OUR VISIT TO UKRAINE
JIM
AND KATH HARPLEY
September
2018
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We
landed in Kyev and spent a day choosing to do the 'Lonely Planet'
walking tour which took us nicely away from the high street shops and
up the hill to the less obvious and less busy sights. Its not a
magnificent city by London or Paris or St Petersburg standards but it
has pockets of interest and loveliness with influences of previous occupations, not
least the Russians. There are in fact relics of communism all over
the country. We followed the high path running parallel with the
river which gave us excellent views and eventually a restaurant lunch
in a very pleasant green area. At one point struggling to find a
building of note, the only other person in the area rushed over to
assist us. By chance an English speaking lady – the kindness of
strangers! Our building was behind a closed off government area
secured by soldiers. She translated what we wanted and all three of
us showed our passports and were allowed through. She carried her
passport as she needed it for her banking job. English speakers in
this country are few and far between except to say that in good
hotels in big cities there are English speaking employees. In the
smaller towns and villages we sometimes had to resort to Google
translate, Jim's interpretation of sign language and drawings for our
basic requirements which as vegetarians saw us eating some
interesting meals. In one case grated carrot on a side plate with a
salad dressing which was actually quite nice but not quite the fish
and two veg that we were trying to describe. The fish came
separately. I will say at this point that all the hotels we stayed
at, even the £13.00 a night one, was good and all the food we ate
was good, although the portion sizes might be a little small compared
to UK restaurants, but then overweight Ukrainians are few and far
between, so that perhaps says something.
We
decided to ignore the Lonely Planet advice which says take the train
and use a taxi and not to drive as the roads are bad and described as
the worse they had seen anywhere in Europe and the drivers are
appalling. Well we have driven all over the world often choosing to
go off road for the fun of it and after all, hire cars go anywhere!!
It was an experience, the roads in places are really bad and I mean
really bad (even worse than our roads!!). The main road west out of
Kiev which heads straight to Poland is good and the drivers were no
worse than other places we have been to. However our car which was
pre-booked proved a problem later on. A good map and sat nav are
essential and we discovered that most places have more than one
spelling of its name so for example Luck is also Lutsk. There were
lots of petrol stations and they all take credit cards. The signs are
mostly written in our Latin alphabet so navigation was not too
difficult. However the small villages on unmade roads are beyond sat
nav reach, and they are unnamed so difficult to find. The people do
not speak English so to find exact village locations without an
interpreter would be more than difficult. Even in the nearby town of
Luboml we did not find any English speakers, even in the hotel.
Nudyze is some 300 miles west of Kiev and very close to the Polish
border. It is possible to cross the border but not in a hire car,
hence our decision to fly into Kiev. Hospitals are not by any means
up to our standards, and it is recommended that you take your own
first aid kit including
syringes.
We did not do this
so we chose to take an E111 thinking that should the worse happen we
could travel over the Polish border and suffer the hire car problem
later.
Prior
to our (Jim and myself) holiday to the Ukraine, I had undertaken some
research work and had put together a life history and time line of
Mark (my father) Gigiera. I had also drawn the family tree as I knew
it at that time which basically consisted of the 2 boys, Mietek and
Mark and their parents, Zot and Iryna. I tried research work on the
internet but found language barriers and because the Cyrillic
alphabet is also different,
translation, even with an ap, was very difficult and inaccurate.
The stunning interior of the church. When we arrived the Priest was on a scaffolding tower doing some repairs to the ceiling. I cannot imagine any of our UK clergy doing repairs to their own church!
Having
searched through various web sites, I realised early on that I would
need to employ a research company to assist and so selected Your
Roots in Poland. The archives are centrally held. For the period I
was interested in, they are held in Lutsk, and YRIN sent a researcher
there to look for records from the Cross-Vozdvizhenskaya Church in
the family village of Nudyze. This church is made of wood, pre-war
and is quite fabulous. Records are kept in different places,
dependent upon date and so we were able to find Marks (b1923) birth
records but not Mieteks (b1921) which are held in Polish archives. We
also found other birth and death records for relatives and were able
to build a more detailed family tree. It would seem that when girls
marry they move to the village of their new husband and consequently
villages have many people of the same name. The village of Nudyze
has many Rabyj's which is the village that Iryna, the boys mother,
was born and where her family came from. Mietek's father, Zotik
came from the next village of Humence which has no church.
