Randy Suits

They Sat Down for a Brief Rest

Dear Ewa, who sits beside me to rest,

Beginning in the summer of 1944, continuing through the 1945 end of World War II in Europe, about 500,000 Germans began a mass evacuation of Poland to the fatherland. Advancing Russian Red Army communist forces from the east, and the pincer attacks of the American & British Allies from the West and South required consolidation of all available manpower to defend the homeland. Wisely, Antonina began to purchase leather, at bargain prices, from Germans who now began to sell their personal belongings to finance their trip home. When the death camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau were shut down by the retreating German gestapo, the Polish people were at last free of the vice like grip of the Nazi invaders from the west. Briefly they had relief from the Nazi police state. The rest proved to be just a short illusion of freedom before the ensuing dominance of the Russian communists and the puppet government of Polish communists. Pope John Paul would call it the ‘second war the Polish people lost’. Antoni and Antonina would now face a new battle for freedom and those life liberties given by God to all men (male and female created He them). The Polish people needed rest from war, and the world needed rest from war. The Poles were once again free to seek life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. During this time, Antoni and Antonina escaped Krakow for brief excursions to Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains, for rest and relaxation. After the hard life and excruciating circumstances of Nazi occupation, they sat down for a brief rest. Though our lives are a succession of challenges and trials, God always gives His People a brief rest between encounters with the enemy of God and man. The Poles were like King David in Psalm 18. They were victorious in God for He delivered them from the threat of death and captivity. Let us be thankful for the sacrifices and tribulation of your parents and all Poles who fought evil and wickedness in Poland from the Nazi invasion in 1939 until the fall of communist power in 1991.

God is our salvation and deliverer, Kochany       Excerpt from ‘Marzenie – Love Grows in the Crucible’