOGIELNICKA – was the daughter of KONSTANTY AND GENOWEFA from Turow and had siblings (how many and who I don’t know). Her nephew, ALEKSANDER MOGIELNICKI, was a judge and maybe even the president of the Highest Court in Warsaw before 1939. His two sons (a lawyer and doctor) and he perished in 1940 in KATYN-STAROBIELSKI, as part of the mobilized officers of the Polish Army. The Mogielnicki family grave is across from the Kostro family grave in Powazka cemetary. The marble headstone with incriptions is lost (stolen).

I remember that during the Occupation we were visited by my father’s cousin (cioteczna siostra) ne’ MOGIELNICKA – I don’t know what happened to her – at that time her daughter was pregnant.

My father’s oldest brother KAROL married LEOKADIA OLSZEWSKA. They had no children. He was a chemist and worked in the sugar industry and as an educator. Before the war he was the director of the High School (Gimnazjum) in Warsaw. He died in 1941 from pneumonia. His wife died after the Warsaw Uprising, I don’t know where.

The second oldest (not counting WACLAW) – APOLINARY – lawyer was arrested by the Gestapo. He died, according to the Nazi version, of pneumonia. They sent an urn after days of being in Auschwitz. He was married to LUDWIKA DUHL, a daughter of industrialists (przemyslowcow) from LODZ. They had three children. The eldest, ANDREZJ died without heirs probably in 1998. We were not informed of his death – he did not keep in close contact with the family. I saw him, in my lifetime, about 5 times. The last time in 1990 at the funeral of the wife of Uncle (stryja) EDWARD. Apolinary’s younger son, TADEUSZ was arrested by the Gestapo probably in 1940, was sent to Auschwitz, transferred to Buchenwald. He died in 1945 on the day the camp was liberated. His mother did not want to believe this and spent a long time looking for him.

— William: the two photographs just above this were taken at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in Oświęcim, Poland; your Parents, Malgosia, John, Babcia Krysia and I visted it on May 9, 2006, when we took a trip to Poland. It is a very sad place; but you need to know about it because if you know, maybe the world will avoid such tragedies in the future.

The daughter of Uncle Apolinary – ANNA married STANISLAW KMITA, a doctor. They had two daughters: MALGORZATA died in Switzerland; HANKA is that cousin in Canada. My Aunt LUDWIKA lived in LODZ after the uprising (Warsaw). She died there and is buried there along with here daughter and son-in-law KMITA.

I don’t know any more details about the Kostro family members before JULIAN KOSTRO.

ZYGMUNT graduated from the Industrial/Technical School in LODZ (Wyzsza Szkola Przemieslnicza).

1900 – participated in Chinese campaign as part of Russian army
1903 – 1905 – participated in the Russo-Japanese War
1905 – 1908 – “nature” teacher for women in LODZ
– met his student, JANINA GUTOWSKA, and only then – one time asked the girl if she would want to be his wife. She answered that she didn’t know.
1907 – 1912 – Studied at University in Petersburg – law division
1911 – 1914 – Worked in the International Bank in Petersburg – last position as Director
1913 – 1918 – Served in the Artillery in the Russian Army
1915 – Aide-de-camp of the Head of the Garrison of the town of NEWLA and a member of the Court of the Garrison (Artillery)
1916 – President of the Organization of Polish Soldiers in NEWLA (Zwiazek wojskowy Polakow)
1917 – Commander of 180 Battery Field Artillery on the __________front with a rank of Captain;

In the Russian army he received all the commendations due to an officer for actions in World War I given by the high command (till the Revolution). When he returned to Poland in 1922, he attempted to join the Polish Army without success. In 1939, he was not mobilized. During the siege of Warsaw he participated in the civilian volunteer patrol (straz).

He organized a unit in SADYBA. Their job was to collect guns from the dead and redistribute them among the volunteer defenders. While my father was traveling from KALISZ to WARSAW (he was traveling by train, under attach, which instead of 6 hours took 6 days), we children performed volunteer duty in the attics during German air raids. On September 1, a bomb fell into the canal and a terrible odor was released. We thought it was gas. During the Warsaw uprising, father also tried to enlist in the army – he supervised the construction of barricades on HOZA STREET and organized anti-aircraft surveillance (checking roofs after an artillery barrage or aircraft strafing – if I ran through the attics (strych) too quickly, in his view, I had to do it again slowly. He was wounded by shrapnel from a tank (and lost his hearing in one ear) while transmitting orders across MARSZALKOWSKA STREET. (At that time, my friends and I were scrubbing an old school that had been occupied by the Germans so that it could be used as a hospital during the uprising. Because of his wounds and hearing loss, my father was classified as a disabled veteran (invalida wojenny).

During the occupation my father took an active role in saving Jews. Among others he brought two sisters and their mother from the ghetto. The mother was placed with a catholic family in MILANOW. She died in 1942 and was buried there. To this day, I take care of the grave. I continue to correspond with the surviving daughter [Irene Oore] who lives in Canada.

In our apartment on HOZA Street until the uprising, we hid two Jewish girls from BITGORAJA who were cousins (siostry cioteczne). If they were to be found we would have all been killed. One of them died after the liberation, the other with her husband left for America.

