Trying to trace Wicher family roots in Ukraine

[garstonite]

That`s OK Mick...fine - so he wasn`t one of the 8,500 14th Waffen ....they never got sent until May 1947 ....good luck with finding Wlod`s roots
www.geneanet.org
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[garstonite]

Looks like he was a POW though
list of UK POW Camps in UK
No 146 Newton Camp,Preston
http://www.online-archaeology.co.uk/articles/tabid/85/pageid/37/articleid/4/articletype/articleview/default.aspx
ADDED
I hate to tell you this - but your Wlod looks to be a lot more complicated than my Ostap...I have photographs of Ostap and colleagues in their POW Camp ...all in Cryllic writing
Hannia on Ukraine.com translated them for me
are your documents in Polish or Ukranian Cryllic ??

[Riggers68]

I havent seen these documents yet so not sure if they are polish or cyrillic. its becoming a bit addictive this family tree research. i was wondering , Wlods tattoo was on his inner right forearm , i never saw it persoanlly as he passed away a number of years ago but it is understood that he covered it up in later life to hide the old tattoo. Is it possible it wasnt a number and maybe a tattoo of something else that he wanted to cover up ??

If Wlod is a pre 47 POW are there any suggestions as to what he may have been connected with or is that a mystery we may never solve ?

I will probably be able to get the documents in the next couple of days so maybe able to have them scanned and saved, i think they may shed some more light on the mystery.

regards mick

[Riggers68]

we have the details of his Soldiers Service paybook this being 70074135  . Do you know if this maybe able to date the exact details of his arrival at Newton ? its a uk document but no dates shown on it to my knowledge

[Riggers68]

Are we looking in the wrong place ?

We have been thrown a bit of a curve ball garstonite.

We have found a picture of Wlod in his army uniform. From this we can clearly see the badge of the Syrena "The Maid of Warsaw" on the arm . We think that he was in the 2nd Polish Regiment formed part of the allied 8th Army .

This is where there is some further confusion . From another family member  Wlods mum Suzannah Kowalska is supposed to have come from the "Polish gentry" and that she married Ian (Jan) Wicher who was supposedly in the Russian Hussars. This lead to Suzannah being disowned by her family due to who she married

Wlod was supposedly a clever man and it is thought he studied at Warsaw University. This would put him at Warsaw University circa 1934 ? Whilst i appreciate the boundaries of Russian/Ukraine and Poland changed over that period there  is something we cannot understand.

Iv not seen it but on Wlods naturalization papers it indicates he was born in Kharkiv but considers his nationality to be Polish ?? Could it be that he was born in Kharkov (was that part of Russia then) due to his fathers military service and then they moved to Poland at some point .

I think i will do some research on the records of the 2nd Polish and try and work backwards. from your previous post it appears the Polish Kowalskas seem large in numbers (300)