The third reunion of the Rymaszewski families will be arranged at Magnat Palace in GARBICZ in the West of Poland from 14th to 16th of November 2008. Details below.

Trzeci zjazd rodu Rymaszewskich odbedzie sie w Palacu Magnat w GARBICZU w zachodniej Polsce, w dniach od 14.go do 16.go listopada 2008 r. Szczególy ponizej.

THE PLACE :


"Magnat Palace"
in GARBICZ

Have a look at their web site :
www.palacmagnat.com

THE COST:
260 Polish zloty per person (full board & lodging)
Children up to 12 years : 130 Polish zloty
Children up to 3 years : free

KOSZT:
260 zl od osoby (obejmuje pobyt i pelne wyzywienie)
Dzieci do 12 lat : 130 zl
Dzieci do 3 lat : bezplatnie

For more details please contact the organisers
Alice BICZYK, tel. 603 247 634, rymka1@op.pl
Darius BICZYK, tel. 660 063 218
Dorothy RYMASZEWSKA, tel. 605 998 991
Jack RYMASZEWSKI, tel. 605 193 425, rymaszej@wp.pl
Chris RYMASZEWSKI, Krzy_Rym@poczta.onet.pl

Po wiecej szczególów skontaktuj sie z organizatorami
Alicja BICZYK, tel. 603 247 634, rymka1@op.pl
Dariusz BICZYK, tel. 660 063 218
Dorota RYMASZEWSKA, tel. 605 998 991
Jacek RYMASZEWSKI, tel. 605 193 425, rymaszej@wp.pl
Krzysztof RYMASZEWSKI, Krzy_Rym@poczta.onet.pl

NOTICE :
If you have any information concerning Rymaszewski families in an early period from 15th to 18th century, please contact :
• Chris Rymaszewski (Terespol) Krzy_Rym@poczta.onet.pl
• Jan Rymaszewski (Kolobrzeg)    tel. (+ 48) 943 547 682

UWAGA :
Jezeli ktos z Panstwa ma jakiekolwiek informacje dotyczace Rymaszewskich we wczesnym okresie od XV do XVIII wieku prosze skontaktowac sie z :
• Krzysztof Rymaszewski   Krzy_Rym@poczta.onet.pl
• Jan Rymaszewski w Kolobrzegu   tel. (+ 48) 943 547 682

After Second World War, the expelled Polish "repatriates" from "Kresy" (former Eastern Borderlands), a territory of Poland beyond river Bug occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939, as well as some deportees to Siberia and Kazakhstan including few prisoners released from gulags, were transported and dispersed in the West of Poland mainly in the so called "Regained Territories". Among them, according to population census of 2002, there were 654 people in the whole of Poland with a surname Rymaszewski (306 males and 348 females), who were displaced from their native land in the east, now in Belarus. The total population of present day Poland is 39 million.

Year 2002
Rymaszewski families now live in 80 different districts and towns. Most Rymaszewskis are found in :

• WARSAW (WARSZAWA)  - 46 (16 males, 30 females)
• WROCLAW                      - 45 (22 males, 23 females)
• BIALYSTOK                     - 42 (16 males, 26 females)
• BYDGOSZCZ                    - 37 (15 males, 22 females)
• KOLOBRZEG                   - 29 (14 males, 15 females)
• KROSNO ODRZANSKIE   - 29 (17 males, 12 females)
• ZIELONA GÓRA               - 24 ( 8 males, 16 females)
• LUBAN                            - 20 (10 males, 10 females)
• SZCZECIN                       - 19 (  8 males, 11 females)
• KOLO                             -   9 (  9 males   0 females)
• Other districts                 354 (171 males, 183 females)
                         TOTAL      654 (306 males, 348 females)

Text in Polish:
10 wrzesnia 2007
Krzysztof Rymaszewski
E-mail: krzysztof.rl@neostrada.pl


Witam wszystkie osoby pochodzace z Kresów. Poszukuje krewnych, którzy wywodza sie od mojego prapradziadka Pawla Rymaszewskiego jego syna Józefa i wnuka Jana, który byl moim dziadkiem. Mieszkali w rejonie Molodeczna. Dziadek Jan mieszkal we wsi Starzynki do 1946r. Po repatriacji mieszkal w Kosowie kolo Mroczy w Polsce. Jego pierwsza zona Maria z domu. Zolnierkiewicz. Oboje juz nie zyja.

