1: INTRODUCTION by Franek Rymaszewski     7: WITH MY BROTHER in WARTIME ENGLAND   11: POLISH CHRISTMAS and EASTER
2: MY FAMILY TREE   8: MY FAMILY SURVIVORS in POLAND 12: ANCESTORS - Part 1 : Origin and Records    
3: RELEVANT MAPS and POLISH HISTORY   9: MY EMIGRATION to AUSTRALIA       ANCESTORS - Part 2 : Family Tree
4: MY FAMILY ANCESTRY in POLAND 13: Rymaszewskis in present-day POLAND
5: PINSK UNDER COMMUNIST TYRANNY 10: Descendants in AUSTRALIA - Part 1     14: Rymaszewskis  WORLD-WIDE (Part 1)
    MIETEK'S MEMOIRS OF GULAG       Descendants in AUSTRALIA - Part 2       Rymaszewskis in the USA (Part 2)
6: MY ESCAPE FROM STALIN       Descendants in AUSTRALIA - Part 3 15: EMAILS from Visitors
 

(Part 1)
 RYMASZEWSKI  FAMILIES  WORLD-WIDE
FOUND  ON  THE  INTERNET

ARGENTINA
  • Valentino Rymaszewski - the youngest Rymaszewski in Argentina. Information about Rymaszewski family in Argentina is available from a relative, Urszula Anna Rymaszewska, a student (2006) who lives in Warsaw, Poland. Email : uleczka0@buziaczek.pl

AUSTRALIA
  Victoria
THE FAMILY OF ALEXANDER RYMASHEVSKI in Mebourne,
originally from Sluck (Slutsk) area in Belarus

Mail no.014 in Chapter 15
  • Alexander Rymashevski was born in 1972 in Byelorussia.

    At the age of 27, he emigrated to Australia in 1999. His grandparents lived in the area of Sluck in Soviet Byelorussia. His parents still live there near Sluck in the present day Belarus. Alexander was studying physics in the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.



    Alexander
    (Alex) has settled in Frankston, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. He is married and has two children, a boy and a girl.

  • Tatiana Rymashevski, his wife, born in 1971
  • Artem Rymashevski, a son, born in 2001
  • Katherine Rymashevski, a daughter, born in 2005

    Alex works in Information Technology for Etech Group Pty Ltd as a Technical Manager (previously a Senior Programmer) in their Project Management and Development Department. The Group provides On-line Software, Web Site Design & Development and Graphic Design. Alex is a graduate physicist from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, with specialty in applied mathematics and physics, commencing a PhD in "Elements and devices of computer systems" prior to migrating to Australia.

    Office: Level 3 / 21, Victoria Street, Melbourne, Tel.: + 61 3 9639 9677
    Fax: + 61 3 9639 9577. Website:

    http://www.etechgroup.com.au

    Email: alex@etechgroup.com.au

Alexander and his 4 year old son Artem on board of the Tall Ship Enterprise in port Melbourne. (2005)



Alex's wife, Tatiana, and son Artem, under a remarkable Australian rock on Kangaroo Island.



ALEXANDER's  FAMILY HISTORY

  • Michal Rymaszewski, Alexander's great great grandfather, lived in the territory which was the ancestral homeland of all Rymaszewski families living in the world today.

    He was born about 1850 and lived in a place called Ustron. Michal was a government forest ranger-gamekeeper in the service of Tsar's "Lesnaya Okhrana". By the end of the century, after 1890, he died under some tragic circumstances, leaving a young son, about 10 year old, Stefan.
  • Stefan Rymaszewski, the son of Michal,
    known as : Stepan Mikhailovich Rymashevskiy, was born in 1880 in Ustron. He moved later to a township Pogost (also called Pohost) on the river Sluch (Slucz), about 20 km south from the town Sluck which is now in Belarus. His son Ivan and grandson Leonid also lived there.

    Pogost (or Pohost), south of Sluck, where Alexander's great-grandfather Stepan (Stefan Rymashevski) lived is marked with a cirle on the map below.


    Stepan's son - Alexander's grandfather
  • Ivan Rymaszewski. Ivan Stepanovich was born about 1924. When the Soviet Union was attacked by Germany in 1941, Ivan was just 17 year old. He wasn't called up to the army because Sluck and this area was soon overrun by the German armies advancing with lightning speed as far as Moscow and Stalingrad. The territory was under German control and administration. Young Ivan worked and got married. Unfortunately, next year in 1943, when he was 19 year old, he was forcibly taken by the Germans, together with many other men, for labour on farms or in factories in Germany. Due to war activities, the contact with him was soon lost. He did not return after the war, and no news was ever received about him. His son Leonid was born in his absence.

    Stepan's grandson - Alexander's father
  • Leonid Rymashevski. Leonid Ivanovich was born in 1943, the same year his father went missing. Being orphaned from the birth, his grandfather Stepan was like a father to him. Stepan himself, as a 10 year old boy, lost his father. He understood the hardships of life. He was a friendly and kind person.

    See also Chapter 12(1): Rymaszewski ancestors in the 19th century.

MAP OF SOVIET BYELORUSSIA
from an atlas published in the Polish People's Republic in 1958


This area is the original homeland of the Rymaszewski ancestors, going back to the middle of the 16th century Poland.

My grandfather Aleksander Rymaszewski and great-grandfather Rafal lived near Lachowicze (see Lyakhovichi, east of Baranovichy on the map) where also my father Michal (Michael) was born. Between the two wars Lyakhovichi was in Poland.

I, myself, Franek (Frantsishek) was born in Hancewicze (see Gantsavichi south of Baranovichy on the map) which was then in Poland.


  Western Australia
  • (+) Stanislawa Rymaszewska, born in 1908 (10?), the daughter of Antoni, arrived in Australia on 16 February 1950 in port Fremantle, near Perth. At the outbreak of World War Two, at the age of 29, with her husband and two daughters Wanda and Regina, Stanislawa was deported by the Soviet KGB from Nieswiez, Poland to a hard labour camp (gulag) in Arkhangelsk area, USSR. In 1942 the family managed to leave Russia with the gen. Anders Polish Army and was placed in the Polish Refugees Camp in Tengeru, British East Africa. Stanislawa died in Australia on 6 March 1979 in Fremantle Hospital, Western Australia.
  • Wanda Rymaszewska, the daughter of Stanislawa and Antoni was born in 1929. She arrived in Fremantle, Perth, Western Australia on 16 February 1950 from the Polish war refugees, orphans and widows camp in East Africa, aboard a United States Army transport carrier the USAT "W.C. Langfitt".
  • On 10 February in 1940, at the age of 10, Wanda with her parents and sister Regina was deported by the Soviet KGB, from Nieswiez, Poland to a gulag in Arkhangelsk area, USSR. In 1942 the family managed to get evacuated from Russia with general Anders Polish Army and was placed in the Polish Refugees Camp in Tengeru, British East Africa.
  • In Australia Wanda Rymaszewska lived with her mother Stanislawa in Melville, Western Australia.
  • Wanda got married and had two children : twin boys.

Wanda Rymaszewska in early years in Australia.



Polish war refugees camp in Tengeru, Tanganyika, British East Africa
(now Tanzania)



Tengeru - East Africa - 2 October 1948

Wanda's father Antoni in Tengeru, East Africa in 1949


1950 - Antoni Rymaszewski in front of his hut in Tengeru, Tanganyika, East Africa. Note his signboard :
Fotograf
(=Photographer in Polish) A. RYMASZEWSKI

The departure of Wanda Rymaszewska and her mother Stanislawa from Mombasa to Australia by the United States Army transport carrier in 1950


BELARUS

  • Igor Rimashevski was born in 1959 in Minsk. He lives in Minsk. Igor has a degree in art. He is a painter. His work is exhibited in Belarus and in some world galleries. (photo of Igor >>>)


  • Sergey Rimashevski was born in 1964 in Grodno. He is also a painter and member of Belarusian Artist's Union in Minsk. His work was exhibited in Belarus and in some galleries abroad.