In 1918-1922 My father tried to enter Poland several times. He would be stopped but always managed to save himself. In order not to starve he turned himself in to the Bolsheviks

demanding that they either kill him or put him to work since they are preventing him from returning to Poland. He became in charge of provisioning the northern sector. He would travel south organizing food transports to St. Petersburg. All food was rationed by a ‘card’ system and distributed in collective mess halls. Father used to tell us how in order to survive he obtained a card for a non-existent wife and later children.

He returned to Poland and Warsaw in 1922, found my mother’s family and half a year later, on August 5 1922, married JANINA GUTOWSKA. During the time span of 1908-1922, as far as I know, my parents had only seen each other 2 or 3 times in Russia. My mother traveled east in 1915 as a music teacher first for HELEN ZAMOYSKA and then for the daughters of Count and Countess KOMAR. She returned to Poland in 1918 via Odessa using false documents.

In the years 1922-1930, ZYGMUNT was a bank inspector for the Band of Commerce and Industry – and when his job function ended he moved to KALISZ where he worked as a Court Officer until 1939 in KALISZ and in WARSAW during the occupation and after 1945. In 1945 he became a certified Russian translator. He was to retire on April 1, 1951, but died on March 31, 1951.

(Ed. Note: Zygmunt and Janina had two children: Teresa and Jerzy. Jerzy Kostro married Irena Dzikowska and together they had five children: Pawel, Tomasz, Alexandra (Olenka), Hanka, and Elzbieta. Teresa married _____ Bobrowski and they had two children: Roza and Piotr. Listed below is information about Roza and Piotr’s families)

Zofia Roza Bobrowska married Przemyslaw Krezel Aug. 29, 1978
Divorced Sept. 8, 1982
Married Slawomir Tomala civ: July 24, 1984
Church: April 20, 1985

Maciek born August 22, 1984 Warsaw
Baptized April 21, 1985 Warsaw
Katarzyna born August 30, 1985 Warsaw
Baptized 1986, Warsaw

Teresa – Piotr’s wife born Aug 29, 1956 in ZWIERZYN province (wojewodztwo) GORZOW, currently POMORSKIE, daughter of KAZIMIERZ & ZOFIA MECHOCKI.
Marta born February 3, 1980 Warsaw
Jakub (Kuba) born January 29, 1987 Warsaw

Children and grandchildren of EDWARD KOSTRO – (agricultural engineer –director of agricultural high schools (srednich szkol)).

WANDA’S husband, JAN FULARSKI, born May 22, 1915 in SANDOMIERZ. Married in 1940. Daughter KATARZYNA was born in Warsaw in 1941. Her husband, TOMASZ SOBIECKI, was older than her by 13 years, died a few years ago (he was a sports writer). Their children, ADAM SOBIECKI born in 1974 and KRYSTYNA in 1980 in Warsaw.

WANDA had another son, JAN, born in 1948 in GARWOLINA, he died in 1996. (Information from Wanda who is no longer capable of providing full coherent information.) Her husband, after an (angio-plasty/by-pass? – wszczepenia pomostow do tetnic) operation in 1994 had a stroke and can’t speak or writer, although he understand what is said to him. It is difficult to communicate with him.

IRENA was born June 22, 1917 on the MAZURNYM PORPERTY (Majatku mazurnym) in BIALORUS. Her first husband, TADEUSZ MOSSAKOWSKI born January 14, 1913 was arrested October 15, 1939, jailed in SLONIMIE and disappeared without a trace, most probably killed by the Bolsheviks-was declared dead after 25 years.

Her second husband, EDWARD ZABURDA was born in OSTROCU SWIETOKRZYSKIM, June 1, 1905 and died in Warsaw, September 18, 1981. Her daughter, TERESA MOSSAKOWSKA was born January 20, 1938, and married on July 1, 1958 CZESLAW KOSKOWSKI (born October 17, 1930). They have two sons: Jacek born May 2, 1961 and married MAGDALEN DONIMIRSKA, they have two sons: FILIP born October 10, 1993 and PIOTR born April 28, 1996. Michal born December 7, 1977 – a student.

Information regarding ZDZISLAW you probably have directly from him, so I didn’t contact him. His current address is ul. Bartoszka 1m68, Warsaw, tel: 842-0454

From Alina Kostro’s family, STAFAN SADZEWICZ’S widow lives in BRZEZINA near LODZ, apparently paralyzed. I have no contact with neither WITOLD nor MAJA.

Hanka used to correspond with JOLA PANASEWICZ. Alina, Jola’s mother died in February 1999. Jola’s current address is ul. Gospordarcza 2m24 LODZ tel: 42-646-2934.

TOMEK – ul Koscielna 50m4 41-200 Sosnowiec – have not heard from him for years, neither has Zdzislaw nor Irka Mossakowska Zaburda.

Warsaw, 21 March 2000
Dear Paul
I am finally sending you this account of the information I have on the subject of our family. I tried (with appropriate approximations) to provide the information in a form that is most clear. Forgive that it took so long, but know that it took a lot of effort and un-slept nights.
Warm kisses for you and yours,
Aunt Teresa [Bobrowska]

Love,

Dziadziuś Paweł.

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