 My translation:
10 September 2007
Krzysztof Rymaszewski
E-mail: krzysztof.rl@neostrada.pl

Greetings to all people originating from Kresy (the Polish "Borderlands" occupied by the USSR in 1939). I am searching for relatives who trace back their origin from my great great grandfather Pawel Rymaszewski, his son Józef and grandson Jan who was my grandfather. They lived in the area of Molodeczno. Granddad Jan lived in a village Starzynki until 1946. After the so called "repatriation" he lived in Kosowo near Mrocza in Poland. His first wife was Maria née Zolnierkiewicz. Both are now deceased.

• Kajetan Rymaszewski, lived at the turn of 19 century in Kleck area in Eastern Poland under Tsarist Russian domination. He had two sons:
• Antoni Rymaszewski, the son of Kajetan, was born on 12 February 1914 in Kuchczyce near Kleck
• Jan Rymaszewski, the second son of Kajetan, also born in Kuchczyce
  
  After the First World War Kuchczyce (located westwards from Kleck) belonged to Independant Poland until the Second World War when the Eastern part was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union. So the brothers Antoni and Jan escaped to western part of Poland occupied by the Germans where living conditions were much easier and chances of survival much better than under Soviet occupation.
  
  Antoni settled in Grojec where he married Jadwiga Krawczykowska. They had three boys and one daughter:
• Andrzej Rymaszewski, still lives in Grojec
• Bogdan Rymaszewski
• Wlodzimierz Rymaszewski now lives in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki near Warsaw.
  He married Grazyna Wrzesien in 1970. They have two daughters:
  • Ewa Rymaszewska, and
  • Renata Rymaszewska. Renata married Wojciech Górecki and they live in Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki
    Contact email: robert.w.gorecki@gmail.com
• Anna Rymaszewska, still lives in Grojec

• Slawomir Rymaszewski, the son of Stanislaw, born 1965, mgr. (university degree), chairman (prezes) of "Equicolor" company in Bydgoszcz (photo of Slawomir >)
  Email: Slawomir.Rymaszewski@equicolor.pl
  
• Slawomir's ancestors, like all Rymaszewski families, lived in Eastern Poland (Kresy), which for some period of history were under Tsarist Russian domination. His great-grandfather was named Piotr Rymaszewski, his grandfather Jan Rymaszewski and his father Stanislaw.
  
• Stanislaw Rymaszewski, Slawomir's father, was born before the Second World War in sovereign Poland in Starzynka in 1935 in Wilno province, which is now in Lithuania. After the war, young Stanislaw moved with his parents to north-west Poland during the repatriation of Poles from eastern provinces which were annexed by the Soviet Union. The family settled in town Bydgoszcz. Stanislaw got married and had two sons:
• Jaroslaw, born in 1964, and
• Slawomir, born in 1965 (see above).

Emails in Polish:

14 lutego 2008

Nazywam sie Marta Rymaszewska, mój tata to Stanislaw Rymaszewski syn Józefa (1.01.1916 – 17.12.1998). Pamietam, ze dziadek urodzil sie kolo Baranowicz.

Dziadek mial braci : Dominik (ur.1904), Zygmunt, Czeslaw (ur.1918), Stanislaw, Wincenty i chyba byla jeszcze siostra. Dziadek po wojnie zamieszkal w Bydgoszczy i jego dzieci i wnuki tez mieszkaja teraz w Bydgoszczy.

Dziadka brat Dominik mieszkal w Nowej Wsi Zlotoryjskiej, a potem przeniósl sie do Bydgoszczy, bo tu wracaly jego dzieci po wojnie. Dziadek Józek byl w czasie wojny ulanem w 16 albo 19 Dywizji Ulanów.

Ja poszukuje korzeni (mojej) rodziny Rymaszewskich.

Pozdrawiam serdecznie.

