The descendants · pages 43 to 70 of the manuscript
The three families since 1959
„Eine neue soziale Zelle, eine neue Familie“ (a new social cell, a new family) — the author writes this sentence three times, at each of the three weddings: Halina in 1958, he himself in 1959, the youngest sister in 1966. Since 1959, the year in which he married, the family has no longer been a single household: there were two then, three since 1966. This page gathers what the manuscript records about them and their children.
- Starting point
- Adam and Władysława Bomert with four children; three of them reached adulthood
- First marriage
- Halina Bomert and the sailor Stanisław Kowalski, 8 February 1958
- Second marriage
- Bogdan Bomert and Teresa Chrobak, 30 May and 4 July 1959
- Third marriage
- Gizela Bomert and Adolf Waldemar Gruszyc, 16 April 1966
- Named by name
- Krzysiek, Andrzej and Marek · Paul, the author's youngest son
- Evidence
- Enclosures 7, 8 and 9 · images no. 18 and 31 to 34
The three families
Kowalski · Bomert · Gruszyc
The author attached the three marriage certificates to his manuscript, and the fourth chapter carries a picture for each marriage. Each of the three families is thus documented twice over: by the sheet from the registry office and by the photograph that turns a couple into a family.
- Family Kowalskifounded on 8 February 1958Halina Bomert, born on 29 January 1937 in Łaszewo, worked from October 1956 in the administration of the postal directorate. She met the sailor Stanisław Kowalski through Rysia Skibińska, a friend from Raciąż. Three sons: Krzysiek, Andrzej and Marek. According to the author's recollection the couple received the flat at Malczewski-Straße 89. Halina died unexpectedly on 20 March 2010, while she was in Danzig (Gdańsk). Pages 43, 44 and 46 · Enclosure 7 · images no. 31 and 33
- Family Bomertfounded on 30 May 1959Bogdan Bomert, born on 26 October 1933 in Warschau (Warszawa), technical draughtsman in the Danzig (Gdańsk) shipyard, and Teresa of the house of Chrobak — they met on 27 May 1956 at a school ball, when the white tango was played. Marriage at the Danzig registry office on 30 May 1959, church wedding on 4 July 1959 in the parish church of the Emaus quarter. After a week in the Zakopiańska-Straße the couple moved in with Teresa's parents: two rooms with a kitchen, no bathroom, besides the two of them another ten persons. Of the sons of this house the manuscript names only the youngest: Paul. Counting from the year of the marriage, the couple's golden wedding fell in 2009. Bogdan Bomert died on 22 February 2020 in Baunatal. Pages 43, 45 and 47 · Enclosure 8 · image no. 32 · date of death from the family
- Family Gruszycfounded on 16 April 1966Gizela Bomert, born on 29 October 1940 in Ćwiklinek as a twin, took her school-leaving examination on 2 June 1958 and, after further training, went to the Danzig television works. There she met Adolf Gruszyc. Civil and church wedding on 16 April 1966 in the parish church of the Emaus quarter; the couple moved into a flat in the “Young Quarter” in Wrzeszcz. The manuscript names no children in this marriage. Pages 44, 46 and 47 · Enclosure 9 · image no. 34
The children of the three families
Four names the manuscript records
Children appear in the source at two points: once in a picture caption, once in a subordinate clause of the closing section. More than these four names the author did not write down about the children of the three families.
The three boys in the picture
Image no. 33 shows the grandmother Władysława with three boys in front of a house — the only photograph in the manuscript in which children of the three families can be seen. The author placed it in the chapter about his mother's illness, because after the radiation treatment in Sopot and Jelitkowo (Sopot i Jelitkowo) the grandmother helped „sowohl Teresa als auch Halina mit ihren Familien“ (both Teresa and Halina with their families); the boys in the picture are the children from Halina's marriage.
The fourth name has no picture. It stands in the reckoning with which the author closes his fourth chapter: his father had lost his life at the age of thirty-two — „so alt ist jetzt unser jüngster Sohn Paul“ (our youngest son Paul is that age now). He gives no date of birth for any of his sons; from this sentence and the year of the closing word it follows that Paul was thirty-two years old in July 2012.