Patriotic democratic opposition to current (2009) dictatorship in Belarus uses the
above white and red flag, similar to Poland's flag.

Their postage stamp


Belarus towel

  • Alla Moroshchuk - Rymashevskaya
    224-023 Briest
    ul. Moskovskaya 326 kb.144



    <<
    < Photo:
    Alla taking part in Rymaszewski Family Reunion in Poland in 2008.


    From [MSR] - Email 001

  • Alexandr Rymashevski (Aleksander Rymaszewski) from Minsk, born in 1957, represented Belarus at the XVII Marathon of "Ziemia Pucka" held in Poland on 29 July 2000.
  • Andrei Rymashevski (Andrzej Rymaszewski). the Coach of Belarus Juniors for XXII European Championships in Rythmic Gymnstics in Moscow 18-24 Semptember 2006
  • Domenik Rymashevskiy (Dominik Rymaszewski), the son of Józef, Navahradak (Nowogródek).
  • Pavel Rymashevskiy (Pawel Rymaszewski), Mozyr.
  • Vikyentiy Rymashyskiy (Wincenty Rymaszewski), Minsk.
  • Yesmyrina Yuzefa Rymashevskaya (Jasmina Józefa Rymaszewska), Minsk.
  • Yura Rymaszewskiy (Jerzy Rymaszewski), Minsk.

 

  LYAKHOVICHI (LACHOWICZE) AREA
The Family of MIECZYSLAW RYMASZEWSKI  in Nacz and Burakowce, Lyakhovichi area,  Belarus. (Family Tree No. 66)

After contacting Jadwiga Rymaszewska, the daughter of Mieczyslaw, found on the website of Janusz Kielak - link is in my Chapter 2, I confirmed that Jadwiga's and our families were close relatives. Jadwiga had some postcards and a photo of our family sent from Pinsk by my father before the war ( See Chapter 4 ). It proved that my father Michal Rymaszewski and her father Mieczyslaw Rymaszewski were full cousins on paternal side. This means that their fathers were brothers. Mieczyslaw's father Rafal was the brother of Aleksander, my father's father. This explains Aleksander's, unknown to me, connection with the estate Nacz (Burakowce), where I knew my father was born. And it explains the pre-war last visit to them, just before the outbreak of war, of my father together with me - but I did not remember who the relatives actually were. Now I know. It was near Lachowicze where the extended family have lived, including brothers Rafal and Aleksander, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather called also Rafal. So now I also know the name of my great-grandfather, the first ancestor in my Family Branch.

I have updated our family details in Chapter 4 , and the Family Tree diagram in Chapter 2 and the list of names by my numerical "genetic sequence" method.

  • Mieczyslaw Rymaszewski, the son of Rafal and Emilia Czerepowicka, born on 28 March 1906 and died on 20 August 1978 in Lachowicze (Lyakhovichi).
  • Emilja Rymaszewska (nee Gruszewska), Mieczyslaw's wife, the daughter of Józef Gruszewski and Rozalia Ussowska. She was born on 7 January 1908 and died on 5 March 1987 in Lachowicze.
  • Jadwiga (Jadzia) Rymaszewska, the daughter of Mieczyslaw Rymaszewski and Emilia Gruszewska, was born on 17 August 1936 in Burakowce estate in independant Poland. She still lived there in Lyakhovichi (which is now in Belarus) when I contacted her. We corresponded until she died on 10 of July 2009. She was buried on Lyakhovichi cemetery as her parents.
  • Zofia Rymaszewska - Mieczyslaw's sister, born on 2 June 1910. In 1934 she married Emilia's brother, Wladyslaw Gruszewski (born in 1901 in Nacza Bryndzowska). They had 3 children : Bogdan, Halina and Grigoriy. Zofia died on 28 January 2003 in Pierechrestie. See photos below.

    During the period 1918 to 1939 in independent Poland, Mieczyslaw's family lived in the same area near Lachowicze as their parents and grandparents lived before under the Russian Tsar's rule since the Partitions of Poland.

    In 1939, during the Second World War, these lands (Kresy) were occupied by the Soviet Union and then annexed in 1945. The family must have missed the evacuation, or so called "repatriation", from "Western Byelorussia" to the Polish People's Republic, when many Poles who were former Polish citizens, were removed. All members of Mieczyslaw's family appear to be buried in Belarus but tombstones bear the Polish inscriptions (see below).


Mieczyslaw's wife Emilja Gruszewska

The cemetery in Lyakhovichi (Lachowicze), Belarus

Date: 29 May 2002
The cemetery in
Lyakhovichi showing graves of Mieczyslaw Rymaszewski and his wife Emilja.
On the photo visiting from Poland is Irena Gruszewska, the daughter of Emilja Rymaszewska's brother Boleslaw Gruszewski.

Mieczyslaw Rymaszewski in the middle, Emilja Gruszewska, his wife, on the left, and their daughter Jadwiga Rymaszewska on the right. Sitting in front is Emilia's mother Rozalia Gruszewska (nee Ussowska) 


JADWIGA RYMASZEWSKA, Mieczyslaw's daughter.
(Family Tree No. 66)

Photo: 1939 - Pre war Poland.
Three year old Jadwiga Rymaszewska (Jadzia), daughter of Mieczyslaw and Emilja Gruszewska in the garden of their estate in Burakowce near Lachowicze, Baranowicze district, in pre war Poland . She is collecting blackcurrant berries into her little metal bucket.


JADWIGA (JADZIA)

After the war, when the area where her family lived became Soviet "Western Byelorussia", young Jadzia attended High school in town Baranowicze.

Eventually she enrolled in language department of the Leningrad University, doing Slavic studies.

She specialized in Serbian, Croatian, Czech and Bulgarian. And, of course, she is fluent in Polish and Russian languages, and understands Ukrainian and Belarus. She also knows German reasonably well, and a bit of French.

Jadwiga worked all her life as a school teacher in languages.

She has now retired and lives in an apartment in Lachowicze.

News just received:
Jadwiga Rymaszewska died on 10 July 2009



Jadwiga attending High School in Baranowicze during Soviet times


Jadwiga's father, Mieczyslaw Rymaszewski, first son of Rafal. Born in 1906. Photo taken in Poland in 1931 when Mieczyslaw was 25 years old and still single.

Jadwiga's father, Mieczyslaw Rymaszewski hunting ducks by the river Nacz (Nacha) near Burakowce, Lachowicze area.


Jadwiga Rymaszewska during her studies at Leningrad University


Jadwiga skiing in the Russian winter with her German shepherd


The Family of ZOFIA RYMASZEWSKA, Mieczyslaw's sister, in Lyakhovichi area, now Belarus and in St. Petersburg.
(Family Tree No. 66)
DIED
  • Zofia Rymaszewska - Mieczyslaw's sister, was born on 2 June 1910 in Lachowicze (Lyakhovichi) and died on 28 January 2003 in Pierechrestie near Nacha, aged 93 years.

    Zofia and her brother Mieczyslaw married a brother and his sister from Gruszewski family. Mieczyslaw Rymaszewski married Emilja Gruszewska on 17 February 1934, and Zofia Rymaszewska married Emilja's brother Wladyslaw Gruszewski the next day.

    Zofia and Wladyslaw had 3 children : Bogdan, Halina and Grigoriy. See also Chapter 4

Photo: Poland, summer 1938 or 1939

Lady on the RIGHT
:
Zofia Rymaszewska (born 1910), Mieczyslaw's sister, wife of Wladyslaw Gruszewski. In front of her is little Jadzia Rymaszewska (born 1936), Mieczyslaw's daughter.