Marta Rymaszewska
E-mail: malatusia1@wp.pl

======================

8 lipca 2008

Udalo mi sie ustalic, ze ojcem mojego dziadka Józefa Rymaszewskiego byl Dominik Rymaszewski. Dziadek urodzil sie na Zablociu kolo Baranowicz, ostatnie jego miejsce zamieszkania przed ewakuacja do Polski to Kowale gm. Lachowicze. Dziadek Józef Rymaszewski s. Dominika przybyl do Polski na poczatku lipca 1946 roku po sluzbie w 11 Dywizji Artylerii Konnej. Swój szlak bojowy zakonczyl dziadek 18 wrzesnia 1939r nad Bzura, gdzie dostal sie do niewoli niemieckiej i przez Sochaczew, Zyrardów, Skierniewice, Kalisz, Pleszew, Jarocin przepedzony zostal na terytorium Rzeszy. Zostal osadzony w Stalagu III-B. W sierpniu 1940r zostal przewieziony do pracy na gospodarstwie do wsi Frauerdorf, gdzie po roku ciezkiej pracy ulegl wypadkowi - przejechal go wóz, który uszkodzil mu kregoslup. Po wyjsciu ze szpitala pracowal jednak dalej, az do oswobodzenia przez wojska radzieckie.
Marta Rymaszewska

In Bydgoszcz also live Marta's uncle and aunt :
• Ryszard Rymaszewski, the son of Józef
• Wanda Grabkowska née Rymaszewska, the daughter of Józef

Their ancestors were:
• Józef Rymaszewski, Marta's grandfather. He was born on 1 January 1916 in Polish pre-war Kresy, near Baranowicze.

Józef had the following brothers (and probably one sister) :
• Dominik, born in 1904, who lived in Nowa Wies Zlotoryjska, later moved   to Bydgoszcz.
• Zygmunt
• Czeslaw, born in 1918
• Stanislaw
• Wincenty

At the outbreak of 1939 war, Józef Rymaszewski served in the Polish Army as a cavalryman in the 16 or 19 Ulans Regiment.
After the war he took up residence in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Józef died on 17 December 1998 in Bydgoszcz.

======================

8 July 2008

I managed to establish that the father of my grandfather Józef Rymaszewski was Dominik Rymaszewski. My grandfather was born in Zablocie near Baranowicze, his last place of domicile before moving to Poland, was Kowale, Lachowicze district.

Grandfather Józef Rymaszewski, the son of Dominik, returned to Poland at the beginning of July 1946, after Polish Army service in the 11th Horse Artillery Division. His war combat route ended on 18 September 1939 by the river Bzura, where he was taken prisoner by the Germans.

Then he was driven off, through Sochaczew, Zyrardów, Skierniewice, Kalisz, Pleszew, Jarocin, on to the German Reich territory. He was placed in Stalag III-B.  In August 1940 he was moved to work on a farm in a village Frauerdorf, where after one year of hard labour he had an accident - he was run over by a wagon, which damaged his spine. However, after leaving hospital, he continued to work, until the area was occupied by the Soviet troops.

• Jacek Rymaszewski, the son of Zygmunt, born 14.5.1968, PhD (dr.inz), Master of Engineering (mgr inz.), specializing in automation and metrology at Materials and Electronics Department, Lódz Technical University (Politechnika Lódzka). Author of research publications.
  Phone : 631-25-34
  Email: jacekrym@matel.p.lodz.pl
  
• Pawel Rymaszewski, Jacek's grandfather, was born in 1890 in Mikance near Kowno (former Polish province called Grand Duchy of Litva - where the Rymaszewski families come from). Pawel married Aniela Rysiukiewicz and had a son Zygmunt. Pawel died in 1930, at the age of 40. Pawel also had a brother.
  
• Zygmunt Rymaszewski, Pawel's son, was born in 1925 in Mikance. During the Second World War this area was occupied by the Soviet Union. Young Zygmunt was called up to the Polish "People's" Army, formed by the Soviets mostly from the former Polish prisoners in the USSR and deportees, and sent to war front. He was badly wounded in 1945. After the war he married Leokadia Maciejka from Wilkowo n. Wisla (Wilkowo on river Vistula), and settled in Lódz. Zygmunt died in 1997.
  
• Zygmunt and Leokadia had two children: a daughter Barbara, born in 1956 and a son Jacek, born 1968 (see above).

• Maciej Michal Rymaszewski, the son of Michal, born 1 March 1973, lives in Kraków with his wife Magdalena Trzcinska and two daughters:
  • Gabriela Rymaszewska, born 29 May 1997
  • Weronika Rymaszewska, born 26 August 2001
    
    
    E-mail: maciej.rymaszewski@cdnpartner.pl

8 year old Gabrysia
(Gabriela) - 2005

• Michal Rymaszewski, Maciej's father, the son of Kazimierz, was on born 7 June 1942 in Kraków. Married to Grazyna Dombrowska. Michal emigrated to Norway in 1977, where he works as a teacher. (photo below)
  
• Kazimierz Rymaszewski, Maciej's grandfather, married to Helena Wietrzych, lived in Kaczanowice near Nieswiez in Eastern Poland before it was occupied by the Soviets in 1939. Brother of Kazimierz, Franciszek, was deported to Siberia by the Soviets. All immediate ancestors and relatives lived in localities around Nieswiez in Poland (and before that, in the Russian partition of Poland).

