Finding the Homeland

On a cold November day, ninety-eight years after his great-grandfather's emigration, my son Bill became the first Wasyl Pelak-descendant to see the Carpathian homeland. Bill, who was teaching English in Germany at the time, was honoring my request to visit villages that I had discovered after a three year family history search. He undertook the trip 'cold,' without any knowledge of Rusyns, Lemkos or Wola Cieklinska, for in 2001 only my cousin Patti and I had begun to learn about our family's old world origins.

Traveling by train from Munich to Jaslo, Bill had only one day to race through our villages and the Zyndranova museum honoring the Lemko culture. His guide, Eugene, whose family had escaped deportation, provided an overview of the area and its history.

What purpose did this hurried trip serve? Looking back, the benefits were two-fold. My son, although already a global citizen who had worked in the Caribbean, Asia and Europe, saw a part of the world and a way of life he had never associated with our family.

Our family? We had a different kind of benefit. For the first time, the old world terrain, initially unknown and then murky, became very tangible. Because of Bill's rushed trip, we were soon able to confidently state in our family history, "We can now clearly identify the geographic area and specific villages from which our ancestors emigrated." The geography was confirmed. The homeland was real.