On
arrival in the nearest town of Luboml, we checked into our hotel (The
Euro). To put a price comparison in here, it cost us about £55
total for 2 nights. As prices are low by our standards, I paid
extra to have more room. We had a large bedroom with en-suite and a
large lounge. The quality was good as too was the food. Of course
we tried the vodka!
Kath, Oxsana and the Priest searching through the archives.
YRIP
had found us a guide. Oxsana, a University lecturer, historian and
tourist guide in Lutsk. She was excellent. She spoke good English
and proved a really good translator. No one in the village or any of
our relatives that were there, spoke English and therefore a
translator was absolutely necessary. Without this we would have
found nothing. Oxsana had phoned ahead, speaking to the Nudyze
council lady, Lillia. Lillia had mobilised the village ready for our
arrival. We drove north our of Luboml taking a track with forest
either side. The track went on for several miles and driving was
slow to avoid the many potholes. On arrival we were greeted by
Lillia. We had a tour of the local school which held a small museum
and visited the church where the priest was waiting for us. He took
us up to the belfry and allowed me, the returning relative to the
village, to ring the bell. An honour bestowed upon me. The priest
rummaged in the church loft and came down with old archives from
which we found a list of other Rabyj's and confessions from Iryna's
brother Kuzma. Again we needed Oxsana to translate.
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| Village house |
 |
| Village house |
 |
| Note the dove tail joints on the corners of this traditional wooden house. This is the type of wooden house that Mietek and Mark would have been born into. Most of the village houses are still like this, some bigger and newer but essentially the same. |
Lillia
had done magic on the old bush telegraph and we had a series of
village people to visit. All very old. We visited one old lady who
was in her shed sorting through a pile of beans. Hoping to find
family information we were sent from one person to another. We were
invited into one small home (above). We went into one room which had an old fashioned cooking range
as well as a table and two single beds. Like
all the properties there was garden all the way round.
Lillia asking an old lady if she knew the Gigiera's or the Rabyj's
 |
Apart
from seeking family it was interesting to see where and how people
lived. The road north out of Luboml was unmade and potholed. The
sat-nav did not reach this far with the message 'roads unrecognised'
although the village of Nudyze was on my road map. These are roads
the average tourist would never venture down and consequently you
would never get to see villages like this. I recall that as a child
dad would talk of the storks nests. There were many of these,
although at this time of year, no storks.
Cars
are of course widely used but the farmers still have a horse and
cart. We saw several horses in the fields working. To own a horse
still represents wealth and they looked well. My father always spoke
of the family horse which was used for everything.
 |
| Village road |
Back
to the family:
Mark
always said he was illegitimate and Mietek collaborates this by
telling his descendants that his mother went off with another man. DNA tests of Juan (Mietek's son) and Andrew (Mark's son) have proven this to be correct. However, Zotik Gigiera is
listed as Marks father on his birth records. I think we can assume
that Zotik is Mietek's father as both brothers believed this to be
true and we believe Mietek to be the first born. Our researchers
found a third brother called Gieorgij, b12 April 1929. Neither
Mietek or Mark ever mentioned this. We do not have a death
certificate. It may be that he died as an infant. Gieorgij's
father too is listed as Zotik. Given that Iryna left her husband
Zotik around the time that the illegitimate
Mark was born in 1923
and went with Mark to live with her own father, it seems unlikely
that Zotik is Gieorgij's father. Of course its possible that Zotic
and Iryna continued some kind of relationship. However I am told
that Zotik and Mietek were bitter about Iryna going off with this
other man and abandoning them, so this seems unlikely. This begs many questions; did Gieorgij survive, why did neither Mark or Mietek ever mention him, if he did survive what was his story and who was his father. If the same as Marks, does he have offspring and if so where are they and do they know who their grandfather was????