Maciej's father : Michal Rymaszewski, the son of Kazimierz, born 1942.

  NOTE: Inspired by my website, Maciej is now building his own family homepage (in Polish, of course). He uses the historical family motto TENDID AD ASTRA VIRIBUS as its title. His website address is: http://www.rymaszewski.net

KRZYSZTOF Rymaszewski in Terespol, year 2000.
Email: Krzy_Rym@poczta.onet.pl

Krzysztof (Chris) Rymaszewski, son of Józef, is an egineer. He is the manager of a Fuel Base in Malaszewicze, Terespol. Chris sent me genealogical information about his family and the photographs. He also sent a newspaper cutting about the first gathering in Poland of dispersed Rymaszewski families - the survivors of the Communist holocaust, which took place in Kolobrzeg, Poland in 1998 (see below).

In Terespol live:

• Józef Rymaszewski, born in 1935 - 37? near Nieswiez.
• Slawomira Rymaszewska, his wife, born in Terespol, and their 3 children:
  
• Adam Rymaszewski, their first son.
• Krzysztof Rymaszewski, second son, 30 years old (December 2000), an engineer.
• Joanna Rymaszewska, daughter, 17 years old (in December 2000), a student.
  

JÓZEF Rymaszewski, Krzysztof's and Joanna's father, was born somewhere between 1935 and 1937 on his parents estate in Poland, about 7km from Nieswiez (now Nesvizh in Belarus). Few years later, when the Soviets invaded eastern Poland in September 1939, the whole family was deported on the 10 February 1940. Józef was only a very small child, not more than 5 years old, when he was deported together with his even younger two sisters, to a slave camp near the Arctic Circle in the northern Arkhangelsk

Józef's parents, Waclaw and Janina, both died young at the age of 33 and 30, from exhaustion and starvation in the slave camp, trying to keep their three infant children alive. Little Józef and his two little sisters survived, first by the care of another Polish family in the gulag, and later thanks to family friend and Józef's godfather, also an exile in USSR, who discovered their whereabouts. The children were repatriated to Poland after the war in 1946, unable to speak Polish.

Just like with all the other Rymaszewski families, the survivors of the Communist atrocities, it took many years after the war to trace his remaining family relatives in Poland and re-build his identity.

Józef has written short memoirs which were published by the Association of Siberian Deportees in a book "From Siberia to Podlasie". My English translation is below.

MEMOIRS of JÓZEF RYMASZEWSKI, Krzysztof's father
Translated by Franek RYMASZEWSKI (Australia 2004). For Polish text see link to Genealogy below.

The memory of home is as distant to me as a long past dream. I have left the Nieswiez native land as a small child. The loss of both parents in Arkhangelsk snowbound gulag had destroyed any possibility even of a substitute of family happiness. My identity, my memories of dearest homeland of my ancestors, I am rebuilding throughout all my life.

About my immediate family I have only that information which I obtained thanks to people I met who knew my parents, former neighbours, cousins, and some documents. Because of this, such information is not always complete.

Their earliest reminiscence concerns my grandfather.  Wincenty Rymaszewski, born in 1868, was a patriot and a man who dreamt about independent Poland (Polish lands were then occupied by foreign powers, namely Russia, Prussia and Austria - F.R.). He was a leaseholder (administrator) of "Grzybowszczyzna" estate in Nieswiez district which he managed on behalf of a proprietress who was undergoing treatment in the Warsaw Christ-Child hospital at Oczki street. He volunteered for the Polish-Bolshevik war in 1919-1920 and presented himself together with his two sons : Franciszek and Jan. He left the youngest son, nine year old Waclaw, at home.

The "legionnaires" (members of Marshal Pilsudski's Polish Legions - F.R.) returned safely home in full force from the victorious war and grandfather was decorated with the Cross of Valour for bravery. He was also rewarded with 13 hectares of arable land "Soltanowszczyzna" from the subdivision of some Radziwills' estates, not far from his former leasehold. His sons Franciszek and Jan received after the war licences for a gun shop and supply of cheeses for the Army. Thanks to pastures purchased by grandfather at "Pierewoloka" near Baranowicze, Rymaszewskis were breeding cattle for the purpose of producing these cheeses.

