2024 Week 44: Challenging #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

My husband's grandfather, Wladyslaw Stepek, was born in November of 1893, the eldest of nine children. Unlike five of his siblings, Wladyslaw survived childhood, a childhood spent on a small farm in Haczow, a village in present day south-eastern Poland, but at that point in time was occupied by Austria. He had, however, caught tuberculosis as a child and did almost die.

His next challenge came when both his parents died and at the age of 19, he found himself an orphan and head of the household. We think at this time he was studying pharmacy at university. However, in the following year1914, everything changed with the onset of World War I.

Wladyslaw Stepek

Wladyslaw was quickly conscripted into the medical corps of the Austrian army against his wishes as he was a fervent supporter of the resumption of Polish independence. His situation worsened when he was captured by the Russian army in 1915 and sent to Mariupol in present day Ukraine. There he was sent to work in a chemical factory and was arrested in the factory for agitating his fellow workers against the Russian Tsar. For this crime, he spent a month in an underground cell and was sentenced to fifteen years in Siberia.

However, before he was taken there , he once again became ill with tuberculosis. Astonishingly his captors decided to operate on him to save his life. This entailed cutting away half of one lung - without any anaesthetic! When he recovered he was deemed to be an 'invalid' and was released. After a remarkable set of incidents (see Lucky ), he was able to return to his home.

After recovering at home, he again started to agitate against Austrian rule and this time was re-arrested this time by the Austrians. We do not know how long he was held, but when he was released towards the end of the war, he again challenged Austrian rule by raising 100 volunteers who went on to seize a local Austrian garrison!

This was one of the last acts of WW1 in Poland. After that Poland managed to regain its independence and Wladyslaw's life settled down. He married and had three children, whose own lives would go on to be challenging during the Second World War.

Sadly there is no happy ending to Wladyslaw's story. When WW2 began in 1939, Wladyslaw had to flee into hiding, his family were taken to a labour camp in Russia and he himself died of cancer in 1943, not knowing what had become of his wife and children.

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