A Joyful Reunion

In 1961, in his first return visit to the homeland, Dymitr Szach (1922-1984) was denied a visa to Wola Cieklinska, the place of his birth. Returning to the homeland with his son Michael almost twenty years later, Metro was at last allowed to visit Wola Cieklinska, his sister Anna and her family. Anna had escaped the 1945-1947 deportations, which trapped her mother and sister in Ukraine, because she was married to a Roman Catholic Pole.

Although the visit was bittersweet because of missing family members, it was also a joyful reunion. Metro's son Michael tells of their welcome, "When we arrived, it seemed the entire population wanted to make it a special event. During our entire visit, the 'red carpet' was laid out with a special feeling, 'Our family from America is here,' as friends and neighbors scurried to bring food to Uncle Stephan's house for his guests."

A scrapbook of fading photographs, generously loaned by Metro's widow, Helen, records a joyful reuniting of brother and sister. It also pictures one family's rural life in Wola Cieklinska a quarter-century ago.