Just before the war. Zofia Łukaszewicz, 1914
In June 1914 Zofia from a tiny village near Vilnius boards a ship in Hamburg bound for New York. Six weeks later war breaks out. In America she changes the year she was born but keeps the same day.
The historical background
What happened to the family Zofia left behind?
In the autumn of 1915 the war reached the area around Postavy. German troops occupied the whole district. The trenches settled between Lake Drisvyaty and Lake Naroch. They stayed there until 1918.
In the spring of 1916 the Russian army attacked there. The battle at Lake Naroch was one of the bloodiest on the Eastern Front. Both sides lost tens of thousands of men.
In nearby Komaje the Germans laid out a war cemetery behind the church. Postcards that soldiers sent from there in 1917 show the village.
Letters hardly ever got across the front. In Portland, Zofia may have gone years without knowing whether her parents and her brothers and sisters were alive.
Six weeks stood between her and a war that sat right next to her family home for three years.
Documents shown in the film
These are the real archive scans you see in the film. Each one has its archive reference, so anyone can check the source.
Narration
In June 1914, she said goodbye to her family. She never came home again.
Zofia Łukaszewicz, 25, from a tiny village near Vilnius.
In Hamburg she boards the Imperator, one of the biggest ships in the world, bound for New York.
Six weeks later, war breaks out. The road home is closed.
In America she says she is 21.
She is 26.
Her gravestone says 1892. Her obituary says 1893. But her birthday is always the same:
May 10.
Her baptism record back home says April 28.
Tsarist Russia still counted days on the old calendar, 12 days behind.
Converted, that is exactly May 10.
She could change the year. She took her day from home with her, forever.
Did someone in your family leave and never come back?
Tell us where in the comments.
Ex Archivis. We find out where your family comes from.
Sources
- Sorokpol parish baptisms, 1889, entry 27 (LVIA 772/1/12)
- Passenger list of the Imperator, Hamburg, June 17, 1914 (Hamburg State Archives)
- Record of marriage, Portland, Maine, October 23, 1915
- Gravestone, Calvary Cemetery, South Portland
- Portland Press Herald, February 1, 1959
Scenes marked “Staged scene” are reconstructions. The documents are real.
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