Our flat in Warsaw is on the 5th floor and there’s no elevator. Pretty much the norm in the old buildings and a bonus glute workout which, after two days, we don’t even feel.

And that sets the tone for much of my youngest daughter’s first visit to the city where I was born, where her grandparents endured the German occupation, then the Warsaw Uprising, and then the Soviet occupation.

The story of our trip is a story of the unexpected bonus, particularly the relatives we had a chance to meet, or spend more time with, and the visceral reality of the places where our family experienced loss and trauma. Like most Eastern European countries, the past is never very far away in Poland. Plaques on buildings and set into sidewalks commemorate who, and how many, lived or died on this spot.

For my daughter, who was called Iza by everyone she met, it wasn’t simply sightseeing; she was encountering family history, and her place in it, which opened up a new/old world.

It was evident in her reaction to the Old Town, the narrow cobblestoned streets, the cafes and restaurants. It was also evident when we visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum, an immersive experience that made her grandfather’s childhood all too real. It was seeing an ancestor, Stanislaw Moniuszko’s statue in front of the Opera House and knowing our lineage comes from and through that of the “father of Polish opera”. It was there when we hunted down the buildings where my mother and her brother lived with their paternal aunts after their mother was killed in the first day of the bombardment of the city. The cathedral where my parents were married, despite it having no roof several years after the bombing of Warsaw.

Here are Iza’s thoughts, looking back on how the trip landed for her.

This trip showed me how deeply connected my family is to the country, my Dziadzia’s [grandfather] lasting impact from his contributions in the Warsaw Uprising, and the deep resilience of the Polish people. Many people in my life look at their connections to other countries from several generations away (grandparents or great grandparents) where for me, Poland feels so close as only one generation before me started their life there. For Dziadzia and the Warsaw Uprising, all my knowledge and experience came from seeking out books, research, and waiting for news articles to be published about Dziadzia. It still felt like it happened to someone distant to me, even though I knew it happened to Dziadzia. The Warsaw Uprising museum completely shifted this for me, especially staring at the funeral photo where I learned it was Dziadzia’s childhood friend laying in that grave. Afterwards, walking the streets where he did, visiting his university and the neighbourhood where him and Baba began their family really made it sink in for me. I always knew there was deep bravery, grit and resilience in my family yet being able to walk within it shifted something within me. Not to mention, meeting family that are building their lives in Poland and solidifying those family roots.

As someone who has gone through many significant life changes, this trip really helped shift my mindset to recognizing just how precious life really is. I’ve found a new sense of purpose in my life and when things get difficult I remind myself- our family has been through harder. And I push through.

Overall, I was able to connect to my history, my culture and my family in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Feeling such pride in my heritage, the strength of those before me, and pure gratitude.

These were all threads that began to come together, when ancestral legacy and historical resonance became real, when relatives became people, when history is no longer a footnote but instead is the ground we walked on.

The relatives themselves covered multiple generations, from my uncle in his 90s, to my cousins in their 50s, to Iza’s cousins in their teens, 20s and 30s.

While the generations all have different perspectives on the past and present of Poland, they also shared traits common not only to Poles, but particularly to our family’s lineage. Despite years under Communist rule they are entrepreneurial, ambitious without being driven, and generous hosts.

Poland keeps producing these people — rigorous, serious, doing important work, but also unwilling to be defined by it alone.

Despite the upheavals of the contemporary world and despite the years of dark oppression, Poles have emerged to become one of Europe’s most robust economies. That’s no accident.

This musical piece, from contemporary and popular Polish artist, Dawid Podsiadło. It’s called “mori” and what I like about the video is the empty streets and bridges of Warsaw, shot during COVID. He has his own YouTube channel if you’re interested.

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