We
visited one lady in a nearby village. Her husband was a descendant of
the Gigiera's. Unfortunately he was out working in a field and we
were unable to speak with him. His
father was either a Gregory who was possibly a cousin but not on my records. There will be other relatives not yet discovered and so not on the family tree, or he was the above Gieorgij b12 April 1929 who was a
brother
to Mietek and Mark. This was the only
Gigiera connection we found. To progress this it might be necessary
to have a researcher look at the other church in Holovne, near to the
Gigiera family village of Humence and records held in the Polish
archives. (10/2/19 Found a Gigera in the Ukrainian Athletics –
100m sprinter. Lives in the right area. I have also found some
Gigiera’s on Facebook living in Kovel and Luboml, so they are there and waiting to be discovered. As Zotik Gigiera was the father to Mietek and not to Mark, the Gigiera's are not related to me and so I only have a vague interest, if only because it might lead us to George, if he lived, and to an explanation on his paternal line which potentially could be the same as Mark's. Other than this, I have no interest in tracing the Gigiera family and I leave this to Mietek's descendants in Argentina to follow up, should they be interested enough.
So,
back to Nudyze. We were eventually given the details of a man in
Kovel with the name of Rabyj. Everyone seems to know everyone in
these small communities so finding contact details was not difficult.
Kovel is east of Luboml and about a 45 minute drive from where we
were. We decided that even though it was getting later in the day, to
go there. They live in a big detached brick built house, on a
reasonable sized plot where they grow their own food and like us have
an entertaining Jack Russell. It seems common to build your own house
and no doubt family and friends pool their skills and help each
other. We were met by Miwa/Michael. Living in the house was his
ageing mother with the most beautiful skin. She was gardening when
we arrived. His wife-Olga was away in Poland working in the mushroom
business. Olga’s father was also living in the house. He is called
Pawel Rabyj b1934 so aged 85. This was now a 'Who do you think you
are' situation. Oxsana explained who we were – people turning up
out of the blue, possibly related!! Pawel told us who his mother and
father were; Pawel (Iryna's brother) and Julita. Bingo!! YRIP had
come up trumps, they were on our family tree. So here we were, with
our first living relative in Ukraine. I'm now thinking my money was
well spent on research and the potential spin off from this was getting better.
Pawel's
parents are;
His
father also a Pawel Rabyj (the younger brother to Iryna) and his
mother Julita.
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| Julita and Pawel Rabyj I would guess that this is in the 1920's |
Mietek Gigiera Mark Gigiera
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| Pawel and Kath (me) |
As
well as the quest to find the Rabyj family I was of course intrigued
to know more about the mystery of my father's father. Dad always and
consistently told us that his father was a Count and an Officer in
the Tzar's Cavalry Regiment who had moved into the area. Was this
for real, was it embellishment and who am I really looking for?? I
have always felt embarrassed in relaying this story as it does seem
far fetched given that my blood is definitely red with no hint of
blue and whilst there are some interesting noses in the family, none
of them are turned up. However, Jim was the last man on the scene and
he recalls Mark discussing this. Going along with the story; from
this, my conclusion was that as the last Tzar was assassinated by the
Bolsheviks in 1917, then anyone of rank associated with the Tzar
would flee the area in fear of their own life. Dad also consistently
said that his father had bought a property with some land and had a
large mill. He recalled the house had a library with pictures of
military gentlemen. He was also married with no children at the time
he was born. Research shows there were a lot of aristocrat families
underpinning the Tzar and I have no doubt that there would be some
important people in the area and maybe a lot of illegitimate
offspring. Not all the aristocrats were mega wealthy and I believe
this to be the case if this Count exists as, why else would he be in
this area and not fleeing with all his wealth to a more western
country. Having raised my doubts about this, before the trip east, my
brother Boris recalled an incident. As a youth, he was in the
Nottingham Ukrainian Club with dad and dad was speaking with this
lady who came from the same area as dad. Boris confidently recalls
the conversation. They were discussing the Count that also lived in
their area. So, never say never!!! Needless to say, this has fuelled
the intrigue.
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| Ivan (L), Pawel (R) |
Given
that Mark was illegitimate and his true father was married, questions
have to be a little delicate.