Lady on the LEFT
:
Nadzieja Gruszewska (born 1910), wife of Boleslaw Gruszewski, and her little daughter Irena (born 1931), who later in life married Alfred Kielak in Poland.

1955 : Bogdan, first son of Zofia Rymaszewska and Wladyslaw Gruszewski. Born in Nacza (or Nacz), Poland on 23 August 1935.

Under Soviet occupation, he was conscripted by the military, and in May 1955, aged 20, became a sailor in the Soviet Baltic Navy in port Kaliningrad (former Polish Królewiec).



On the LEFT: Bogdan Gruszewski former sailor of the Baltic Navy in port Kaliningrad, born 23 August 1935 (see young photo above), first son of Zofia Rymaszewska, with his wife Anna.

On the RIGHT: Alfred Kielak, husband of Irena Gruszewska. (See Irena's childhood photo above).

This photo and photo on the left were taken during Alfred and Irena Kielak's visit to Nacza in Belarus on May 2002.

First on the RIGHT : Irena Kielak (Gruszewska), wife of Alfred Kielak, visiting from Poland in 2002

On the LEFT : Halina Domaszewicz, (born 7 January 1937), the daughter of Zofia Rymaszewska and Wladyslaw Gruszewski

In the MIDDLE - Jadzia Rymaszewska, Halina's cousin, Zofia Rymaszewska's niece.


Grigorij (Grisha) Gruszewski, second son of Zofia Rymaszewska. Photo in 1972

Grigorij (Grisha), second son of Zofia Rymaszewska, with his father Wladyslaw Gruszewski. Photo in 1982 : Belarus


Elena (Lena) Vyerkhovskaya, the daughter of Grigoriy (Grisha) Gruszewski, with her son Misha (Michal) Vyerkhovskiy. Year 2002, Sankt Petersburg, Russia.


Grigorij (Grisha) Gruszewski, second son of Zofia, with his grandson Misha (Michal).
September 2004 : Sankt Petersburg, Russia.
Ref.: Email 032


  Some Rymaszewski Graves in Belarus


 

Inscription is
in Polish

 

S.P. ( = late)

• MICHALINA RYMASZEWSKA

lived 92 years


Died on
11 June 1964

In memory of
family


Rymaszewski graves in Belarus near Kopyl and Bobowna
visited from Poland

by
Jan Krzysztof Rymaszewski :

11th generation descendant of Gregory from Ryma near Kopyl and Bobowna
ID Number : GR.1322.2231.11



In July 2007, Jan Krzysztof Rymaszewski from Bialystok and dr. Zygfryd Rymaszewski from Lódz, Poland, visited the original homeland of the Rymaszewski ancestors near Kopyl and Bobowna.

Photo in a village Domiszcze, between Kopyl and Bobowna in present day Belarus in 2007.

From left :
all Rymaszewskis :

• Zygfryd
Walentyna  (Wala)
• a senior lady
 (name not noted)
• Jan Krzysztof
• Anna
(Ania)
• Barbara
(Basia)


 

Inscription is in Russian:

• MARJA RYMASZEWSKA, the daughter of JAN
lived 87 years
died 27 March 1996



• FRANCISZEK RYMASZEWSKI, the son of JÓZEF
lived 74 years
died ...... 1981

 


Inscription in Russian:

• LUCJAN RYMASZEWSKI, the son of WINCENTY
7 May 1905 - 20 January 1996

AND

• MARJA RYMASZEWSKA, the daughter of KONSTANTY
1 November 1916
(?)
- 16
(month ?) 2001



Inscription in Russian:

• KATARZYNA RYMASZEWSKA, the daughter of JAN
1907 - 1987

AND

• JAN RYMASZEWSKI, the son of JÓZEF
1907 - 1950

In memory of children and grandchildren


CANADA
British Columbia
    From [MSR]
  • Barbara Ivonne Rymaszewski, Penticton, British Columbia.
  • C. Rymaszewski, Surrey, British Columbia.
  • Chris Rymaszewski, North Vancouver, British Columbia.
  • Czeslaw (Czes) Rymaszewski, lives near Vancouver, British Columbia.
..... ?
  • Stanislaw Rymaszewski, Engineer-Architect, Town Planner. Worked in Poland with a firm "Ekotop" in 1993 on development of the Town of Swinoujscie as United Nations Volunteer (UNV) from Canada.
Ontario
    From [MSR]
  • D. Rymaszewski, Toronto, Ontario.
  • J. Rymaszewski, Toronto, Ontario.
  • Michael Rymaszewski, Toronto, Ontario - writer, author (published), freelance. Born in Poland, grew up in Africa.
  • S.H. Rymaszewski, Toronto, Ontario.
  • R. Rymaszewski, Stoney Creek, Ontario.

67.1133 — Grzegorz RYMASZEWSKI, Oakville (Family Tree No. 67)

Grzegorz (Gregory) was born on 19 July 1970 in Nowa Sól, Poland.

He is the youngest and only surviving son of Romuald Rymaszewski (67.113) and his wife Maria. mentioned on my website in chapter 8.

When his father died in 1988, young Gregory aged 18 years, left home for Canada.

Soon afterwards his mother also died. Greg decided to stay in Canada. He settled in Oakville near Toronto, Ontario.

I had no information about Gregory when I was building my website at the end of year 2000 but thanks to the Internet, Gregory discovered my site in 2003 and sent me an email.



Gregory in 2003 in Canada


Greg's email address: gregryma@msn.com

Phone: + 905 730 5045


Gregory in 2008 at the 3rd Rymaszewski Family Reunion in Poland

Ottawa


5
0.1421 — The Family of Anna RYMASZEWSKA, Ottawa. (Family Tree No. 50)


• Anna Rymaszewska
(50.1421), born on 25 July 1927, comes originally from Wilno, Poland, now
Vilnius in Lithuania. Anna now lives in
Ottawa, Ontario, K2J 4B3
Tel: + 613 823-7740
email : asozan@sympatico.ca

Anna's great grandfather was Franciszek (50.1), born 15 March 1836.
Anna's grandfather was Adam (50.14), the son of Franciszek (50.1)
Anna's father was Kasper (50.142) the son of Adam from Zurawie near Nieswiez.


Kasper Rymaszewski was born on 19 January 1892 in Pasieki, in Poland under the Russian tsars rule. He graduated in Medicine in Moscow in 1914. During the chaos of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 he escaped to Warsaw, joined the Polish army being formed under Marshal Pilsudski and took part in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-20. In independent Poland he lived and worked as a doctor in Wilno until the 1939-45 war, when he was called up to the Army in the rank of Captain. But soon the Red Army occupied Wilno in 1939 and arrested Kasper. They took him to Starobielsk and murdered him in Charkow in April 1940, together with thousands of other Polish officers. This is known as the Katyn Forest Massacre. Click MORE on the right of the ID strip above.

• Kasper's wife Jadwiga (maiden name Kozakiewicz) was left with four young children, one of which was Anna. Other were Teresa, Stanislawa and Bohdan. At the end of the war in 1945 they moved to Poland, to Inowroclaw.

Anna completed medical studies in Poznan in 1951. In 1946 she married Mieczyslaw Lemanczyk, also a doctor, and they had three daughters (see below). Mieczyslaw died in 1974. Anna then remarried and emigrated to Canada.