- Krzysiekchild of Halina's marriageIn image no. 33 the first from the left. The author names him only in the picture caption. Page 46
- Andrzejchild of Halina's marriageIn image no. 33 the second from the left, between his brother and the grandmother. Page 46
- Marekchild of Halina's marriageIn image no. 33 the fourth from the left, to the right of the grandmother. Page 46
- Paulson of the authorThe youngest son of the house of Bomert. His name stands in a subordinate clause about the grandfather Adam, who died at the age of thirty-two — „so alt ist jetzt unser jüngster Sohn Paul“ (our youngest son Paul is that age now). Page 47
What is missing here is missing in the source. This page adds nothing to the four names: no date of birth, no profession, no place of residence, no child of their own. For the author's other sons the manuscript names no name, for his sister Gizela's marriage no child, and for none of the children a date.
1958 to 2020
What is documented about the three families
What the source records in dates about the three households is gathered here — from the first marriage in February 1958 to the author's closing word in July 2012; one final entry adds his date of death, handed down by the family.
- 8.2.1958Halina Bomert and the sailor Stanisław Kowalski marry. „Es entstand in unserer Familie eine neue soziale Zelle, eine neue Familie.“ (A new social cell came into being in our family, a new family.) Page 43 · Enclosure 7
- 30.5.1959Marriage of Bogdan and Teresa at the Danzig registry office. After a week in the Zakopiańska-Straße the couple moves in with Teresa's parents: two rooms with a kitchen, no bathroom, besides the two of them another ten persons. Page 45 · Enclosure 8
- 4.7.1959The church wedding in the parish church of the Emaus quarter. „Und so entstand die zweite soziale Zelle, eine neue Familie.“ (And so the second social cell came into being, a new family.) Page 45
- Autumn 1959Fifteen years after the operation the signs of the mother's illness return; she must go to the oncological hospital in Sopot and Jelitkowo (Sopot i Jelitkowo) for radiation treatment. Afterwards she helps „sowohl Teresa als auch Halina mit ihren Familien“ (both Teresa and Halina with their families). Pages 45 and 46
- 16.4.1966Gizela marries Adolf Gruszyc; the couple moves into the “Young Quarter” in Wrzeszcz. „Und so wuchs unsere Familie um eine weitere soziale Zelle an, eine dritte Familie.“ (And so our family grew by one further social cell, a third family.) Pages 46 and 47 · Enclosure 9
- 30.3.1969The mother dies.With this page the narrative of the manuscript ends. Page 47
- 2009The golden wedding of Bogdan and Teresa, counting from the year of the marriage 1959 in the year 2009. The recording “Ave Maria”, which was to be played at it in the Dominican church in Danzig (Gdańsk), could not be reproduced for technical reasons.The author had made it at the age of 74, between October 2007 and October 2008. Page 70 · Enclosure 13
- 20.3.2010Halina dies unexpectedly, while she was in Danzig (Gdańsk). The author notes at this point that he can no longer ask her about details. Page 44
- July 2012The manuscript is signed in Baunatal: „Ich danke für Euer Verständnis. Bogdan“ (I thank you for your understanding. Bogdan). Page 48
- 22.2.2020Bogdan Bomert dies in Baunatal.The only entry in this list that does not come from the manuscript. addendum by the family
On the selection in this list. It is a selection from the chronology of the register and contains only what concerns the three households themselves. The complete chronology from 1909 to 2020, together with the register of persons and places, is in the register.
The limit of this page
What the manuscript leaves open
Die weiteren Lose der drei Familien, das sind schon drei andere Geschichten. Vielleicht wird sich jemand dieser Aufgabe stellen.
The further fortunes of the three families are already three other stories. Perhaps someone will take on this task.
The author expressly left this continuation open, and this page does not take its place. It can only gather what he wrote down: three marriages with their certificates and their pictures, four names of children, one photograph of the grandmother with three grandchildren, and the dates that reach as far as July 2012. One reaches beyond that and is added here: the author's date of death, 22 February 2020 in Baunatal. How the three households fared afterwards, how the children grew up and what became of them, does not stand in the source.
What a continuation would need. Not conjecture but information from the family: the dates of birth of the children, the names of all the author's sons, any news about the youngest sister's marriage and the dates of the grandchildren. The source yields none of this; it ends with the request to forgive it for what it does not know.
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