• 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

• Alexander Rymashevski was born in 1972 in Byelorussia. He emigrated to Australia in 1999, at the age of 27. His grandparents lived in the area of Sluck in Byelorussia. His parents still live near Sluck in the present day Belarus.
  
  Alexander works in Information Technology and 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 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
  

Alex and his 4 year old son Artem on board of the Tall Ship Enterprise in port Melbourne.

• 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. (See MAP below). His son Ivan and grandson Leonid also lived there.
  
  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(2): Rymaszewski ancestors in the 19th century.

1 on the map :
Alexander's from Melbourne great-grandfather Stepan (Stefan) Rymashevski lived in Pogost (Pohost) south of Sluck.

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

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

3 on the map :
I, myself, Franek (Frantsishek), was born in Gantsavichi (Hancewicze) which was then in Poland.

• (+) 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, she 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 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 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.

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

• 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.

• 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.

• (66.21) Mieczyslaw Rymaszewski, the son of Rafal(2) and Emilia Czerepowicka. He was born on 28 March 1906 and died on 20 August 1978 in Lachowicze (Lyakhovichi). (photo >)
  


• (66.21w) Emilja Rymaszewska (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. (photo >)
  


• (66.211) Jadwiga (Jadzia) Rymaszewska, the daughter of Mieczyslaw and Emilia Gruszewska, was born on 17 August 1936 in Burakowce. She is now living in Lyakhovichi in Belarus. See her photos below.
  


• (66.22) 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 her photos below.
  


• (66.2) Rafal(2) Rymaszewski, Mieczyslaw's father, the son of Rafal, was born in 1873. His wife was Emilia Czerepowicka. They had the following children : Mieczyslaw (1906), Aleksander (1908), Zofia (1910), Maria, Wanda, Józefa and Sabinka.   The wife, Emilia Czerepowicka, died in 1933. And Rafal(2) died on 10 January 1958.
  
• (66.3) Józefa Rymaszewska - Rafal's sister. She married Mr. Snacki and moved to live near Stolowicze, not far from Zaosie, the birthplace of Adam Mickiewicz. They had two children Mieczyslaw and Zygmunt.
  

In independent Poland, during the period 1918 to 1939, 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 USSR 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.

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

The cemetery in Lyakhovichi (Lachowicze), Belarus - date 29 May 2002.
Visiting from Poland is Irena Gruszewska, the daughter of Emilja Rymaszewska's brother Boleslaw.

Some of the above information was obtained from the Janusz Kielak website - link is in my Chapter 2

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

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

After the war the area became Soviet Western Byelorussia. Young Jadzia attended High school in town Baranowicze.

Eventually she enrolled in the 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.

Photo: May 2002
Jadzia (age 66) in Nacha (Nacza), Belarus. She has now retired and lives in an apartment in Lachowicze.

High School in Baranowicze

University days in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg).

Zofia Rymaszewska - Mieczyslaw's sister, was born on 2 June 1910.

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

Wladyslaw was born in 1901 in Nacza Bryndzowska. Zofia and Wladyslaw had 3 children : Bogdan, Halina and Grigoriy.

Zofia died on 28 January 2003 in Pierechrestie near Nacha, aged 93 years.

• 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.

• 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)	PREVIOUS	Email: 008
  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) on my website in chapter 8, and his wife Maria. 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. Greg's email address: gregryma@msn.com Phone: + 905 730 5045

50.1421 — 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

Photo of Anna Rymaszewska  - August 2006 >>

• 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'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)

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 >)

• 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)

• Henry (Henryk) Rymaszewski, Preston.
  The following information was sent by Henry who was contacted through the www.RootsWeb.com Message Board.
  Date: 16 Nov 2000
  ......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       Email: henryrym@hotmail.com
  
  For records of Henry's ancestors/relatives in Poland see: ANCESTORS (2) - Early 20th cent. in Chapter 12

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

• John Rymaszewski, born in England, age 53 (2002), the son of Jan, lives in Durham. His 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 (Soviet secret police). 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 Anders Army. John's father, Jan, settled in England after the war, and uncle Czeslaw (Czes) emigrated to Canada (near Vancouver). After the war, other members of the family from "Kresy" were relocated to Western Poland (regained territories) at Zielona Góra. Recently Czes (Czeslaw) visited Poland and went to the memorial service for all victims of Katyn Forest.
  Email: jrymaszewski@btinternet.com
             Mail no.007 in Chapter 15/1

• John Rymaszewski, headmaster of the Burnopfield Primary School, Newcastle
• L. Rymaszewski, medical doctor, Edinburgh.
• Lech A. Rymaszewski, Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow G213UW, tel. 0141 201 3000. Consultant in Orthopaedics (date: 2000).
• Marek Rymaszewski, born 1952, Channel Manager, Internet and Multimedia Services, British Telecom (UK), Ludlow, London. Ref: Conference on Internet & Music (22 January 2000).
• Marek Rymaszewski married Miss Griffiths in Herefordshire, UK (Marriage Index 1984-2000)
• (+) Margaret Rymaszewski, died in 1998, in Hampshire (England and Wales Civil Register - 1993-2002 Death Index)
• 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).

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

• Dominika Rymaszewski, pharmaceutical technical assistant with Brunnen Pharmacy (Apotheke), 60, Heilbronner St., LEINGARTEN, Germany. Tel. 07131-90670.

• Tomasz Rymaszewski, Tabak, Berlin, 1998.
• 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].

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

• 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 15/1

• 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 15/1

• 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].

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.

• However, 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. These variations in fact became different names.

• So:  Rymaszewski  becomes : Rymashevski, Rymashevsky, Rymashevskiy, Rimashevski, Rymasheuski  —  and Rymaszewska becomes : Rymashevska, Rymashevskaya,  Rimashevska, or same as male: Rymaszewski. Legally, in the West, they all become different surnames.

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

Email no. 003 in Chapter 15/1

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
Email: Slava Rymashevsky rymashevsky@sampo.ru

Map of 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.
  

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/

Slava Rymashevsky from Petrozavodsk, age 34, taking part in kiting races on the frozen Lake Onega, 2005. Slava is Number 48.

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

Victor celebrating
his 12th birthday (2005)

Natasha Rymashevskaya and her son Victor (2005)

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

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 (..i..), 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.

• Sergey Rimashevskiy, the son of Aleksander Mikhailovich, was born in 1961 in the town Kizel, Perm district, Ural mountains, and is now 45 year old (2006). He 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.

Sergey and Natalia have two children, a boy and a girl
• Mikhail (Misha), a student, born in 1987, now 19 years old (2006)
• Anastasia (Nastia) , a schoolgirl, born in 1991, now 15 years old (2006)    

Their address:
MELITOPOL
Zaporozhskaya oblast'
Ukraine
Email: rimashev@mail.ru

• 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
Phone : 453-76-46
Email: delt@bk.ru
(For Ukrainian spelling of the address see Email no.019)

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

• Anton Rimashevskiy, an older brother (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' or Yaremichi (Jaremicze). On their estate they were breeding thoroughbred horses for sale (see photo on the right).

After the 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 grandfather with great respect.

• 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

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 Melit