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Ernesto Portillo Jr. : Piece of paper brings closure to his parents' wartime ordeal
Arizona Daily Star ^ | Dec 31, 2005 | Ernesto Portillo Jr.

Posted on 12/31/2005 10:12:38 AM PST by SandRat

For all of Joel Gordiejew's62 years, he has lived with a hidden, somber history.

He was born in German-occupied Poland during World War II. His birth certificate carries the Nazi swastika. His parents were forced to work in Nazi slave camps. They were overworked and abused, he said.

His maternal grandfather was separated from the family during the war and was never seen again. After the war ended in 1945, his family lived as refugees in Poland and Germany.

In 1949 Gordiejew's family came to the United States, where their fortunes improved. But over the years Gordiejew's parents said little of their lives as wartime slaves.

"They said times were hard and they were persecuted," said Gordiejew, an automotive advertising representative for Tucson Newspapers Inc., the business agent for the Arizona Daily Star and the Tucson Citizen.

He said it was his parents' way of saying they had left horror and hunger in Europe and found luck and blessings in their new country.

But Gordiejew wanted to find closure to his parents' war-era story.

It finally came several weeks ago in the form of a check for $1,275. The money came from a fund created in 2000 by the German government and companies to compensate victims of forced Nazi labor who worked in factories and farms, or were sent to concentration camps.

The "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future" fund has paid out several billions of dollars to thousands of non-Jewish victims of forced labor or their children living outside Eastern Europe. More than 11,000 claims were paid to people living in the United States, most of them Polish-Americans.

The deadline to apply was December 2001.

In addition to paying slave workers, Germany has paid billions of dollars in compensation to Jewish and non-Jewish survivors of Nazi concentration camps.

According to the German Embassy's Web site, "This has been done in full awareness that no amount of money will ever be enough to make up for those crimes." Gordiejew said the money, which he split three ways with his younger brother and sister, means nothing to him.

"It's insignificant," he said.

It could never make up for the suffering his parents endured, he added. But receipt of the money acknowledges that families like his suffered, or worse, perished.

Before the war, Gordiejew's parents, whose roots were Ukrainian, were living in the small town of Zienki, Poland.

When Gordiejew was born in September 1943, his parents, Peter and Ludmila Gordiejew, were living in the work camp. Gordiejew's grandmother cared for him and they all struggled to find food.

In his application for compensation, Gordiejew wrote: "My dad, who died in 1985, was held captive by the Nazis in Majdanek Camp. This took a toll on his life and he was never physically well till he died." Gordiejew found the opening to the end of his family's war saga when he read a newspaper article in 2001 about the reparation fund. His mother had died the year before.

After discussing it with his brother, who lives in Iowa, they agreed to apply. Gordiejew prepared the paperwork and submitted it before the deadline.

Four years later the check arrived.

Gordiejew is unsure what he'll do with his portion, an uncashed check for $498. He may keep it to remind him of the unspeakable abuse his parents suffered.

"I think I'll just frame it," he said.


TOPICS: History; Local News
KEYWORDS: brings; closure; his; nazi; of; ordeal; paper; parents; piece; poland; to; ukraine; wartime; wwii

1 posted on 12/31/2005 10:12:43 AM PST by SandRat
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To: 2LT Radix jr; 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub; 80 Square Miles; A Ruckus of Dogs; acad1228; AirForceMom; ..

A touching story


2 posted on 12/31/2005 10:13:01 AM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat

BTTT


3 posted on 12/31/2005 10:22:50 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: SandRat
My father, who was born here, went to Poland with his mother and younger brother in May of 1939. He didn't get back till 1947. He lived under Nazi rule. They put his family and two others in one farmhouse. He tells stories of stealing chickens from the Germans and having to sneak out at night for firewood.

I wish I had known about this program so he could have filed a claim no mattter how small.

4 posted on 12/31/2005 11:37:06 AM PST by raybbr (ANWR is a barren, frozen wasteland - like the mind of a democrat!)
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To: raybbr

Might still be able to file. Worth a look-see, you never know.

Amazing isn't it? The things you learn about on FR.


5 posted on 12/31/2005 1:08:30 PM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: raybbr
"I wish I had known about this program so he could have filed a claim no mattter how small."

Were they forced to work for Germans ? This money is only for former slave workers.
6 posted on 01/02/2006 7:42:39 AM PST by Grzegorz 246
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