Unto the graves

The All Saints' (Wszystkich Świętych) holidays coincided with the time change, giving us an extra hour's daylight in the morning. This and perfect weather gave us the opportunity to set off early to Kozienice, to visit my wife's family grave. This small town, 50 miles south of Jeziorki, is where her paternal grandparents are both buried. Below: Moni, my wife and Eddie by the grave.

A plaque on the grave commemorates the four sons of Franciszek and Wiktoria Lesisz. Only one survived the war. A story that headstones across Poland recall, literally, millions of times.

Edward and Feliks, murdered at Katyń. Edmund murdered by the Gestapo. Tadeusz survived the war to live and die in exile.

Elsewhere in this one cemetary in Kozienice, I saw similar stories.
'Murdered at Katyń', 'fought with the RAF', 'died in exile'.

Poland still needs another generation to get over the demo- graphic and cultural loss that the WWII wrought on the nation.

Above: The house in Kozienice formerly owned by the Lesisz family. It was here that Franciszek and Wiktoria raised their nine children. (Wiktoria's sister, I am informed by her Canadian granddaughter, lived in Warsaw on ul. Emilii Plater 23, next door to where we're having our blogmeet on 20 November!)

Above: The weather was as perfect as could be hoped for. Daytime high today was +15.7C. Golden leaves contrast with cloudless blue sky. On the way back (before noon), the traffic pouring out of Warsaw was heavy. We encountered a huge traffic jam in Góra Kalwaria, which at 8 am was almost empty. Good to go early and come back early. The entire nation seems to be out visiting graves today.

As night falls (sunset now is at ten past four!), I take camera and tripod and walk to the cemetery in Pyry, the nearest one to Jeziorki. The graves are carpeted in light. Against a clear sky, the visual effect, amid the silence, is entirely profound.

I make my way to the soldiers' quarter, where fallen AK (Home Army) insurgents based in the Las Kabacki forest are buried. The rock also commemorates prisoners from Pawiak prison executed in the forest by the Nazis.

Below: orderly rows of concrete crosses mark the graves. The votive candles placed several to a grave show how today, more than 66 years after the uprising, the soldiers are still in the memory of the local people.