Irena Dybowska

Irena Dybowska, my grandmother, was born on 12 Nov. 1912 in Toruń (nowadays Poland). Then, that area of Poland was under the Prussian rule, Poland as the country (due to the prior partition of the state) did not exist on the map of the world.

Anyhow, Irena was the only child of Anton/Antoni (von) Dybowski and his wife Bronisława ("Brunka") Manikowska.

Irena's mother Bronisława

Anton, my great-grandfather, was killed in WW1 when Irena was about 4 years old. Bronisława remarried but her second husband died soon too. Then, little Irena had another stepfather.

Irena and the family celebrated the girl's First Holy Communion Day in about 1921. Poland had been a free country already. I love this photo - see below.

Irena on her First Holy Communion Day (1921)

Grandma married when she was about 18 or 19. Her husband was Józef Czapczyński, Polish Gendarmerie Sergeant. In the early 1930s, Irena bore three daughters. Due to Józef's army service, the family moved frequently. Not long before WW2, they relocated to the war port area in Gdynia. Soon, the war changed their lives completely.

At the beginning of September, when Nazis attacked Poland, Józef was captured by the Nazi army soldiers and taken to a Stalag. Irena was arrested as well. Although she was brutally persuaded to sign the Volkslite, she did not break and did not do it (I wrote about that HERE).

Despite harsh living conditions during the war, grandma was taking care of her children as well as she could. The food and all usual goods were scarce but the lady was very resourceful and never gave up. When her daughters needed new shoes, she made the shoes for them. When they all needed new clothes, Irena sewed dresses for herself and the girls. To be able to support her children, Grandma found a job as well - she was a civilian worker of the war port.

Here is the ID photo of her which was taken during the war.

Józef came back from a forced labor camp in Germany in 1946. After the war, the family moved again to a city in central Poland. Irena worked as a premium train cars conductor. She enjoyed sewing and knitting in her free time.

Irena - 1959

In the 1960s, when Grandma's health seriously deteriorated and she was terminally ill, she moved back to Gdynia and stayed at her youngest daughter's. The latter one, despite having two little babies to take care of, she also looked after Irena and cared for the mother when she was on her death bed.

Grandma passed away on 5 Dec. 1965 before I could get to know her.