Mrs. Józefa Domaradzka is a resident of Bożejowice. She was born on July 8, 1921, in the village of Kluwińce, located in Chorostków municipality, Kopyczyniec County, Tarnopol Voivodeship (present-day Ukraine). She was only 11 months old when her mother had an accident and, despite the doctors’ efforts, died in a clinic in Lviv.
Many years later, after the war ended, Mrs. Józefa and her husband Marian, whom she married on July 13, 1943, after seven years of engagement, came to Bolesławiec and then settled in the village of Graniszów (present-day Bożejowice).
They lived together with her father Antoni in one house, because many homes were still occupied by Germans. Together, they spent their first Christmas Eve in a foreign land, fearing that in the future they might have to flee from here before the former German owners. They chose a house standing nearby, next to a large chestnut tree. They decided to live there once its current residents moved out.
Mr. Marian died in 1997, and our celebrant still lives in Bolesławiec municipality, although she longs for her Eastern Borderlands, for her Poland. However, she does not want to go there. She prefers to preserve in her memory the happiest moments of her childhood and youth, without comparing them with a different reality. In September 2016, Józefa Domaradzka received a medal marking the 70th anniversary of settlement in Bolesławiec municipality.
The local government: “Such anniversaries are always extraordinarily pleasant moments—regardless of whether we meet our Residents in person or, as in recent years, remain in contact with their loved ones. The family stories we have the opportunity to hear are a living testimony and a unique lesson in history. We are tremendously fortunate to be able to be part of it.”
It adds: “We wish Mrs. Józefa many more happy and healthy years of life.”