Leona Marie, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Blogs by Leona Marie
My Ukrainian Family 7/25/2023 3:47:34 PM
This is my version of the compiled stories of my mother's family in Odessa, Ukraine, USSR under Russian rule. The stories were told to me by various family members.
Mama was born in Odessa, Ukraine on December 11, 1939. She moved with her family after they left their country to escape war and famine.
They moved to Poland and from there to Germany. Somehow here is where my my uncle Friedl, who had just come back from the United States, searched for Mimi. He told my her in these words,"in America they fight their wars in other people's countries."
Friedl loved Mimi, but Mimi was a survivor of the Holodomor and of a Siberian prison camp. She did not show softness easily. It toughened up her son, it also broke his heart. It broke hers, too.
Mama's father, Vati,told us he was an international spy like 007. I get a little mixed up here. Remember again,I heard this story from other family storytellers.
Vati met Mimi in one of Stalin’s Siberan workcamps. Vati was arrested after he hid a cow from the Russian soldiers, so his family would not starve. Mimi served time because of a stolen passport stamp she used to save neighboring villagers from death.
Vati and Mimi met each other in the prison camp. They escaped under a barrage of bullets into the Tundra. That was the beginning of their love story.
Mimi and Vati’s journey on earth was filled with adventures. Of course, they were difficult, scary adventures, but they also found a deep, compassionate love.
Vati was actually Mimi’s second love. Her first husband hid his pain in alcohol. He became abusive and the village ran him out of town taking side with Mimi.
Mama told me he died in battle. She told me that's what Mimi told her My Tante, Friedl's wife and my Godmother, told me that part of the story was not true. He was not dead, but banished.
Mimi had two boys with the man, Friedel and Artur. Because of the time period, Mimi could not care sufficiently for the boys, so my great grandparents took the oldest son and cared for him as their own son. Mimi took the younger boy.
Before you ask, here's the answer. During Mimi's time in the prison workcamp, my great grandmother watched both Friedl and Artur.
While I don’t know the story well, I can tell you that Friedel and Artur had friction. As I am also a mother of sons, I imagine Mimi had something to do with it.
At this point in the story, Friedel was 13 and he was taken by the Russian soldiers to fight. Oh, that's a new story. To be continued...
