Photo Story: Peace and Changes

My Mother's Cousin Celina (Szerejko) Gzell and Son, Warsaw, Poland, Late 1940s 

(Original Image and Text, Copyright (c) Cynthia Shenette) For the family in Poland post World War II was a time of change and upheaval.  My grandfather Adolf's brother Feliks and his wife were civilian casualties of the war.   Their children survived however.  One son served in the Polish Army and was captured by the Germans.  He eventually ended up in a DP camp in Germany after the war and stayed there until he was allowed to immigrate to the United States.

My grandfather's brothers Henryk and Jan survived the war.  Jan lost one son to Soviet violence shortly after the war.  The Soviets were not friends of the Polish people.  A letter from one of  my grandfather's relatives said that to remain in Soviet occupied Poland would be "a slow starvation." Given the family letters that I've read I've always felt that post traumatic stress disorder was probably epidemic within the civilian population after World War II and not just a problem for those in the military.

My Dad and his three brothers who served overseas returned to the United States.  Their father Frank Shenette died in June of 1945 just before the end of the war.  My mom told me that my dad participated in one of the ticker tape parades in New York City.  Apparently he was qualified to operate a tank from his training in the Army and was chosen to drive a tank during the parade.  After the war Dad reenlisted into the Navy where he served until he retired from the military in 1957.

Mom's job at the Ration Board ended with the conclusion of the war.  She found work at the local office of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the Federal Building in downtown Worcester where she worked until she married my dad in 1953.


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