A book entitled “Trip to an earlier world. Memories of a Pole in Bessarabia” was launched at the National Library of Moldova. This was printed by the Embassy of Poland in Chisinau and was written by Tadeusz Gaydamowicz, who is now 96 and who contributed to keeping the national spirit of the Poles in Moldova, IPN reports.
Attending the launch, Poland’s Ambassador to Moldova Bartlomiej Zdaniuk said this book was published as part of a project to commemorate the centenary of the regaining of Poland’s independence, with the support of a private partner. The book contains articles by the dean of the Polish diaspora in Moldova that were published earlier in the journal of the Polish diaspora in Moldova “Jutrzenka”. The volume also includes six articles written in 2000-2003 and a valuable and very interesting collection of photographs and documents from the author’s archives.
“In his texts, he relates how the Poles got to the Bessarabian land in the tsarist period. Later, he described the life of the Poles in the interwar period. These texts were published in the Polish and Romanian languages and everyone can have access to them. There were also published a number of pictures from the personal archives and through the agency of these we can somehow imagine how the people lived here, in Bessarabia,” noted the ambassador.
Elena Pintilei, director of the National Library, said the launch of this book perfectly matches the project “Bessarabians in the world” that is implemented by the Library. It is the Library’s duty to bring the works of the patriots and compatriots back home. This case involves a Bessarabian man of Polish origin. “This book is very precious as it contains a lot of pictures that describe the history of Bessarabia and of our localities and even of a part of Bessarabia that we know less – the Bessarabia of the Poles,” stated Elena Pintilei.
In a video message, Tadeusz Gaydamowicz thanked all those who become involved in the publication of this book that presents the stories of several generations of his family that lived in Bessarabia. The author said Moldova, earlier Bessarabia, is the country of his childhood. He was born here and spent his childhood quietly and happily here. He formed his convictions, national conscience here, in the Polish family where the national, patriotic and religious traditions were cultivated piously.
The book “Trip to an earlier world. Memories of a Pole in Bessarabia” was printed as part of the activities to celebrate the centenary of the regaining of Poland’s independence.
