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When we left off last week Aniela Plonka had arrived in England in January of 1944 and taken training as an RAF flight mechanic working on Lancaster bombers. They were the bombers that played such a critical role in subduing the German war machine. Aniela and Czeslaw (Chester) were married in England in February of 1945 and it was there, in Edinburgh, Scotland, that Aniela had the first of her six children. He was born July 30, 1945 and was named Jerzy Czeslaw Plonka, but we here in the Pass know him as George aka Doctor Cool. In telling her story Aniela goes on to s...

Continuing on with Aniela’s story we find her in Alma-Ata in 1942, in Kazakhstan struggling to make her way west. Aniela goes on to say in her memoirs, “In Alma-Ata, we worked in the cotton fields for a while. We lived in a small cottage built of clay and straw. When we lay down at night, we could see the stars shining through the holes in the roof. There, I got sick with a severe case of dysentery, and I thought I wouldn’t survive. One morning, a Russian soldier came to our door and said he was collecting all the Polish people he could find to get them to one place for a t...

Part I Aniela Plonka at age 18 just before she was taken Many times I have delved into the past history of a Pass immigrant family and in so doing have been taken on a tremendous journey of adversity, perseverance, tragedy and eventual success. That’s why I love digging deeper into these stories. The Pass was built, in large part, by immigrants who chose Canada and ultimately the Crowsnest Pass, working within our logging and coal mining industries, to rebuild their lives and find opportunity. Amongst us, living in Hillcrest, is a man by the name of George Plonka, more ...