Anna Rymaszewska  - April 2007

Anna Rymaszewska  - August 2006


Anna Rymaszewska's daughters are:
1. Barbara, lives in Germany, together with her husband Piotr Ostapczuk, and they have two children: a son Pawel and a daughter Eva. Eva studies pharmacy and Pawel is a doctor. Now known as Pawel Dube he lives in Hamburg, Germany with his wife Daniela Dube and they have a daughter Viktoria. His email address is: Pawel Dube postap@gmx.de

2. Iwona, is an electronics engineer, works for Motorola and lives in Chicago with her husband Marian Turlik. Their son, Daniel, also an electronics engineer, works near Washington and is married to Emilia.

3. Maria, completed structural engineering, but changed her profession to real estate and sells houses. Her husband, Jacek Fudakowski is a retired geographer. They live in Ottawa.

Anna's siblings live in Poland. Only once she saw her grandfather Adam, the son of Franciszek (50.1). It was before the war in Zurawie and Wilno. He died in 1945. Anna has no information where he was buried. Adam's other son, younger than Kasper, Aleksander, had a son called Edmund who was a gynecologist in Busk. Edmund is now deceased. His wife and son still live in Busk. She has a number of relevant documents on their Rymaszewski family.



Anna's (50.1421) Family Tree (Potomstwo Kaspra 50.142)

Much of the genealogical information on Rymaszewski family was obtained from private documents in Russian language, issued after Partition of Poland in 1772-95, preserved by some families. They were records of sessions by the Heraldic Commission of the Minsk Gubernya dealing with the status of nobles.

Under Tsarist administration Polish nobility were required to confirm their noble pedigree to preserve their noble privileges. The applicants had to describe their noble ancestry and declare the ownership of land estate.

The Certificate on the right was issued on 10 December 1885 to Franciszek Rymaszewski, the son of Adam, born on 15 March 1836, confirming the nobility (dvoryanstvo) of the Rymaszewski Family.

In 2007, Anna Rymaszewska with her husband, Andrew (Andrzej) Sozanski, visited Sydney in Australia on April 14 to 17, before embarking on Sapphire Princess on a South Pacific cruise ending in Los Angeles.

The 116,000-ton Sapphire Princess is more than 2½ times bigger than the Titanic, it stretches 290 metres long and 49 metres wide. With a height of 63 metres, Sapphire Princess is too tall to sail under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It carries 2,670 passengers onboard and 1,100 crew.    (photo >)



Anna aboard the Sapphire Princess overlooking the Sydney Opera House, on the day of sailing



Anna and Franek Rymaszewski.
Docked alongside the Quay is Sapphire Princess



Anna Rymaszewska met Franek Rymaszewski on the Circular Quay in sunny Sydney on 17 April 2007


Anna and her husband Andrew (Andrzej) Sozanski relaxing on their cruise

DENMARK


Elena (Lena) Rymashevskaya, daughter of Galina and Slava Rymashevskiy, was born in Arkhangelsk, Northern Russia.
Lena
got married in summer 2004 to a Dane, and early in 2005 went to live in Denmark. Her name is now Mrs Lena Axelsen.


ENGLAND
  • Aleksandra Rymaszewska (Ms), candidate from the Manchester District to the Polish National Council at the Polish Government in Exile in London [MSR-534].
  • Alex Rymaszewski, development manager of Dion's store, London.
  • Bogdan Rymaszewski, married Miss Stankiewicz in Cheshire, UK (England & Wales Civil Register - Marriage Index 1984-2000)
  • (+) Bogdan Remisz Rymaszewski, died in 1988, in Hampshire (England and Wales Civil Register - 1984-1992 Death Index)
  • (+) Czeslaw Rymaszewski, died in 1991, in Leicestershire (England and Wales Civil Register - 1984-1992 Death Index)
  • (+) Edward Rymaszewski, died in 1997, in Greater London (England and Wales Civil Register - 1993-2002 Death Index). Edward has ID number 66.121 of the Rymaszewski Family Tree (Australian Branch).
  • Helen Rymaszewski married Mr Gregg in Durham, UK (England & Wales Civil Register - Marriage Index 1984-2000)
  • L. Rymaszewski, medical doctor, Edinburgh.
  • Lech A. Rymaszewski, Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow G213UW, tel. 0141 201 3000. Consultant in Orthopaedics (date: 2000).
  • (+) Margaret Rymaszewski, died in 1998, in Hampshire (England and Wales Civil Register - 1993-2002 Death Index)
  • Natalia Rymaszewska, London, University of Edinburgh Alum 2008 (Photo from "Facebook" >>>)
  • Rachel Rymaszewski, Dept. of Psychology, University of Lancaster. Author of paper "Information technology and language development",1989. See online public access catalogue of the Lancaster University Library.
  • (+) Stanislaw Rymaszewski, died in 1986, in Oxfordshire (England and Wales Civil Register - 1984-1992 Death Index)
  • (+) Zbigniew Antoni Rymaszewski, died in 1992, in Greater London (England and Wales Civil Register - 1984-1992 Death Index).
  • Issie Rymaszewska, North Yorkshire, Amplefort College, 2008 (Photo from "Facebook" >>>)


  • Marek Rymaszewski, born 1952, songwriter, Channel Manager, Internet and Multimedia Services, British Telecom (UK), Ludlow, London. (22 January 2000)
  • Marek Rymaszewski married Miss Griffiths in Herefordshire, UK (Marriage Index 1984-2000)



    Photo of Marek Rymaszewski from the Internet site:
    http://uk.music-jobs.com
    where there is also his full CV.


Date: 16 Nov 2000

  • Henry (Henryk) Rymaszewski, Preston.  Email: henryrym@hotmail.com
    The following information was sent by Henry who was contacted through the www.RootsWeb.com Message Board.


    ......My paternal grandfather was called Hipolit Rymaszewski and was a small landowner near Wilno (Vilnius), now in Lithuania. The family also had connections with Minsk, now in Belarus. I think he had at least one brother called Oton. My grandfather had four sons, Henryk, Zygmunt, Czeslaw (my father, born near Minsk in 1912) and Stefan (still alive in Poland). My father ended up in England after the second world war, the rest of the family remained in Poland. I was born in 1947 in England and have two younger sisters (Krystyna and Iwona). My grandfather was a mathematician, my father designed cranes and conveyor belt machinery. I dabble in electronics, computers and science technology and work as a technician at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston......

    Henry Rymaszewski

    For records of Henry's ancestors/relatives in Poland see Chapter 12:
    ANCESTORS (1) - Early 20th cent.

  • Henry Rymaszewski married Miss Mepham in Lancashire, UK (England & Wales Civil Register - Marriage Index 1984-2000)

The Family of JOHN RYMASZEWSKI  in Durham, England
  • John Rymaszewski, the son of Jan Rymaszewski and Jean (Wilkie), age 59, born in July 1949 in New Mills in Derbyshire, England. Lives in Durham and since 2004 works for the Local Authority in Durham as an Associate Head Teacher. Previously he was a headmaster of the Burnopfield Primary School, Newcastle. His email: jrymaszewski@btinternet.com
  • Barbara Rymaszewski, John's wife
  • Jennifer Rymaszewski (age 10, born 1998), and
  • Thomas Rymaszewski (age 3, born 2005), John's and Barbara's grandchildren.
  • Andrew Rymaszewski, John's brother, age 58, born in 1950, who lives in Manchester.

    Some family history:

    John's ancestors come from native lands of Rymaszewski clan, i.e. from "Kresy", the eastern Poland (see Chapter 12). The family home was in Nieswiez. They owned land from the subdivision of some Radziwills' estates. Members of family lived in Nieswiez, Kleck, Baranowicze and Sluck.

