Week 11: Lucky #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

It is the year 1916. Wladyslaw Stepek, my husband's grandfather, is a prisoner of war in a Russian camp. He contracts tuberculosis and the prison guards decide he needs to be operated on. During the operation, half of one lung is removed and, while he is recovering, he plays card games with his captors.

At one such game he wins money from them, but they can't afford to pay him. He tells them "Gentlemen,I don't want your money, I want my freedom." Surprisingly they agree to see what they can do about that and they come up with a plan.

One of the other prisoners is due to be hanged for attempting to escape. The prison guards tell the prisoner who is due to be hanged that they will spare his life and send him to Siberia instead for 15 years - under one condition. He must change his name to Wladyslaw Stepek!

This, however, causes a problem for the guards as they need to have a hanged body. So they decide that they will 'hang' the body of another prisoner, who has died earlier of natural causes in his cell. This, of course, causes yet another problem - they have to bury the 'person' who died in the cell. So, they fill a coffin with rocks and bury that instead.

So ... 'Wladyslaw Stepek' (not Martin's grandfather) goes off to Siberia, a coffin without a body is buried and an already dead prisoner is hanged. This leaves the real Wladyslaw Stepek (Martin's grandfather) free to leave the camp and make his way home!

That was one LUCKY card game. And Wladyslaw is one LUCKY man.

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