The
old man is called Ivan and his father, the mill owner is called
Josef.
Next,
we were off to the cemetery in Nudyze with Oxsana, Pawel and Michael
to identify some family graves. For the size of the village this is
a large cemetery. Before our trip I went with no real expectations
of finding pre-war graves as I had heard of graves being destroyed by
the Germans and the head stones used in road building. However, this
village is well off the main route into town and may be the reason
why so much survived, including the lovely church.
 |
| Pawell at his brother Mark's grave. Mark was shot by the Russians when he was just 14. |
My
aim was to find Iryna's grave. This was not to be. There were many
graves unmarked, Some just simple wooden crosses with no words.
There were lots of grave stones and all written in the Ukrainian
Cyrillic alphabet and so not readable by us. Pawel pointed out the
ones he knew but as an old man he could not spend hours on his feet.
I don't think there is a list of the grave plots and they are all
very randomly placed with overgrowth and so it would be a difficult
job to locate other family graves, although for someone with the
language and time, not impossible. This was one of the most poignant
times of the trip as this cemetery represents my father’s and
uncle’s family history on the Rabyj side and had war not broken out
it is no doubt where they too would be buried and their lives would
have been totally different.
Moving
on to happier things. Of course we were keen to see the family land.
Again I had gone with low expectations hoping to identify a plot of
land. Driving through the village again, we could see that all the
detached wooden houses had plots of land, adequate to grow their own
fruit and veg. They are all well kept and everything is looked after
and valued. I would describe the villages as pretty and the people
generally have enough of everything although they clearly have to
work for this, even the old people.
We
are now a little way out of Nudyze and driving up a lane at
the side of a meadow with a rather nice chestnut horse grazing. We
arrive at a couple of houses, close together with barns and a cart
(shaped like a long V which is common there-see picture of one) and a
pump in the front garden. Behind the properties there is a good
piece of land, a guess – a couple of acres and what could be more
land behind. The pre-war description of these people as prosperous
peasants would probably translate as small farmers today.
We
were introduced to Pawel's son-Leonid, who lives in the wooden house
he has built. This replaced the house that was built by Pawel's
father (Mark’s and Mietek's uncle) and which no longer exists. This
is where Pawel lived as a child and where he brought up his own
children. PICTURES:
Top L-Leonid and Pawel at the family home.
Top R- Kath (me), Leonid and Pawel.
Bottom L&R-The field opposite the family home. The big tree (L) is where the original family home was where Mark lived with his mother Iryna and her father so presumably this land was theirs.
We
were invited to lunch with Pawel's grand daughter-Halia. She is
Leonid’s daughter. She is lovely with a friendly bubbly
personality and gorgeous smile. This was not far from the family plot
and was probably built on the family land. The house is large brick
built and detached and with a big barn/out building. They have a
young son of 4 or 5 and baby daughter. Again they built their own
home and it is one of several brick built homes. As time goes on,
it is likely that the old wooden houses will go, to be replaced by
brick. In my mind it seems a shame for the pretty traditional wood
cottages to go, but brick lasts and I can see the attraction. Their
décor is warm and homely and they live extremely well. Halia’s
husband-Roma arrived. For the Corrie fans amongst you, he looks like
Tyrone (Yes, I watch Corrie, it has good wit, great one liners). I
made the comment that he looks like one of our TV stars and he was
well flattered. Bearing in mind that we had turned up out of the blue
with no forewarning and no time to prepare food, we had a good
meal. A lot of preserves were opened. Hope we weren't eating their
winter fodder! There was fish and meat, mushrooms, aubergines home
grown salads and a milky yoghurt which was the only thing not to my
taste. Then out comes the vodka and offered to Jim. Ah ha, he was
driving so politely declined and pushed me forward as the taster.
