Price of survival. Memories of my family 1812–1989

The author recounts the history of her own family through the individual vicissitudes of its members throughout the last two hundred years. It was a noble family, settled in the so-called eastern borderlands of the former Commonwealth of Poland, now belonging to Belarus and Ukraine. She begins from her great-great grandparents, Monika and Wincent Pietraszewski, who farmed in their landed estate of Hincewicze in the district of Baranowicze (now in Belarus). The next chapters of this history are closely connected with the tragic aftermath of the Polish uprisings, which during 19th century affected thousands of Polish families, primarily those living in the Russian partition. Her ancestors were deported to the Caucasus, then settled in Stavropol (now Russian Federation) and Kharkiv (now Ukraine). Furthermore, they spent some years in St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo, living through the bloody times of the Bolshevik Revolution. Finally, in 1922, the author’s parents found themselves in Krakow, where they remained until the end of their days. In writing the paper, the author made ample use of the large body of family documents as well as of the oral relations heard directly from her parents and relatives