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SOUTH BOSTON, Sept. 30.—It’s a long ways from a German DP camp to the ancestral home of Governor William Tuck near High Hill, but two Polish families have made it, and are enjoying a com paratively luxuriant life after suf fering the aftermath of war. Halifax County's first two dis placed families from Europe are to move into the Tuck home in a few weeks and will take care of the 400-acre plantation. At present they are occupying a tenant house. Youngsters in the family are ex ploring a new world and each day are taking new words home from Virgilina High School—words their parents also are trying to master. It is a great experiment for little Bogdan Hladko, age 8. Americaniz ed as Benny, and 11-year-old Wasyl Dembereckyz, or just plain Bill. At present, the history of the families is obscure since no Ger man-speaking interpreter here has questioned them about their life during and after the war when they lost track of their homes in Po land. They arrived in Boston last Fri day aboard the USS Holbrook along with 1,085 other displaced persons from Europe. Twelve of the families entrained for Rich mond and arrived there last Fri day morning. From there they were assigned to homes in the state, being designated as charges of those who asked for them. The WHladko and Dembereckyz families were shuttled here by the State Department of Agriculture and Immigration. The children en tered school Monday morning. _ Father Petro (Peter) Hladko. 35. and Mother Katarina ‘Katherine Hladko. 28. have another child. He is four year old Volodimir, or Wal ter. The Dembereckvz family is com posed of Father Mvykola ‘Nick. 39. Mother Olena (Helen), 40. Wasyl, and four year old girl twins. An astasia (Hastin) and Maria (Mary). The family religion is Greek Or thodox. Everything is being done by neighbors and school families to make the Polish people as com fortable and as welcome as possi ble. They were allowed to bring one box of clothing per family and their first need on arrival was for wearing apparel. Clothing and food collections will be made by the Virgilina School and PTA in a few days. At school Wasyl and Bogdan were first objects of curiosity be cause of their language and dress. Today they have become an in tegral part of the school family as Bill and Benny. They show a keen appreciation for everything done for them at school and their attention to their teacher is something akin to idolatry. Two of the school’s faculty, Mrs. Grace, Smith and Car Crews, can converse with the children in their native tongue. When the teachers are not around, sign language is invoked by the youngsters. The dissimilarity of language has not kept the boys from mingling and playing freely with their class mates. They were assigned to the first grade classroom this week in or der to allow them to read and speak the English language before they are able to proceed to higher classes. High school students are being used to teach them words and phrases, using pictures and other means to get the language across. Bogdan had had two years in School overseas and Wasyl- four, Wasyl and Bogdan soon will be well along their way to becoming Americanized and American citi zens. The same process, though prob ably a little slower, will go on at the Hladko and Dembereckyz homes where the freedom and op portunities of America are just a little too big to comprehend right now. These two Polish families are exploring a strange new world in Halifax County. They arrived recently from a German Displaced Persons Camp and are preparing to take over operations at Gover nor William Tuck's ancestral home. They were somewhat surprised at all the attention and the cameraman—but pleased,
Newspaper Details
Danville Bee
Danville, Virginia, US
Fri, Sep 30, 1949
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Alexandra C.
USA 05 Jul 2026
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