These past seven years, I’ve felt like a time traveller—except that I’ve walked in my father’s shoes instead of my own.
A Polish freedom fighter from World War II looks back at the Christmas of 1944 that brought him hope.
It’s been a fascinating and scary journey imagining what my father’s dramatic young life was like.
My adventure began in 2010 when my then 84-year-old father, Andrzej Urbanowicz, my 10 year-old daughter, and I stood on an old side street in Warsaw, Poland. My dad pointed to a bridge in the distance and told me that if he had not crossed that bridge on a specific day during World War II, I would never have been born. (This caught my attention.)
Had Dad not crossed that bridge when he did, he would have ended up living in Communist Poland, never to meet my mom or have me. However, he managed to cross the bridge and ended up fighting in the Warsaw Uprising, escaping death six times and becoming a prisoner of war. Despite many hardships, he was able to obtain an engineering degree in England, find my mom, and eventually move to Canada where my sister and I were born.
This heritage trip and my father’s World War II stories intrigued me so much that I craved to understand more about his experiences and life. I asked him how he found God in the horrors of war and prisoner camps.
He shared with me how he saw so much evil that he was determined for evil not to win. Instead, he chose to seek and trust in God. He did see glimpses of light during those tough times, including the Christmas he spent behind barbed wire fences (which is the story I share in Christmas with Hot Apple Cider).
Our trip in 2010 led to another. In 2014, the three generations (my dad, daughter, and I) decided to go on a short-term summer missions trip to Poland with International Messengers. We visited four family summer camps where we shared our stories and helped teach ESL and the Bible.
The Poles loved hearing first-hand accounts and the faith journey of a Polish Warsaw Uprising Veteran. The youth and young adults would often keep my dad up into the wee hours of the morning asking him questions about the war and God.
Then in January 2017 my dad and I were interviewed on the TV show 100 Huntley Street about how God became his only hope during the war. Shortly after, the opportunity to write and submit a story for Christmas with Hot Apple Cider came. I knew I had to submit a story about my dad’s life.
I’ve enjoyed digging into the genealogy and history of my father and other family members. I’ve spent a lot more time with my dad and have come understand him better. I encourage you to dig into your geneology. It can be an adventure with unexpected surprises!
If you’d like to watch my dad’s and my interview on 100 Huntley Street, read more stories, and be inspired through my music and messages, go to my website.
Tina Michele Weidelich is a woman on a mission to make every day count, both for God and through Him. As a singer/songwriter/speaker/author, her desire is to write, sing, and share stories from her life that will inspire people to rejoice, reflect, and draw closer to God. She was the 2017 nonfiction runner-up in The Word Guild’s In The Beginning contest. Tina Michele works as a senior marketing manager at Christian Blind Mission and lives in Richmond Hill with her husband and teenage daughter.
www.tinamichele.com
Enjoyed learning how your father’s story continues to be shared and to encourage faith and bravery. The campers were fortunate to get the story directly from your father’s mouth and to see, in person, how that same faith is being passed on through the generations.
Thank you Patricia. It’s been so inspiring to see my dad in his eighties and now nineties be able to share his faith.