Alfred (Fredzio)
Ostaszewski arrived in England:1946 |
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BACKGROUND:
I was 13 when my family and I were deported to Siberia,
where we stayed for 2 years and 4 months. My two brothers, Kazimierz and Eugeniusz, both of whom were in the Polish Army,
were taken prisoner by the Soviets and were in prisoner of war camps until
the German invasion in 1941 when they were released to join the Polish
Army being formed in Russia by gen. Anders. My
brothers came and collected us, as army families, in August 1942.
After
travelling with the army through Iraq and Palestine I ended up in the Polish
Air Force School in Heliopolis, near Cairo in Egypt, and my mother
went to one of the Polish DP camps that were set up in Africa and India. I was 16 by
that time and became an apprentice fitter. The school was
initially run by the Poles, and then in 1943 the British took
over, and all the boys there then became members of the RAF/PAF
(Royal Air Force/Polish Air Force). I qualified as an aeroplane
fitter in 1946, but because the war was over we flew to the UK arriving
in Glasgow. |
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Fredzio in an aeroplane in Heliopolis. |
Fredzio in uniform with friends visiting
Fairford Camp 1947 |
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From
Glasgow we travelled by train to Cammeringham
Airfield,
near Lincoln, where we stayed for a few weeks whilst the British
authorities were trying to decide what to do with us all. I
was posted to Newmarket Airfield, 54MU (Maintenance Unit). The work was
mainly on aeroplanes that needed general maintenance to be carried
out. I was demobilised from the RAF/PAF in Newmarket in 1947, and moved to Newark to work on a building
site. I worked there for just a few weeks, as my brother
Eugeniusz, who lived in Babdown Farm Airfield, near Tetbury, suggested that I
move in with him, to be closer to our family. During my 3 years
and 7 months in Babdown Farm, I worked for Listers, first in Dursley
then from 1951 in Wroughton. For the whole of that period I
lived in Fairford Camp, where I joined my mother who was already living there. |
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Housing:
My mother lived in a brick built hut, which housed two families.
We had one room to ourselves, with two dividing curtains, which in
effect sectioned off the one room into three. We had one
section each
with a single bed and the third section
was the kitchenette/living room. Washing and toilet facilities
were housed in a totally separate building. We lived in Fairford
for 6 years. In 1957, when it was announced that the camp
was going to be closed, I moved with my mother to Swindon, where I
bought the house in which I am still living. |
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Outside the Catholic Church in Faiford. |
The
bride Marysia Król and groom Antoni Smolarek
on the left are Oleńka Król (now Tęcza) and Jadzia Belsko the three half
hidden faces behind the groom are Andzej Król, Janek Król
and Helena Król (now Arciszewska) behined the women in the white dress
is Natalia Król (Karaczun) |
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Polish Dancing group in Fairford.
Some of the identified peopl are Mila Miszkowska,
Helena Król Andzej Król, Natala Król. |
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Religion:
The other aspect of life in Fairford was our faith,
which was and is so strong with the Poles, and which was very
important to us during the War. I remember Fr. Leonard Czapski,
our parish priest in the camp. Everybody attended Holy Mass on a
Sunday, and we took part in all the religious festivities and all the
different services and processions every year |
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Schooling:
There was a school in Fairford but I know little of it because I was already working. |
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Social Life:The
social life in the camp was never ending. We had dances and social
evenings every Saturday night. There was always something going
on
with lots of dancing, shows, and entertainment, if not by the
various groups that had been established in the camp, then by
visiting groups from other Polish camps. Because there were so many
young people there were lots of weddings at the
local RC church in Fairford, but all the receptions were held in
the camp itself. Film shows were held, usually twice a week, on
Wednesday and Sunday. The films were mainly English but we
did see a few very old Polish films, most of the films were
in black and white. We used to have theatre groups visiting from
London, with various shows, plays and amateur
dramatics. I myself belonged to a folk dance group of about 40
members. We performed all the different Polish national dances, eg the
Kujawiak, Krakowiak, Śląsk, just to name a few. At
Christmas time there was always a Nativity Play (Jasełka) and, I remember, there
was one show that we put on called the Silesian Wedding (Śląskie
Wesele), in which I played the groom. We often travelled to Daglingworth,
Swindon and other Polish camps near Fairford to perform our shows and
dances. My memories of
life in the camp are ones of a wonderful social life with
everyone being happy to participate. |
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Page 1 Fairford camp | |
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Page 2 General Anders visits the camp |
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Page 3 Article contributed by Alicja Świątek Christofides
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Page 4 Current Page |
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Page 5 Fairford cemetery. |
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Page 6 Commemorative Plaque. |
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