Now, when I say the vodka came out. This is home made by Roma and its
not just a bottle but a 5 gallon drum! So I take a sip, 'when in
Rome'. Not that I am a vodka drinker, but since being in the mother
land, or rather father's land I have tried a few of an evening. This
was actually very good and I duly passed the compliment. Needless to
say I should have been less enthusiastic as my glass was refilled and
then again! Things were becoming fun now and we were having a laugh,
well I was anyway. It was a good lunch. I wish I had longer to
spend with these people as there is so much to ask and I am sure
there is a big box of old photos back at the family home ready to be
explored. We showed them photos of dad and Mietek and of the
families and told them about how they eventually arrived in the UK
and Argentina. We said they were picked up and carted off to Siberia
at which we were told that it was literally like that. You could be
going about your own business and you were literally just picked up.
The people here are resigned to their past but they are living for
the now and striving for the future and they have a good life. There
is a hunger to improve and to succeed. Sadly we had to leave but not
before accepting the gifts of mushroom and aubergine preserves. We
drove back round the corner to the family home where Pawel insisted
we take a bag of potatoes. Now, I know these are unusual gifts, but
they were given with love and they were grown on the very land that
our father grew up on.
We
drove back to Luboml, satisfied that our mission had been successful,
sad that we could not spend more time with family and with lots of
questions yet to be answered.
On
our trip we made quite a lot of observations. The people all look
healthy. There was no obesity so they eat the right food in the right
quantity.
Hospital treatment for serious illness is poor. Pawel's son has a heart condition and he is careful of what he eats and drinks as he knows a hospital cannot put him right if anything happens.
The
women have great skin. Dad always used to say this and he said it
was the cabbage. Some
of us have the short Folwell Finger. When I buy gloves the little
finger is always too long? I
also have the Rabyj eyes. Have you ever wondered where those strange
green, brown, grey eyes with the yellow halo around the iris come
from. Well I can tell you that its a Ukrainian thing and many
people have those eyes.
If
you get lost, no one speaks English, so make sure you have a sat nav
and if you take a short cut off the main roads then they will be
bad.
Hotels
are good and cheap, except in major cities where they are not cheap.
Food
is good and as veggies we did not struggle. We do eat fish and dairy
which helps.
I
finish by telling the story of the car. We were supposed to pick
this up from Boryspil airport after our visit to Kyev. I had booked
with Hertz. A reputable company and a name I recognised. When we
arrived there was no office for Hertz although there was for other
hire car companies. I went up to one of these and the guy phoned
another guy who turned up 20 minutes later, explaining that as we had
not been there to meet him at the arranged time he had hired our
automatic car to someone else and he now only had a manual small car
left – uh!! We were late but then we had expected an office and
like in other places more than one car and then it would not have
been a problem being late. Reluctantly, we accepted the manual car
offered. Did the usual, checked it over, signed the documents, and
off we trundle to Luboml, Our onward journey took us 300 miles to
Kovel, up and down the unmade road several times , down some potholed
roads, a day south to Lviv and back across country towards Kyev. At
some point we noticed an engine management light come on. We have
had recent experiences of this with our own car and so did not panic
too much. We also noticed at some point that there was a lovely
glossy silver steel band appearing on the edge of a couple of the
tyres and this was getting ever larger the more miles we did. I had
planned to spend our last night relaxing at the side of a lake in a
forested area in a chalet with a verandah and hot tub and given that
the weather was lovely and warm this would have been wonderful with a
few beers. Having driven 200 miles back toward Kyev we turned off
north heading for our wooded haven. We pulled into a forest gateway
as I wanted to check the map before we went into the unknown as the
tyres by now were not great. Switched the engine off and went for a
pee behind a tree – not that anyone was there or anywhere close.
Came to switch the engine back on and it wouldn't start. Needless to
say we did everything we could think of. We tried to push and bump it
but with just two of us this was literally a 'none starter'. Good
fortune came our way in the form of a big strong Ukrainian who turned
into the driveway. I stopped him and bless him, he helped Jim push
and I bump started it. Thank God it was a manual and not automatic
as otherwise we would have been down a road which we didn't know the
name of trying to get help. We abandoned the verandah and hot tub
and hot wheeled it (or steel rimmed it) back to Kyev where we found a
good hotel for £13, close to the airport with good food and we
toasted our holiday with a couple of vodka's.
Kath Harpley
September 2018
Kath Harpley
September 2018
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