    In 1939, with the outbreak of war with Germany, John's grandfather and John's father, Jan, as well as his two uncles, Antoni and Czeslaw, were all called up to the Army. But after the unexpected Soviet attack on Poland from the East in September 1939, they were captured in Polish Army uniforms by the Russians, and arrested by the NKVD, the Soviet secret police (later KGB). John's grandfather, with a high military rank as a medical doctor was executed. John's father, Jan, and his two brothers Antoni and Czeslaw were detained as "prisoners of war" in Siberia and other camps. Antoni was killed in the Katyn Forest massacre in April 1940. His only and last letter was received by Czeslaw late in 1939. Jan and Czeslaw got out from Russia in 1942 with the Polish general Anders Army.

    John's father, Jan, was stationed in Scotland near Crieff, Pertshire. After the war he married there Jean Wilkie. Then they moved to New Mills in Derbyshire where John and his brother Andrew were born.

    Uncle Czeslaw (Czes) emigrated from England to Canada, and lives near Vancouver. Other members of the family from "Kresy" were relocated after the war, to Western Poland (regained territories) at Zielona Góra. In 2004 Czes (Czeslaw) visited Poland and went to the memorial service for all victims of Katyn Forest.

IRELAND

  • Konrad Rymaszewski, Senior Regulatory Reporting Accountant at Elavon Financial Services (U.S. Bancorp Group)

    Education : Dublin Business School, SGH Warsaw School of Economics

    Photo from "Facebook">>>


    Photo from www.linkedin.com >>>

FRANCE

  • Pawel Rymaszewski, professional photographer, Paris, France, www.plfoto.com (info. year 2001)
    Email: prymasze@hotmail.com

GERMANY

  • 1944: Stanislaw Rymaszewski, born on 16 August 1922. An airman, corporal, gunner. Served in the Polish Air Force in England during the war. Died on 24 July 1944 near Schlesen, Germany. Buried in Hamburg, row E, plot W, grave 1-7. [MSR-374].
  • Dominika Rymaszewski, pharmaceutical technical assistant with Brunnen Pharmacy (Apotheke), 60, Heilbronner St., LEINGARTEN, Germany. Tel. 07131-90670. (photo >>>)
  • Tomasz Rymaszewski, Tabak, Berlin, 1998.

LITHUANIA

Long live free and democratic Lithuania!
The Soviet occupation and tyranny is over.
Calling any Rymaszewski survivors ?! - There must be some around Vilnius
.


NETHERLANDS
  • Konrad Rymaszewski, born in Poland. Emigrated to Holland in 1988.
    The message board at Ancestry shows that Konrad's family roots are from Tlumacz, near Wilno. (There was also a place called Tlumacz near Stanislawów).

    See
    Mail no. 009 in Chapter 15

NORWAY
  • Michal Rymaszewski, born during the second world war in in 1942 in Kraków, Poland. Emigrated to Norway in 1977. Michal's father and ancestors lived in prewar Poland in Kaczanowice, near Nieswiez in Eastern Poland (now Belarus). Michal has a married son Maciej born on 1 March 1973 living in Poland in Kraków. See Maciej's family in Kraków- Chapter 13 .

    See also
    Mail no. 010 in Chapter 15

RESIDENCE UNKNOWN
  • Michael Rymaszewski, film producer, in Egypt (1993)
  • Michal (Michael) Rymaszewski, creator of computer games and author of computer books, born in Poland, lived in Ghana, moved to USA or Canada?
  • Piotr Rymaszewski, member of basketball "Nalewka Team", Mali
    [MSR-77].


RUSSIA

ENGLISH SPELLING OF POLISH NAMES FROM RUSSIAN DOCUMENTS

In Poland the surnames are written using Latin alphabet and Polish language spelling.
If you move to live in any country that also uses Latin alphabet, e.g. England, you have to keep, by law, your original Polish spelling of surname, otherwise any modification is regarded as a different name, i.e. a change of name.

In Russia the names are written in Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet. The spelling of English or Polish names in Russian is kept as close as possible to the original pronunciation (sound) of the name, but it is subject to Russian alphabet and grammar.

Similarly, when writing Russian names in English, they are spelled as close as possible to the Russian sound but phonetic English spelling is used. This does not apply to English names converted back from Russian. Their spelling in English is known and they are written again in the same way as the original.

Unfortunately, Polish names converted back from Russian language into English, are often treated as Russian names written for the first time in Latin alphabet with English spelling. Although they are written again in their original Latin alphabet, they often loose their original Polish spelling because it is not known or has been forgotten, or is written down by people who don't know it is a Polish name.

This explains many spelling variations of past immigrants from Russia with European names. It all depended how immigration officials, or the immigrants themselves, were reading and interpreting the sound of a name on their identity document which was written in the Russian alphabet.

So:  Rymaszewski  becomes : Rymashevski, Rymashevsky, Rymashevskiy, Rimashevski, Rimashevsky, Rymasheuski  —  and female name Rymaszewska becomes : Rymashevska, Rymashevskaya,  Rimashevska, or same as male: Rymaszewski
.

Legally, in the West, these variations in fact became different surnames.


Rymaszewski (Rymashevski)
Rimaszewski (Rimashevski)

In the Russian Tsarist times the old family documents of the Rymaszewski families were either in Polish or in Russian language. The catholic churches, for example, were issuing birth certificates in Polish.

When reading or transcribing such documents from one language to another, the Polish letters "y" and "i", handwritten as Russian letters, look very similar and also they sound the same ( ee ), therefore errors were often made. This is how the difference between Rymashevski and Rimashevski spelling occurred.

But in fact, they all belonged to the same Rymaszewski noble family (rod) and they lived in the same territory.

In Polish, Belarus and Lithuanian heraldic books the name Rimaszewski is not found under any coat of arms. Only the Polish name Rymaszewski that used the "Pobóg" coat of arms. Since Rimaszewski was a noble name (dvoryanin) therefore they must have been the bearers of the "Pobóg" coat of arms, so their name was originally Rymaszewski.






KALININGRAD
  • Rimashevskiy Adam Adamovich, Director of Baltic Naval Institute. Lives in Kaliningrad. Information from the Internet, dated February 2003.

CHELYABINSK

THE FAMILY of ALEXEY RIMASHEVSKI


Ref:
Email no. 111 in Chapter 15


In Chelyabinsk near Ural Mountains live :

Alexey Rimashevskiy (Rimashevski), the son of Alexander, born in 1973
Polina Rimashevskaya (Rimashevska), born in 1978, his wife
Victoria Rimashevskaya, born in 1999, their first daughter
Svetlana Rimashevskaya, born in 2004, their second daughter

Alexey's email address is:
raps74@mail.ru

ICQ UIN 108462735

ALEXEY'S ANCESTORS AND FAMILY :

great grandfather - Jozef (Josif) Rimashevski, born 18?? - lived in the area of original homeland of all Rymaszewski (Rimashevski) families in Eastern Poland under Imperial Russia, the area around Kopyl, Slutsk, Nesvizh.
great grandmother - Jozefa Rimashevska, born 1879
  They had six children:
          Helya (Gelya, Helena, Hela) Rimashevskaya
           • Jadviga (Jadwiga) Rimashevskaya
           • Stasya
(Stasia, Stanislawa) Rimashevskaya
           • Victor
(Wiktor) Rimashevski
           • Iwan
(Jan), Rimashevski, born 1913, died 1993 - Alexey's grandfather
           • Vincent ?
(Wincenty) Rimashevski

Helya (Hela) married Mr Zinevich (Ziniewicz) and they had five children:
          • Victor (Wiktor)
          • Vladimir
(Wlodzimierz)
          • Stasya
(Stasia)
          • Bronislava
(Bronislawa, Bronia)
          •
Vasily (Wasyl)

• Jadviga married Mr Yarmolitskiy (Jarmolicki) and they had two children:
        
  • Maya (Maja)
           • Ivan

Victor Rimashevskiy had five children:
           • Ludmila, born 1935
           • Mikhail
           • Tamara
, born 1937
           • Vladimir
, born 1941
           • Elena
, born 1946

• Ivan Rimashevskiy, the son of Jozef (Josif) - born in Kopyl district, Byelorussia in 1913 (died 1993), Alexey's grandfather, had three children:
           • Alexandra, born 1940
           • Valentina, born 1942
           • Alexander, born 1948 - Alexey's father

• Alexander Rimashevskiy, the son of Ivan, born 1948 - Alexey's father, has two children:
           Alexey, born 1973
           • Igor, born 1978

• Alexey Rimashevskiy, born 1973, and his wife Polina Rimashevskaya have two children:
             Victoria, born 1999
             Svetlana, born 2004


Alexey's grandfather Ivan (Jan) Rimashevskiy, the son of Josif (Jozef) Rimashevskiy, was born before the Second World War in 1913 in Kopyl district, Byelorussia. He died in 1993. Photo taken in springtime, May 1979.