On his own land, Soltanowczyzna, grandfather built a new wooden house and brick farm buildings covered with tiles and transferred the estate to his youngest son Waclaw - my father (born in 1910, died 1943). Dad married Janina Modzolewska (born 1912, died 1942) and together they run the inherited farm.

In the meantime, after the death of Grzybowszczyzna proprietress in 1935, her estate according to the will, became property of nuns community that run the above mentioned hospital. Grandfather moved to live with my father, where he served with experience in running an estate, and also he "disciplined the young farmer". From oral statements of people who knew my grandfather, he appears as a hard-working person, of strong character, authority and very patriotic attitude, cultivating legionary traditions. On my birth (1935-7 ?) he was supposed to comment - "I have a cadet". Before the war (Sept.1939 - F.R.) there also arrived to the world in our family my two younger sisters Tereska and Ela. Grandfather died on 10 May 1938.

The traditions of national independence, which were always the pride of Rymaszewskis, became the reason why our whole family was deported to Siberia in the first transport on 10 February 1940. (During the 21 months of Soviet occupation, before Hitler attacked Russia, there were four mass deportations. Total 1.5 millions of Poles. - F.R.)

My earliest childhood memories are associated with this particular February night.  About 2 o'clock at night the banging on the door woke up the family. Armed Red Army soldiers entered the house, others were searching the farm buildings. They kept father under guard, while mother was given time to get family ready for deportation. I remember "tapering head-gear" of the bolsheviks and the feelings of child's fear. Mummy had problems with keeping the three tiny tots calm, so preparations for deportation was out of the question ... but even in different circumstances could anybody be able to prepare oneself for what was awaiting the Siberian deportees?

Before dawn a sleigh was brought, on which packed belongings and the whole family were loaded, whereupon we were taken to a railway station at Lan, about 16 km away. At the station we joined other Polish families who similarly to us were taken from their family estates. All were crammed into cattle tracks. The whole procedure was taking place during very sharp persisting frost. The train was moved to a side-track and guarded by the soldiers of the Red Army, remained there for about 2 weeks. Because of the freeze and illnesses many people did not survive even this first stage of deportation. Very many who did, were later .... regretting it.

The stay on Lan siding we spent "buried" in household sheepskin coats which then, I believe, saved our lives. Friends, not yet affected by their family repressions, brought us some food and goose grease to treat frost-bites. A picture of the interior of this freight car with little metal stove in the middle became fixed in my child's memory.

The train started and a long life journey began, for many a last one. At short lasting stops some wood was supplied for the little stove, the frozen bodies of dead people were removed. The soldiers watched "the load", making sure that nobody alive gets out from the transport. The journey lasted many days. At the destination a sleigh was awaiting for us on which we were loaded with difficulty. In front of us there was still a 100 kilometers journey into the depths of taiga forest. At the location we found a camp with wooden barracks built from logs and moss packing. The gulag, guarded by armed Red Army soldiers, consisted of a set of barracks surrounded by barbed wire, laid out as a rectangle with a gate. This place, in Shenekurski region of the Arkhangelsk province, was called "Lesopunkt (Forest-station) Krivoye". All men were exploited to toil at the cutting of taiga. How inhuman life conditions there were, testifies the fact that in order to keep our trio of small children alive, both my parents died from exhaustion and famine — mother in 1942, and father in mishap in forest in 1943.

The faces of my parents fade away in the depths of my mind obscured by other memories. It was never possible for me to visit their graves, I wasn't even able to get official confirmation of their death. The searches I undertook after the war through the Polish Red Cross ended up with a reply from the Soviet equivalent which denied that any such gulag existed.

From the times in the camp I remember collecting (in summer) on the wet meadows the stalks of weeds (called "peeshchechki") for a soup cooked by mother, also using the horse tail hair to make traps to catch small birds which were migrating here in summer, an important part of our "diet", finally a nest with birds eggs found in a crevice — how proud I was to provide "so much" food for the family.

After the death of parents we were looked after by a family of Jazwinski in the gulag.

Starting from June 1941 (the attack by Germany on the Soviet Union) the situation of Polish deportees in the gulag was gradually improving. It's an irony of fate that the ravages of war rolling over the Soviets, meant for us a "light in the tunnel" - a chance to survive. Unfortunately, for my parents and many others, it was too late. The camps were changing their character to more open ones, the willing men could try to find one's way to Polish army being formed somewhere.

