Hi, my name is Kasha Viets-Wood. I am half polish, but live in the US. My mother was Polish. Her name was Maria Przytula. She was born in Kalisz, Poland in 1924. She fought in the Warsaw Uprising, and was honored with the Virtuti Militari for her courage and leadership. I am looking for her father though. His name was Francisek Przytula. He was born in Nov of 1900, I believe. He spent most of his life in the army, but was a farmer by trade. He was very interested in olive groves. He immigrated to Brazil, and lived in Sao Paulo with his second wife, who was French. I'm afraid I do not know her name. They immigrated in 1948, in December from Scotland, by boat. The story is long, but the short version is that after the war, my mother, Francisek's oldest daughter, reunited with him and her younger sister Barbara. Barbara's married name was Grosicka. She kept in touch with her father for quite awhile, but then lost touch. There was apparently a big row in the family, because Francisek had taken on a new wife, his French mistress. My mother apparently did not like this idea, even though her mother Eugenia had perished in Warsaw, in an air raid. She was very loyal to her mom.The family split. We never knew until a couple of years ago, that my grandfather even survived the war, as well as her younger sister. my mother used her war psyenudomn name her whole life after the war, so we did not know any of this history, till my sister did the research. In fact, we didn't know she even had a younger sister until recently. We have just reunited with our cousins, Barbara's children, and now want to see if we have any Brazilian relatives. I think we probably just might. My grandfather also won the Virtuti Militari. He fought in both world wars, and was a high ranking officer. We do have pictures of him, so we do know what he looks like. please, if someone reads this story, and it sounds even remotely familiar to them, could please get in touch with me? My older sister is writing a book about my mom, and we are trying to find and reunite our family once more. Finding our cousins was just amazing, and it was a total fluke, in away. This maybe harder, I don't know. Please help if you can. Family meant everything to my mom, and I think she realized her mistake after she had us. There are 4 of us by the way. I have a younger sister, an older sister, and an older half brother. My father is also still alive and wants to find his late wife's family. We all miss my mom. She died of cancer in 1989, and took this secret with her to her grave. It wasn't until my older sister went to Warsaw, and did research at the Uprising Museum, that she found out all this information. She also did research in London, and has a ton of info on my grandfather, up until he moved to Brazil. After that, the trail runs cold. Please help us make it hot again. Our family deserves this.
Hi, Kasha.
Maybe you can go to Facebook/Google and try to find people in Brazil with the same surname.
You can try something like that: "Przytula Sao Paulo"
Another suggestion: Try to edit your text and separate it in some paragraphs, it's a little bit hard to read how it is.
I'm brazilian, lived in Sao Paulo for 15 years, but now I'm living in Warsaw.
I hope you have results in your research.
Did that already, when I first started the search, and nothing came up. I am on FB. I figured if I put this on the Polish Forum Board, someone might see it, or recognize the name. It's a long shot, but it was long shot that found my cousins in the UK! So, I thought I would try again.
Cindy,
I have that picture already myself, as well as some of the other ones that my cousins forwarded to me, from later years. My grandfather did have another child with his second wife, a daughter. I will try to find out the name when I speak to them, my cousins, again. So, I do have another aunt, and maybe some cousins. We know my grandfather was alive till at least the mid sixties, but don't know when he died. My cousins and my aunt, his youngest daughter from his fist marriage, lost track of him. They tried to find him through the Red Cross, but had no luck. I want to try and find his family again. I just found these other cousins this week, by sheer luck, and some good detective work. No, that's not my profession. I am a nanny to a six month old. I just used my brains, and made some calls, and got an article in a local paper out, talked to secretaries in cemeteries, and funeral homes, and bada bing, I found them. It was pretty darn amazing!!! Now, I need to find the rest of my family in Brazil, so we can all be together again. My mother would have wanted that. I am hoping this story sounds familiar to someone in Sao Paulo. I would think the family may still be there, but maybe not. I don't know. This is a start. I hope I find the answers I am looking for. You can reach me directly at mateychapindia@earthlink.net, if you think you may know my family. Thank you so much.
My grandfather's second wife was called Marisia, maybe not the right spelling. my cousins are not sure if he did have a daughter or not. The oldest cousin says he didn't. We still would love to find out when he died, or anything else about him. I know it was a long time ago, but, if anyone from the older generation may have any info, please don't hesitate to contact me. Thank you again.
This was just sent to us by our cousin Jack Groscki. It gives my grandfather's last known address, and his employment in Brazil. Does anyone recognize this? I know it's dated, but, it's a good clue. My grandfather could have died in 1972, but they never got confirmation of this. Any help from anyone, would be gratefully appreciated. My family has a right to know about what happened.
Kasha
PS Sorry, I just had to fix it, so you could actually read it.