Alexey's father Alexander Rimashevskiy, the son of Ivan, with his grandaughter Victoria


Alexey Rimashevskiy and his second daughter Svetlana

Alexey Rimashevskiy in Moscow


Alexey Rimashevskiy (on the left ) and his brother Igor Rimashevskiy



PETROZAVODSK
The Family of SLAVA RYMASHEVSKI in Petrozavodsk, Northern Russia,
where his great-grandfather Michal Rymaszewski, the son of Kazimierz, was exiled from Poland by the Tsarist imperial police at the turn of 19th century.

Email no. 003 in Chapter 15

PETROZAVODSK,  KARELIA,  NORTHERN  RUSSIA

  • Slava Rymashevskiy, the son of Slava, age 35 (in 2005), lives in town Petrozavodsk north of St. Peterburg on the lake Onega, Karelia region.

    Slava is married and has a family:
  • wife Natalia (Natasha) Rymashevskaya
  • a son Victor Rymashevsky
  • and a daughter Julia Rymashevskaya

Phone (mobile): + 7 921 2280854
landline            + 7 8142 769110
fax                     + 7 8142 764419
Email: Slava Rymashevsky rymashevsky@sampo.ru


SLAVA's FAMILY HISTORY:


Map of Northern Russia

Map - Northern Russia

19th century - EASTERN POLAND UNDER TSAR'S RULE


TSARIST PRISON WARDEN AND GUARD - 1890
  • Michal Rymaszewski, the son of Kazimierz, Slava's from Petrozavodsk great-grandfather, was born about 1870 in Poland during Tsarist times.

    Near the end of 19th century, being a young man, he had been suspected of political dissident activity. Similarly to the fate of many Polish insurrectionists, he was sentenced for exile to a very remote, for those times, northern region of Russia next to the Ural mountains.


    The exile, Mikhail Kazimirovich Rymashevskiy was deported near Arctic circle to a region called KOMI. The tsarist police escorted him in stages between prisons in MINSK, SMOLENSK, MOSCOW, NIZHNY NOVGOROD, (renamed to GORKY in Soviet era), then VYATKA (renamed to KIROV by Soviets), and finally KOTLAS. He traveled by train under the supervision of guards. The guards were changing at each "relay" prison. After Kotlas, he went by road, and by foot to a town called SYKTYVKAR on the Vytchegda river in Komi Region.

THE TRAIN FROM NIZHNY NOVGOROD TO VYATKA - 1890

THE EXILES STARTING UP THEIR FINAL TREK FROM RAILWAY TO SYKTYVKAR - 1890

KOMI GIRLS
before the Soviet times

SYKTYVKAR, KOMI REGION,  THE NORTH  RUSSIA

Mikhail Kazimirovich was left to live freely in distant Syktyvkar but he was completely cut off from his family, his homeland and his past. That was his punishment. The winters were bitterly cold in Komi, and summers were also cold. The Komi people and their language were related to both the Finns and Hungarians. Women and girls wore very colourful costumes. Later, during the Soviet times, it wasn't the same. This remote, taiga covered region became Stalin's gulags area filled with hard working prisoners.
 
Young Michal, now called Misha, married a local Komi girl and they had children. One of them was son called Largiy
.  Later on, the parents divorced. Mikhail then got married with a mute daughter of one of the local wealthy river-boat owners. After that, his fate is unknown. In Syktyvkar lived a daughter of Mikhail. There is no information about her either.

  • Largiy Rymashevskiy, the son of Michail, married in Syktyvkar and had a son called Slava. Largiy later died and was buried in Syktyvkar. His son, Slava, moved to Arkhangelsk, a port town in the north on the White Sea.

    ARKHANGELSK, THE NORTH OF  RUSSIA

  • Slava Rymashevskiy, the son of Largiy, was born in Syktyvkar during the Second World War in 1942. As a young, 25 year old man he left Syktyvkar in search of better opportunities and moved to Arkhangelsk, the port town on the White Sea. He traveled there most likely by a steamboat on the river Severnaya Dvina. In Arkhangelsk he married Galina.
  • Galina Rymashevskaya, Slava's wife.
    Galina and Slava had two children:
  • Slava (junior) Rymashevskiy, a son, born in 1970 in Arkhangelsk.
  • Elena (Lena) Rymashevskaya, a daughter, born in Arkhangelsk.

    Slava and Galina, the parents of Slava (junior) from Petrozavodsk, still live in Arkhangelsk, except Slava's sister, Lena. She got married in the summer 2004 to a Dane, and early in 2005 went to live in Denmark. Her name is now Mrs Axelsen.
  • Later, Slava (junior) went to live in Petrozavodsk.


YACHTING IN PETROZAVODSK ON THE LAKE ONEGA

July 2001 ( Summer in Russia)

Victor Rymashevsky,
9 year old Slava's son, taking part with his father in sailing races on Lake Onega in 2001



During short summers of Northern Russia, Slava's hobby is yachting. He belongs to a Yachting Club, and he named his sailboat "Julia", after his daughter.

Slava Rymashevsky from Petrozavodsk, age 31, (1st from the left), taking part in a yachting competition on the Lake Onega, summer 2001. His father, Slava Rymashevsky from Arkhangelsk, age 59, (3rd from the left), came to Petrozavodsk to take part in that race.

Photos from website: http://yachting.onego.ru/



WINTER SPORTS ON THE FROZEN LAKE ONEGA IN PETROZAVODSK
January 2005
(Winter in Russia)

Slava Rymashevsky from Petrozavodsk, age 34, taking part in kiting races on frozen Lake Onega in 2005.

Slava is Number 48


Natasha Rymashevskaya, Slava's wife on the frozen lake in Petrozavodsk with a thermos-cup of hot tea (2005)


Victor Rymashevsky,
12 year old Slava's son, taking part with his father in winter kiting on the Lake Onega
(2005)

Julia Rymashevskaya (2005)


Victor celebrating
his 12th birthday (2005)

Natasha Rymashevskaya and her son Victor (2005)



UKRAINE

MELITOPOL

The Family of
SERGEY RIMASHEVSKI
in Melitopol, Ukraine,
originally from Belarus, where his great-grandfather ANTONI  lived in the Sluck area.

Email no. 015 in Chapter 15


Sergey Rimashevskiy, the son of Aleksander Mikhailovich, was born in 1961 in the town Kizel, Perm district, Ural mountains, and is now 48 year old (2009). He now lives in the south of Ukraine, 60 km from the Sea of Azov near the Crimea. He has tertiary qualifications of a mechanical engineer.

Sergey is married and his wife •
Natalia is a qualified Primary School teacher.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, life has changed dramatically. And although Ukraine experiences hard times, the way of life is changing and people learn how to live in a democratic society. Sergey and his wife had the courage to start their own small business.