Jazwinski family left the camp for Vielsko (in the Arkhangelsk province), taking us with them, where they put me with my younger sisters into a Russian orphanage. Our stay in there created a danger of separation of siblings, because the rule was an unrestricted selection of orphans by interested Russians. With such fate had met a younger brother of my friend of those days, Janek Warzawa. I myself remember the "defence" of my younger sister Tereska from Russians who wanted to take her away.

Fortunately, Antoni Gilewski, a neighbour and friend of my parents, as well as godfather of the whole our orphaned threesome who was also deported with his whole family, after receiving information about our whereabouts and the danger of separation, went to Vielsko and took us to his place in Solvitsigotsk. Over there, although not beyond barbed wire but still in extremely hard living conditions, the Gilewskis kept us until Polish Red Cross opened a Polish Orphanage Nr.1 in Stavropol. The godfather handed the three of us over there in the hope that we will have a better chance for an earlier return to Homeland (and he was right — he himself did not get permission to return until 1956 !

In my memory this whole period was a constant hunger. Hunger, which is not only painful, but deforms the body causing rickets and changes people into lean blue ghosts. How much I was longing for that piece of allocated by weight bread, how much I was imagining that one day I'll be able to eat that bread to one's full. The greatest "rarity" (in the Polish orphanage - F.R.) was snow-white rice and powdered milk (from UNRA). As a 6-7 year old boy, the stories about fruits: apples, pears, plums ... growing on trees, tasty, eatable! — I treated as a tale about non-existent fairyland world.

The Polish Orphanage at Stavropol set out on a return journey to Poland on 21 March 1946.  I remember about 100 km ride in "Shtuder" trucks on still freezed over river Volga to Kuibyshev, wherefrom after about 2 weeks we joined a special train with Polish repatriates. After that there was still Moscow, then a stop near Smolensk (Gniozdovo) where adults were taking lumps of Katyn soil with then incomprehensible for me devotion. And at last on 14 April 1946, the present Polish border at Terespol and repatriation centre in Gostyn. From the repatriation centre with my sisters I got into an orphanage in Lucien (Gostyn district).

In Poland we were the children of the war, unable even to speak our mother tongue.
The war has taken away from us ... everything.

• Memoirs of Józef Rymaszewski in Polish
• Family Tree Diagram and Painting
• Family Tree by genetic sequence method
• Family coat of arms
• Text on family origin (rodowód) in Polish

David Rymaszewski from Milwaukee, USA, whose family history is featured in Chapter 14:(2) of this website, decided to visit Poland, the country of his roots, with his wife Jody in 2005.

He took this opportunity to also visit the family of Krzysztof Rymaszewski in Terespol, not known to him before, about whom he read on my website.

David and Jody Rymaszewski near Terespol, at the boundary marker between Poland and the former Rymaszewskis' ancestral homeland "Kresy", now part of Belarus >>>

• Joanna Rymaszewska lives in Terespol, but has been studying in Warsaw since 2002.

• In 2006, Joanna graduated from the Warsaw University of Technology. In the same year she also attended as an exchange student the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

• Joanna created her own webpage : http://rymaszewska.wordpress.com/

• In 2008, Joanna completed Master's Degree in Development Economics at the Warsaw University.
From September 2008, she begins to do a doctorate (PhD) in Economic Growth Centre, HSS, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Joanna Rymaszewska, PhD student
Division of Economics | School of Humanities and Social Science
Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Avenue | Singapore 639798
Tel: + 65 6790-6450 | Fax: + 65 6794-6303
Mobile: + 65 939 55 265 | Skype: jo.asi

==============================================================================

• During summer vacations in 2007 Joanna did her internship in Duluth, Minnesota, USA, a training program organized by Rotary International (see photo below).

