Author Topic: My Grandparents (Drozdowski) Poland - can anyone read Polish?  (Read 12925 times)

Offline Shaky120

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My Grandparents (Drozdowski) Poland - can anyone read Polish?
« on: Saturday 22 November 14 12:05 GMT (UK) »
Hey, thought i would put up a post and hopefully someone can help.

My Grandfathers name was Wladyslaw Drozdowski,
He was born in Berenzo, Kostopol, Luck (Poland) on 5/3/1918
i do believe he escaped from a prisoner of war camp somewhere,
I have letters showing he was in the polish resettlement corps in the Uk, he was based at Camp North, Arrochar, dumbartonshire, scotland.
Former unit was - 5 to D.P 14. B Infantry (written on form not sure what it means) (letters dated 1948)
another form says - Polish armed forces writing says - 38 / III    ULAN (not sure what this means either)
i know he was in monte cassino, egypt, and a few other places while in the army.

going by the information on his marriage certificate to a daisy callaghan in 1954 (glasgow).

his father name was marian drozdowski - Railway Engine Driver
Mother - Maria Drozdowski (Maiden Name - Fiolkowski)

i know he had sisters and brothers but not sure there names.
from writting on back of photos names look like
marian
janusz
antojiu
driecmi
kazimierz

i have been trying ancestry.com, familysearch.org and a few other resources online if anyone else can point me in the right direction to start finding out more about my family as they all got split up during the war.

below is link to some text on photos, trying to get translated atm to find out.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=705954.0

Thanks for reading.
Drozdowski, Anderson, McMurray, Callaghan

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Offline philipsearching

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Re: Trying to find out any information on Grandparents (Drozdowski) Poland
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 22 November 14 17:40 GMT (UK) »
38/III Ulan refers to the Polish light cavalry (spelt Ulan in Polish, Uhlan in German).  I presume that 38/III defines the regiment, brigade or division, but I will need to do more research to confirm this.

The reference in 1948 to "DP" could mean "displaced person" if he was unable to return to Poland after he was demobilised.

He may have been in "Anders Army" (see the wikipedia article) which began on the eastern front before heading down to North Africa and becoming the 2nd Polish Corps fighting with the British Army in North Africa and Italy.

All the best
Philip
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Offline Shaky120

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Re: Trying to find out any information on Grandparents (Drozdowski) Poland
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 22 November 14 17:53 GMT (UK) »
Thanks Philip that's really helpful.
Drozdowski, Anderson, McMurray, Callaghan

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Offline MargP

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Re: Trying to find out any information on Grandparents (Drozdowski) Poland
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 22 November 14 19:22 GMT (UK) »
Hi

I am not sure if this is related,    1920 US Census from Findmypast

Antoni Drozdowski b 1889 Poland
Julia Drozdowski b 1891 Poland
Kazimierz Drozdowski b 1916 Massachusetts

Margp
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Offline Shaky120

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Re: Trying to find out any information on Grandparents (Drozdowski) Poland
« Reply #4 on: Saturday 22 November 14 20:02 GMT (UK) »
thanks marg, will keep looking into it but not sure how i'm going to prove it but trying my best hoping once there's something on the photo text i'm hoping someone will translate.
going through all drozdowski ancestry trees online atm, but the marian drozdowski & maria fiolkowski he has marked as mum and dad on his marriage certificate, but seen a grave with both there names on but they were around same age as my grandad so considering it might be brothers or sisters trying to look at all options.
Drozdowski, Anderson, McMurray, Callaghan

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Offline Slavko

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Re: Trying to find out any information on Grandparents (Drozdowski) Poland
« Reply #5 on: Monday 24 November 14 16:35 GMT (UK) »
Hey, thought i would put up a post and hopefully someone can help.