Melitopol - city railway station

Sergey and Natalia have two children, a boy and a girl

Mikhail (Misha), a student, born in 1987, now 22 years old (2009)
Anastasia (Nastia) , a schoolgirl, born in 1991, now 18 years old (2009)    

Their address:
MELITOPOL
Zaporozhskaya oblast'
Ukraine


Email: rimashev@mail.ru

 


KIEV

 

Igor Rimashevskiy, Sergey' younger brother, the son of Aleksander Mikhailovich was born in 1969. He is now 37 year old (in 2006). Igor lives in Kiev. He is also married and has one child:

Artem, born in 1991, now 15 year old. Family address is:


KIEV
Olzhicha street, No.8
Apartment 33
Ukraine
04086

For Ukrainian spelling of the address see Email no.019

Phone : 453-76-46
Email: delt@bk.ru



SERGEY's and IGOR's  FAMILY HISTORY

At the turn of 19 century, two brothers : ANTON (Antoni) and MIKHAIL (Michal) lived in the territory of the Russian Tsarist Empire, which was former Polish territory and for centuries was inhabited by the Rymaszewski (Rymashevski) families. It is now in Belarus.


Anton Rimashevskiy, an older of the two brothers (Sergey's great-grandfather) was born in the later part of the 19 century. He and his family lived near Sluck (Slutsk). They had, like all Rymaszewski, a noble status ("dvoryanin"). Before the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, they owned an estate near village Zabolot' (Zaboloc) or Yaremichi (Jaremicze). On their estate they were breeding thoroughbred horses for sale (see photo on the right).

After the Bolshevik Revolution the Soviets created on this territory the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
And according to the communist ideology, they confiscated Anton's estate.

The farm was taken over by the government. It continued to breed horses, not for sale, but for the use of the Red Army.

Anton died, still at a young age, in an accident in 1924. He was galloping on his horse and fell off to the ground.

 

Anton left four children :

a son

Mikhail Antonovich, Sergey's grandfather. Mikhail was born in 1915 in a village Zalesie, close to Pogost and Sluck, district Starobin in the Minsk province (oblast')

and three daughters :

Aleksandra

Olga

Eugenya


Mikhail's photo, as a 9 year old boy, with his mother (Anton's wife) soon after Anton's death, is below on the right)



Mikhail Rimashevskiy, was Anton's younger brother. He was born about 1882. At the beginning of the 20 century he emigrated, like many young Rymashevskis, to the United States of America and settled in New York. He was known over there as Michael Rimashevski. He died in New York in 1969, leaving no children. His photo is on the right.



In the 1930-thirties, during Stalin's collectivization, the lands belonging to all Rimashevski families were taken away by Soviet rulers to form state owned "collective farms", and young Mikhail, Sergey's grandfather, was forced to leave his property, move to another village, and marry at the age of 18 years the girl from a poor family. However, he and his wife Lubov ("Love") lived very amicably all their life and she treated Mikhail with great respect.



Mikhail Antonovich - Sergey's grandfather, had four children, all boys:

Aleksander, born in 1934 - Sergey's father.
     (Aleksander in turn, had two children: Sergey      and Igor, see families in Melitopol above).
Vladimir, born in 1936
Arkadiy, born in 1939
     Arkadiy had a son Aleksiey, born in 1978
Viacheslav, born in 1941



Photo taken in 1968.

From left:
Aleksander, Sergey's father, the eldest son of Mikhail.
7 year old Sergey Rimashevski himself. It so happened that from the age of five Sergey lived with his grandparents.
Vladimir, the second son of Mikhail.
On the right:
Mikhail Antonovich, Sergey's grandfather.


Mikhail Antonovich, Sergey's grandfather, lived in Byelorussia until the Second World War. More precisely, until the outbreak of war between Germany and the Soviet Union in June 1941. As a young man, he was called up to the Red Army in 1941, and soon, without much training, was sent to the war front to fight, leaving a young family behind. His boys were aged 7, 5, 2 and 6 months. Few months later in 1941 his army unit was surrounded by Germans. He fought and later was captured. The Germans sent him to a POW camp (Prisoner of War camp) in Germany, where he suffered harsh treatment.

After the end of war in 1946, he was happy to return to homeland and his family, only to discover that all the returned soldiers, who were former Prisoners of War, were being punished by the Communist rulers. Stalin considered them as traitors for allowing themselves to be captured by the Germans. They were arrested and sent to hard labour in gulags. Mikhail was sent to Ural mountains to slave as a miner in the coal mines. He worked as a miner for 22 years ! All that he earned there, was a lung disease.

They released him in 1968. He obtained a small pension and a permission to choose a town to live. Permission to travel to a different town in order to change your place of domicile was still required from all citizens in the Soviet Union, as well as registration at your new address. So Mikhail decided, for health reasons, to move to warmer South, near the Crimea. He settled in town Melitopol near the Sea of Azov (adjoining the Black Sea), where Sergey's family now live. Mikhail died in 1980. Sergey says that his grandfather had a hard life, but all people who knew Mikhail Antonovich spoke highly of him as a person with a great kind soul. Sergey loved him very much.

During the war the Soviet guerrillas (partisans) have executed MIkhail's mother (the wife of Anton), and his sister Olga. Other sister, Eugenya, was sent to hard labour in a gulag for 10 years.



In 2004, Sergey Rimashevski
, who was born in exile in the area of town Perm in Ural mountains, sent an inquiry to the MVD - Ministry of Internal Affairs (former NKVD (KGB) in town PERM, searching for the records of his family. (Town Perm was called Molotov during Stalin's era). Below are the only records he received. It appears that NKVD had records in their archives not of the exiles but only of the deported convicts who have been punished again while living in exile.


EXTRACT FROM THE ARCHIVES OF THE FORMER NKVD (KGB) COMMISSARIAT IN PERM.


translated from Russian by Franek Rymaszewski

Court case No.14105, F.641/1.op1.d.2845

RYMASZEWSKI ANTONI, the son of JULIAN
• Born 15 August 1903 at Ugorino farmstead (estate),   Bulushevo village soviet, Pukhovichi district, Belorussia

• Lived at: Sergeevsky mine, Kosinsky district,
  Sverdlovsk
province (Ural mountains)
• Worked as wood-cutter at the Jukseevsky timber industry   sovkhoz
• Class origin: from the family of rich farmers - kulaks
• Education: 3 classes of Secondary School
Nationality: Polish (Roman-Catholic religion)
• His land property was confiscated in 1930, followed by   family deportation in 1931.

• Father - Rymaszewski Julian, the son of Antoni, age 55
  Mother - Magdalena, the daughter of Thaddeus (?), age 58
  Sister - Juzefa (Józefa), age 24
  Sister - Antonina, age 16
  Brother - Julian, age 27

Arrested by the NKVD of Kosinsky area (Sverdlovsk   province) on 31 December 1937.
These particulars compiled on 8 January 1938.

Accused of causing fire to the barrack, and forest.
Sentenced to 4 years imprisonment, followed by   reduction (loss) of all rights for 3 years.

NOTE: It looks like the whole family lived in barracks with other exiled convicts in the mining penal colony and worked in the forest.

Court case No.14105, F.641/1.op1.d.8117

RYMASZEWSKI JULIAN, the son of ANTONI
• Born 15 December 1870, on landed property (estate) in   Mikhailotsky Igumensky district, Minsk guberniya.
• Worked as carpenter
Class origin: from the family of rich farmers - kulaks
• Nationality: Polish
• His land property was confiscated in 1930

• Wife - Magdalena, the daughter of Thaddeus (?), age 65
  Daughter - Juzefa (Józefa), age 22
  Daughter - Antonina, age 16
  Son - Julian, age 29
  Son - Antoni, age 35 (see above)

Arrested by the NKVD of Kosinsky area (Sverdlovsk   province) on 5 January 1938.
• These particulars compiled on 8 January 1938.