• While in the United States, Joanna took the opportunity, after a quick tour of Chicago, to visit for a week the family of David and Jody Rymaszewski in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In 2005,  23 year old Joanna Rymaszewska published on the Web :
Hello!  I'm 23. I was born in a small town Terespol in Poland and I'm currently freshly graduated student of Warsaw University of Technology. In 2006 I was in Singapore as an exchange student at Nanyang Technological University. Enjoy my memories of this great experience at  http://rymaszewska.wordpress.com/

• Andrzej Rymaszewski, the son of Kazimierz and Irena Brauze, born in 1967
• Danuta Maria Rymaszewska, née Blaszczuk, Andrzej's wife
  
• Mirella Marta Rymaszewska, their daughter, born 1995
• Marcin Marek Rymaszewski, their son, born 1998
• Michal Mikolaj Rymaszewski, their son, born 2000
  
  ul. Ketlinga, Wroclaw, Poland
  Tel. + 0 71 373 67 17, mobile: 0 609 759 036
  Email: andrym1@gazeta.pl or andrym7643@sezam.pl

SOME  FAMILY  HISTORY AND PHOTOS

From the times of the 17th century Kingdom of Poland Andrzej Rymaszewski's ancestors lived in the Polish Eastern Borderlands (called Kresy Wschodnie), in the area of town Nieswiez (now Nesvizh in Belarus). This is the area close to Kopyl, the origin of all Rymaszewski clan, the gentry families that lived on landed estates. Their nobility documents were lost in fires during the war devastations. After the Second World War, Andrzej's surviving grandfather under the Soviet occupation of Kresy, Stanislaw Rymaszewski with his wife Jadwiga Jarmolowicz and their children, as well as his sister Anna, were all "repatriated" after Stalin's death, to Western lands of Polish People's Republic in 1956. They settled near Kamien Pomorski.

More details are in Andrzej's email in the Polish language (no. 047) or click on the Family Tree.

See also re: "STANISLAWA and WANDA Rymaszewska
in Western Australia"

Antoni Rymaszewski, the first cousin of Andrzej Rymaszewski's grandfather Stanislaw, was born in 14.03.1900 on Lipnicki estate (zascianek Lipnickie ?)
Howiezna village council, Nieswiez district.
As a 19 year old boy, he volunteered to the Polish Army under Marshal Pilsudski, to fight against the 1919 - 1920 Bolshevik invasion of newly independent Poland. He was wounded, received war decorations, and was rewarded with some arable land on the "Hresnowszczyzna" estate, near Nieswiez. He married Stanislawa Baranowska in Nieswiez in 1927.

After Soviet Russia's invasion of Eastern Poland in 1939, the Russians, on the 10 February 1940, deported Antoni, his sister Salomea, his wife and children Wanda and Regina to hard labour camp (gulag) called Sukhoye, Arkhangelsk area, near Arctic Circle.

The family survived, and two years later in 1942 escaped from the Soviet Union with the Gen. Anders Polish Army. The children and mother were placed in the Polish Refugees Camp Tengeru in British East Africa.

RYMASZEWSKI  FAMILY  GATHERING IN  KOLOBRZEG :  
16-18 October 1998

Click hereto hear it in Polish
(Real Player - 3min. 30sec) or QuickTime player

To Kolobrzeg came Rymaszewskis in numbers. Not all who bear that surname could make the first family gathering of their kin, but fifty four persons happily greeted each other and compared genealogy of their families, making acquaintances with all the cousins and aunties.

During the three days, from 16th to 18th October 1998, Rymaszewskis were the largest family in town. At the reception table in "Centrum" hotel sat over fifty people of all ages, from the elderly to fidgeting kids.
- I am Ania.
- I am Tomek.
- We haven't met, my name is... my mother was Zosia - one could hear during the first joint meeting. Occasionally someone with a better memory reminded: - You know us, we met at the funeral eight years ago...

Apart from two families,
the family of John from Basztowa street in Kolobrzeg and John's from Budzistowo suburb, Rymaszewskis arrived from Terespol, Busk, Dzierzoniowo, Szczecin, Gdansk, Bielsk..... the places where the clan members found themselves by a strange decree of fate.

They gathered together to share their experiences of survival, and to renew the family ties, which trace their origin to the Zaglobczyks, and whose family seal with a coat of arms bore "a horseshoe with its ridge upward in a blue field, it was silver or polished iron, on its top was a cross of gold, on the helmet a half greyhound, as if leaping from the crown, facing the right, it was collared and leashed".

- In spite of our dispersion we must not loose our ties, our family unity - stresses Waclaw, one of the clan elders.

Rymaszewskis planned the family gathering for ten years. Thanks to cousin Waclaw and now deceased father of John from Budzistowo, the genealogical tree was reconstructed and many mysteries solved.

- Whenever my wife and I sat at the table and begun drawing that family tree, there was never enough paper, but ultimately we've done it - reminisces now John from Budzistowo, the main organizer of the gathering who conceived the idea.

