Writing Family History

My Baba, Lukia Mazurec

I’m back to working on my baba’s  story, NO TIME FOR TEARS, which is essentially an immigrant’s story.  It’ll be published as a novel, as I’ve had to do a lot of research to fill in the blanks.  Because she lived behind the Iron Curtain, in Eastern Europe, information has not been easy to get.

As I write what she went through during World War I up to the time she got to Canada in 1929, I’m amazed at her resilience, her faith, and her love for her family. How she endured all her losses is a mystery. We hear so much about the men who went out to fight the wars, but not so much about the women who stayed behind and kept the family together under difficult odds.

I shared a bedroom with my baba until I was fifteen. She was a quiet soul and didn’t talk much, except to my mother. Maybe because I was a child and she didn’t think I’d understand. Now that I’m nearing the anniversary of my mother’s death, I am reminded of the fact it was my mother who gave me the stories of my baba’s life. It’s both my baba and mother’s memoir. I didn’t get them through prying or prodding. I got them because my mother was a natural storyteller and bent anyone’s ear when she was given half a chance. Eyes would sometimes roll at the kitchen table as she repeated once again how horrible life was when she was growing up in occupied Ukraine. Eyes wouldn’t roll so much at the horror she described; rather it was because we’d heard it all before.

So, you’d think that as I got older, I’d have those stories almost memorized. Nothing was further from the truth. You know what kids are like. They often tune out when adults are talking. So, when I got older, and found the details of my grandmother’s story fuzzy, even with my mother’s repeated storytelling, I started to listen. Thereafter, whenever I visited my elderly mother in Winnipeg, I brought along my laptop. She’d start her stories and I’d write them down.

A chapter of NO TIME FOR TEARS, my work in progress, was selected for an anthology, entitled, ESCAPE, to be published this November by Peregrin Publishing. This is Peregrin’s debut book compiled by a group of dedicated authors and illustrators living in Campbell River and Quadra Island.

Here’s a sample:

Escape Anthology – History

From No Time For Tears

by Diana Stevan

…Now that they had another family in the boxcar, they were more cramped than before. She could see her children—who were used to running through the fields or woods—squirm from sitting too long in one place and then poke one another in irritation. Thankfully, the train stopped frequently. At stops where they were sure the train wasn’t going to move for at least a quarter of an hour, Lukia and the children got off to breathe some fresh air and stretch their limbs. The break was also an opportunity to dump their pail and do their toilet either at the station facilities or in the tall grass or bush, whichever gave them the most privacy.

Most of these stops were short, but then there were those that took hours, sometimes longer than a day. That was when their boxcars were diverted onto another track to allow the military trains to go through. In some ways, Lukia welcomed such stops. They could get out of the boxcar, its cramped space and stench. She could build a fire and prepare a hot meal, and talk with families from other cars, who shared her concerns about their journey, destination, and future.

But the delays made the trip even longer. It was worrisome, not knowing how long it would take and how they would feed themselves if the food ran out before they got there. The government said they would help along the way and not let anyone starve, but could it be trusted? At some stations, officials handed out bread. It was welcomed, but it was hardly enough to squelch anyone’s hunger pangs.

Who could trust anyone these days? She could see by the way the soldiers were treated in Lutsk. They were scrambling for food and arms to fight with. So what hope did the refugees have of getting what they needed? They were only civilians, dispensable in war. Would the Czar and his family ride in a boxcar if they had to run away? Lukia doubted it. The rich would be taken to some luxurious retreat. It was always like this. No, you could only depend on yourself.

(What an ordeal for a mother forced to travel alone with her children. How does she cope? Be sure to find out by getting your copy of the ‘Escape Anthology’) 

The above excerpt, as well as others, is on the Peregrin Publishing website. The book is due out in November.

A Related Post: A Whole Empire Walking

I wonder if any of you are thinking of writing your family’s history. Every family is unique. There are so many stories out there worth telling. Have you found it hard to get the information? There are ways to tease out the truth. I hope this inspires you to find out more about yours.

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