My Grandfathers name was Wladyslaw Drozdowski,
He was born in Berenzo, Kostopol, Luck (Poland) on 5/3/1918
i do believe he escaped from a prisoner of war camp somewhere,
I have letters showing he was in the polish resettlement corps in the Uk, he was based at Camp North, Arrochar, dumbartonshire, scotland.
Former unit was - 5 to D.P 14. B Infantry (written on form not sure what it means) (letters dated 1948)
another form says - Polish armed forces writing says - 38 / III    ULAN (not sure what this means either)
i know he was in monte cassino, egypt, and a few other places while in the army.

going by the information on his marriage certificate to a daisy callaghan in 1954 (glasgow).

his father name was marian drozdowski - Railway Engine Driver
Mother - Maria Drozdowski (Maiden Name - Fiolkowski)

i know he had sisters and brothers but not sure there names.
from writting on back of photos names look like
marian
janusz
antojiu
driecmi
kazimierz

i have been trying ancestry.com, familysearch.org and a few other resources online if anyone else can point me in the right direction to start finding out more about my family as they all got split up during the war.

below is link to some text on photos, trying to get translated atm to find out.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=705954.0

Thanks for reading.

Offline Slavko

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Re: Trying to find out any information on Grandparents (Drozdowski) Poland
« Reply #6 on: Monday 24 November 14 16:36 GMT (UK) »
Hi,
I am a Polish army officer and is interested in the history of Polish military units.
DP is in Polish language Dywizja Piechoty - Infantry Division
B Piechoty (batalion piechoty) - infantry battalion.
This means that Wladyslaw Drozdowski was a soldier 5 Kresowa Infantry Division (5 Kresowa Dywizja Piechoty), to be exact - 14 Rifles Battalion Vilnius "Wildcats" (14 Wileński Batalion Strzelców "Żbiki").

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Kresowa_Dywizja_Piechoty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5th_Kresowa_Infantry_Division

Ułan designation means that probably in 1944 was transferred to 3 Silesian Cavalry Regiment (3 Śląski Pułk Ułanów), who was then formed in the Second Polish Corps, but then you need to check.
Sign clearly indicates Lancers - 38 / III - III is always a larger number of units - 38 can mean squadron,
but I'm not sure.

Polish only
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Pu%C5%82k_U%C5%82an%C3%B3w_%C5%9Al%C4%85skich

how many of the sisters, how many brothers?
marian
janusz
antojiu
driecmi
kazimierz

Marian - a brother
Janusz - a brother
Kazimierz - a brother

antojiu
driecmi

This unknowns - eg. antojiu – Anthony (Antoni), Antoinette (Antonina)?
Could use a scan retreat photography.
Good scan and he will read the writings Polish.
The father can find out here:
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instytut_Polski_i_Muzeum_im._gen._Sikorskiego_w_Londynie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Institute_and_Sikorski_Museum

Father's family history will be harder to find ...

Greetings from Poland.
Slavko.


ps. On the Polish web site is much more,
eg. the address of the institute Sikorski.

Offline Shaky120

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Re: Trying to find out any information on Grandparents (Drozdowski) Poland
« Reply #7 on: Monday 24 November 14 17:44 GMT (UK) »
Thanks Slavko, the information is very helpful.
i have quite a few photos of the family and a'lot of his army photos from various locations.
If you are you interested in seeing them drop me a message will be happy to share them, might be some use to you in your reseach and would love to put some names to friends in his army unit.
what do you mean by scan retreat photography i have never heard of it but will look into your information more when i get home from work.
in regards to the names or amount of brothers i do not know till i get the writing on the back of the photos translated, have all the photos scanned and writing but thought it would take up to much room to post it all on here, and wasnt sure if it was normal to share the photos on the forums.

Thanks for the help

John
Drozdowski, Anderson, McMurray, Callaghan

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Offline Slavko

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Re: Trying to find out any information on Grandparents (Drozdowski) Poland
« Reply #8 on: Monday 24 November 14 18:09 GMT (UK) »
It is very simple - as is the text of the Polish - we scan and send the internet - always find a native speaker - letters written in any language are different. The exact date here in jpeg scan read out without a problem. I can tell the story of the 2nd Corps, because one of my grandparents was there. For us, it is the story no joke - everywhere Poles do idiots - and we've got your story ...

Yours
Slavko

ps. retreat - reverse (my mistake)
the need to scan the photograph - reverse - as I see it will read :)