From oral accounts
and family records handed down, it appears the name Rymaszewski originates from woodland settlement called Ryma, granted by last of the Jagiellonian kings, Zygmunt II, to the last of Zaglobczyks. The use of surname Rymaszewski was confirmed by king Zygmunt III in the year 1610.

Through the centuries Rymaszewskis lived under the motto "Tendid ad astra viribus" - "Reach for the stars by your own effort". Many family mementos and memoirs bear testimony that the ancestors lived in accordance with that maxim. Older members remind their younger successors about that duty, to preserve their dignity.

To this purpose will serve such family reunions during which the history of many members of the clan is consolidated. In Kolobrzeg this surname had been written into the town's history. Jerzy Rymaszewski, deceased fourteen years ago, was its mayor for many years. Jan from Budzistowo was running the State Farm which prospered under his management.

After three days nobody could say that he has not met anybody, and the little "fidgets" were happy about so many new uncles and aunties. Fathers proudly talked about their successors:
- I have good children, especially my daughters in law have all the necessary qualities. My ! when there are good daughters in law, there will be good grandchildren...

EWA DUBOIS

Re: Notice about Second Gathering of Rymaszewskis

From: Aleksandra & Stanislaw Rymaszewski
To: Krzy_Rym@poczta.onet.pl
Date: 6 September 2005

Dear Christopher,

I congratulate on the idea and express my respects. The message about Rymaszewskis' reunion I have from our "leader" Franek Rymaszewski in Australia. I have not contacted you earlier about the reunion details because at that time the matters will not allow me to be in my homeland, with Rymaszewski families, on the Polish sea-coast, perhaps in my beloved Tricity - by the Baltic — for our Kresy "the land of our birth" is no longer ours.

But I am with all of you in my heart  -  proud that although we are dispersed around the world, we don't loose optimism and the sense of unity from our roots.  Credit, here, to Franek Rymaszewski from Australia.

I wish all Dear Rymaszewskis, participants in the Gathering : pleasant impressions, fine weather of the passing summer, lots of good health and luck. I give brotherly hug to those Rymaszewskis who remember, although they were left behind the border, about us, the uprooted from Kresy, that fate had scattered around the world.

Counting that there will yet be an occasion to meet - if God permits - I send kind regards.

Stanislaw Rymaszewski (Pennsylvania, USA)
rymaszew@jjmb.net

Dotyczy: Zawiadomienie o Drugim Zjezdzie Rymaszewskich

Nad: Aleksandra i Stanislaw Rymaszewski
Do: Krzy_Rym@poczta.onet.pl
Data: 6 wrzesnia 2005

Drogi Krzysztofie,

Gratuluje pomyslu, wyrazy uznania. Wiadomosc o zjezdzie Rymaszewskich mam od naszego Przywodcy Franka Rymaszewskiego, z Australii. Nie kontaktowalem sie wczesniej by dowiedziec sie szczegolow poniewaz nie ulozy mi sie by byc w tym czasie w kraju, w gronie Rymaszewskich, na Wybrzezu, byc moze w moim ukochanym Trojmiescie - nad Baltykiem — bo nasze Kresy "skad nasz Rod" nie sa juz nasze.

Ale jestem z Wami sercem - dumny, ze choc jestesmy porozrzucani po swiecie, nie tracimy pogody ducha i poczucia jednosci z naszych korzeni. Chwala, w tym miejscu, Frankowi Rymaszewskiemu z Australii.

Zycze Wszystkim Kochanym Rymaszewskim, uczestnikom Zjazdu; milych wrazen, pieknej pogody mijajacego lata, duzo zdrowia i pomyslnosci. Serdecznie sciskam Tych Rymaszewskich, ktorzy choc pozostali za kordonem, pamietaja o nas wykarczowanych z Kresow, ktorych los porozrzucal po swiecie.

Liczac na to, ze bedzie jeszcze okazja spotkac sie - jak Bog pozwoli - serdecznie pozdrawiam.

Stanislaw Rymaszewski (Pennsylvania, USA)
rymaszew@jjmb.net

The Second reunion of the Rymaszewski families took place in Krzykacz, near Koszalin from 9 to 11 September 2005. The mood, as usual, was great.  I attach the family reunion photograph. I also inform you with pleasure that the next reunion is planned for the year 2008, and it will be held in the South-West of Poland. In advance, I urge you to attend. Chris Rymaszewski, Terespol,
Krzy_Rym@poczta.onet.pl