Accused of arson.
Died on 21 December 1938 during his stay in Perm   prison.



Court case No.8894, F.643/2.op1.d.30471

RIMASZEWSKI WACLAW, the son of FRANCIS
• Born in November 1882 in village Svidichi (Swidycze),   Slobodoluchansky village soviet, Konyl ?( typing error),   should be Kopyl district, BSSR   (Belorussian Soviet   Socialist   Republic).
• Lived at: Ust-Smolva labour-village
• Worked as labourer on grain farming
• Class origin: from the family of rich farmers - kulaks
His land property was confiscated in 1930, followed by   family deportation.
• Education: 5 classes of School
• Nationality: Polish
• Wife - Marja (Maryia), the daughter of Wincenty (Vintsent),   age 42
  Daughter - Marja (Maryia), born in 1915, age 22
  Son - Waclaw (Vatslav), age 9
  Daughter - Wanda (Vanda), age 7
  Son - Edward, age 2
  Brother - Josef, the son of Francis, age 69, living in the   USA.
• These particulars compiled on 16 December 1937.

Arrested by the Kochevo area NKVD on
  16 December 1937.
Accused of espionage
Decision by the NKVD "Court" of Three: to apply the   highest measure of punishment.
  Executed on 2 March 1938
.

 

NOTE:

Above is a typical example of insane criminal law under Communist tyranny.

Because Vaclav Rimashevski had a brother living in the USA, a capitalist country, therefore an enemy country, and exchanged an occasional letter with him, where he may have complained about his hard life in USSR, it was sufficient reason to accuse him of treason to socialism and "espionage", and sentence to death.



SOUTH  AFRICA

Alex Rymaszewski, Age 55 (in 2007) is the Store Development Director since 2003 of a Company "Builders Warehouse" , a subsidiary of MassMart Group in South Africa. (Store location in Zambezi Drive, Pretoria)

Marian Rymaszewski, found on the Internet in 2007.

Lives in South Africa in Roodepoort

Location found from a list of BON4U winners (2005), and the photo from the Facebook (Find names using Search) : http://www.facebook.com/

Stefan Johan (John) Rymaszewski, South Africa, 2009

photo from the Facebook (Find names using Search)


SPAIN
    Information from Joanna - Email 045

  • Slawomir Rymaszewski, the son of Stanislaw and Regina from Bialystok, Poland.
    Slawomir and his wife Danuta have three daughters and one son :
  • Joanna Rymaszewska, age 28 (2007), who after completing her studies in Poland, traveled to Canary Islands and United States, and since 2004 works in London with the Local Council in Ealing. She is now planning a visit to Indochina (backpacking) for 6 weeks.
  • Robert Rymaszewski, age 18 (2007)
  • Karolina Rymaszewska, age 13 (2007)
  • Anna Rymaszewska, age 8 (2007)
  • Lech Rymaszewski, brother of Slawomir above. He and his wife have two daughters:
  • Zaneta Rymaszewska, who is currently (2007) studying in Warsaw, Poland
  • Katarzyna Rymaszewska, who is studying in Madrid, Spain.
  • Slawomir and Lech have another brother Andrzej who lives in Bialystok, Poland. Andrzej is married to Barbara and they have two children, a son Piotr and a daughter Ewelina. See Directory of Names (Bialystok)


Joanna (Asia) Rymaszewska in Barcelona, Spain in November 2008.
Joanna provided all her family information to me in Email No. 045


FAMILY ROOTS
Family roots of the above families extend to the 19th century Minsk and Sluck in the Polish Eastern Borderlands, known as Kresy
.

  • Their grandfather Bronislaw was born around 1902. His parents were Wiktor Rymaszewski and Emilia Ratkiewicz. They lived near Sluck. The family were landowners and had an estate. Bronislaw was the youngest of the 11 siblings. Among them there were sisters Zofia and Katarzyna, and brothers Franciszek and Antoni. Also another brother who was exiled to Siberia. And another one who was executed by firing by the bolsheviks. During the bolshevik revolution (1917) the family's estate was confiscated and the family scattered. Bronislaw escaped, as a 14 year old boy, over the border to newly resurrected (in 1918-20) independent Poland. He went to Bialystok. He always lived in the fear of Communist repression. Bronislaw obtained employment with the Polish State Railways and married Olga. His only son Stanislaw was born when he was around 40 years old
  • During the Second World War his lost older brother Antoni had unexpectedly turned up in Bialystok. Antoni was born around 1900. His wife was Maria Ciemkowska and they lived somewhere near Brest (Litovsk). They had at least four children Jan, Bronislawa, Stanislawa and Lidia. Under the Soviet occupation of Eastern Poland in 1939 Antoni was conscripted to the Soviet Army. However, he decided eventually to escape from the Red Army. During the attempt he was wounded with a gunshot. Because he was Wanted, he could not go to the doctor. He was hiding in the attic of his brother Bronislaw's home in Bialystok. Unfortunately the wound got infected and he was suffering great pain. He did not want to expose his brother to punishment by the Soviet KGB, so in the unbearable pain he took his own life. He was buried in Bialystok cemetery in 1942, aged 43 years.
  • In 1978, after Bronislaw's death, some other siblings were found through the Red Cross:
    - Zofia, his sister. She married Mr Wasilewski and they lived in Tarnopol. They had 4 sons - Adam, Wiktor, Lonia and ?, who lived in Tarnopol and Minsk.
    - Katarzyna, much older Bronislaw's sister, was living in Belarus with her grown up children and grandchildren.
    - Franciszek, a party member in the State administration, lived with his family near Brest in Belarus.
  • Grandfather Bronislaw had only one son Stanislaw, who died in 1967. Stanislaw and his wife Regina had three sons: Slawomir, Lech and Andrzej, all as listed above. Slawomir's daughter Joanna sent me above family information.

 

Joanna (Asia) Rymaszewska during visit to her relatives in Bialystok, Poland in July 2008

 

 

Joanna (Asia) Rymaszewska
works in London at the Local Council in Ealing.

Photo by the river Thames at Hammersmith,
June 2008


Joanna's contact address is joannarym@yahoo.com


To UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA
  • The family of DAVID RYMASZEWSKI in MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin State, where his grandfather Telesfor, born in Sluck in the Russian partition of Poland, emigrated to in 1905.
  • The family of STANISLAW RYMASZEWSKI in PENNSYLVANIA, a child deportee to Siberia, originally from Kuszelewo near Nowogródek, Poland, who was granted asylum in the USA after the Communists imposed martial law against Solidarity in Poland.     and many others ............ click on ENTRY >>


 
1: INTRODUCTION by Franek Rymaszewski     7: WITH MY BROTHER in WARTIME ENGLAND   11: POLISH CHRISTMAS and EASTER
2: MY FAMILY TREE   8: MY FAMILY SURVIVORS in POLAND 12: ANCESTORS - Part 1 : Origin and Records    
3: RELEVANT MAPS and POLISH HISTORY   9: MY EMIGRATION to AUSTRALIA       ANCESTORS - Part 2 : Family Tree
4: MY FAMILY ANCESTRY in POLAND   13: Rymaszewskis in present-day POLAND
5: PINSK UNDER COMMUNIST TYRANNY 10: Descendants in AUSTRALIA - Part 1     14: Rymaszewskis  WORLD-WIDE (Part 1)
    MIETEK'S MEMOIRS OF GULAG       Descendants in AUSTRALIA - Part 2       Rymaszewskis in the USA (Part 2)
6: MY ESCAPE FROM STALIN       Descendants in AUSTRALIA - Part 3 15: EMAILS from Visitors