Tonka Penzik

Shortly after Juliusz (1912-1971) was born, their mother died. Tonka took on the role of a mother to her two brothers. In consequence of this, when they grew up and got married, their wives resented her. She was like a mother-in-law to them.

Tonka was unlucky in her marriage, and her only daughter, Irena, sided with her father. So it was that in 1939, when World War II broke out in Poland, Irena, Tonka's daughter was vacationing in America with her father, while Tonka was stuck in Poland when the German's invaded on one side and the Russians on the other. But that's a different story. This story is about Irena.

Visiting the New York's World Fair with her father in 1939, Irena was not able to return home. She did not see Poland for another twelve years. In the interim, her father died, she graduated from Columbia University, married a young American communist, had a son, and went to work for her Uncle Juliusz at the U.N. Her Uncle Juliusz was at this point the Polish representative to the United Nations.

Irena served her Uncle Juliusz as his personal secretary and was privy to the daily workings and intrigues of the diplomatic life. Eventually, hearing that Poland was thriving under communism, Irena decided that she wanted to see her homeland once again, and Juliusz granted her wish and arranged for to her have a home leave. Irena's six weeks in Poland, in 1951, were to change the course of her life and that of he uncle