Goodbye Grandma Kuzminac

I lost my sweet grandma Kuzminac on Saturday, April 4th. I was so lucky to have her and to love her so much as some never know their grandparents or have a close relationship with them. She would do anything for anyone and I think even at the end she was unselfish and went at a time that she knew she would be helping me and my mom out. She passed before she got to meet sweet Brooklyn Cecylia but I think she knew that I would need my mom and my mom would want to be there for me. It's never easy to say goodbye but I am so thankful I got to give her kisses and rub her head and have her look at me just a few days before she passed. I am so proud of my mom for taking such wonderful care of her and my uncle for helping too. Her amazing story is below. It is long but I wanted to have it posted somewhere and share it with others. Here are a few pictures I have on my computer. Unfortunately I only have 2004 and up on this computer and no scanner so they aren't all my favorites.

Cecylia was born in a suburb of Paris on New Years Eve of 1924. Her father was a French Policeman and her Mother a seamstress. Cecylia had an older sister Sophie, and two younger siblings, Helen and Marcell. She came from a strict but loving Catholic home.

Cecylia loved trains and long overnight train rides. For her 15th birthday her parents promised her a trip on a train. Cecylia and her Mother and siblings were going to Poland to visit their grandmother who was ill. While visiting in Poland the Germans invaded Poland during the start of WWII. Cecylia’s Mother tried desperately to get her family out of Poland and back to France. They were not allowed to leave.

A little history about this time tells us that the Germans had all their youth involved in the war effort and needed help in their industry and on their farms. While the young people of Poland were going to church, the market, visiting relatives the Germans would take them at gun point and ship them in rail cars to Germany and put in slave labor. The people finally decided to stay home and not send the young people out so the Germans came to the doors and took them away. Cecylia was 15 years old when suddenly one night a serious knock came at the door and the Germans took her away. Her mother begged them not to take her child; they had already taken Sophie the oldest girl. Mom was loaded in a rail car loaded with many other people and taken away never to see her family again.

When she arrived in Germany, she only spoke French and a bit of Polish, she was a child scared, longing for her Mother and Father and family. She didn’t understand the language, had never been separated from family and didn’t know what to do. Eventually she was lined up to be viewed by the many Nazi Sympathizers that needed someone to work for them. They looked people over like slaves and took the ones they wanted back to their home, farm, and factory whatever. Cecylia was so young, so skinny what could she do? Finally someone took her home to be a companion to his young daughter. This was good for Cecylia because these people were kind to her but it didn’t last. The Nazi party took her away because they no longer felt this guy was on their side. Cecylia was sent to someone who was high on the Nazi Sympathizer list.

This time Cecylia had to work for someone who was not at all good to her. She was put to work taking care of the families 9 children. This gentleman owned a big farm and his business was giving carriage rides to people who went to a resort he owned. He had many prisoners of war working his land and taking care of the resort. He had many slave laborers like Cecylia all taken from their homes around Europe and speaking different languages. Cecylia had to learn how to communicate with them all and ended up speaking several languages after the war she was used as an interpreter for Red Cross.

So, Cecylia had to take care of 9 children, bring the milk cans in and out of the house, and cook for the family and the workers. Remember she was a girl of 15 brought up in a happy home with loving parents who expected much from her but didn’t have her cooking and laboring from dusk to dawn. Depressed, scared, lonely for her family and things familiar, Cecylia thought about cutting off her hand. If she cut the hand off she couldn’t work and they would have to send her home. This thought stayed with her for many days and nights. On the farm there were prisoners of war who worked under a guard with a gun during the day and were locked up at night. Cecylia felt sorry for these people, some of them were Frenchmen who had wives and children at home. It occurred to her if they didn’t cut off a limb to go home maybe she shouldn’t either. Cecylia would work and do as she was told but not with out rebelling now and then. The prisoners were often hungry and Cecylia would make extra bred and cookies and hide them so she could sneak them to the prisoners. If she was caught she would be severely punished, she never got caught.

One day while walking beside a field Cecylia saw this prisoner of war working, the prisoner was tall and young and his guard was short and stout. Cecylia noted the prisoner had on a uniform she didn’t recognize and asked him where he was from; he told her he was from Yugoslavia. She didn’t know it that day but this was going to be the love of her life. She made fun of him that day asking why he was so afraid of that short guard. The answer he gave was because of his big gun.

For seven years Cecylia worked in slave labor with no health care, no dental no warm clothes. She would learn the languages of her fellow prisoners. She continued to feed the prisoners and she would forever miss her life as it was and her family.

After the war the French liberated Cecylia and the others like her. She was so happy to hear her own countryman speak to her. Cecylia and her soon to be husband were liberated together and married, lived 55 happy years together devoted to each other and their children.

Sadly, Cecylia knew the pain of losing a child when her second child Lela died suddenly at the age of 11 months. Yet another loss she had to suffer was almost too much for her but something with in her kept her going, after all she had a 3 year still to care for. The papers to come to this new country came in just before Lela died and after the funeral Cecylia had to realize she must leave her child buried in Germany and move to America so, so far away. How could she make this separation again? Cecylia had an inner strength that kept her going. After coming to America Cecylia’s health failed her and she had asthma so badly she had to sit up nights to breath. The birth of their 3rd child was so much reason for excitement. Robert and Cecylia shared a special bond, she was his champion, she loved and protected him and understood him as no one else but a mother could. In her final days Robert repaid all that love by being her champion, he was devoted to her care.