Danuta Śmiałowska

"The most charming thing was that in spite of the whole distress and poverty we experienced, my husband made significant preparation. He said – “ We need to get married, I bought sixty eggs and all the wood to make a fire”. We had two little glasses and toothbrushes, nothing else. Things we wore also - and that was really all we possessed. My husband’s company from the theater decided we must be married soon! My husband company from the theater decided we must be married soon. All of them to the last man collected money. They took our measurements for wedding ring and bought them as a wedding present for us. The Sielug priest gave a mass, it was an exceptional mass - It was a kind of Roman ceremony that I recognised because of the pain in knees. We had to knee down for many hours! Carpets and lights were everywhere although we paid no money! Before marriage day, I was in distress that people would notice the holes I had underneath my shoes when I would be on my knee. We put a piece of cardboard and painted black ink on it so nobody could see the holes. The coat I had was borrowed, my husband’s leather jacket was borrowed as well because the one he owned was like a piece of rag. All of the school children played truant this day because a young handsome actor was getting married. Girls must have been overwhelmed with jealousy towards me. Every girl dreamed to marry a classy guy. Do you know the mail church in Bialystok?-It was a huge church – enormous! It was so full that we hardly came inside! Our best man was Jurek Duszyński, he looked at mail hall before the Cremony started and said „ People appeared in full force!”. The second best man was Zygmunt Kęstowicz. Not only the mass was long and beautiful but also people who appeared were unusual. Garda was singing and was just magnificent. Dzięgielecki played on the church organ. Mietek Wojnicki, Jadzia Dzięgielewska were singing as well. The concert was really good. Afterwards, we threw a small party in Hania Bielicka’s house. She was the only one who had a two room flat. The rest of us used to have just a small cubicle, so her house was chosen to make a feast. Everything was made of carrot, even the sandwiches! There was plenty of home-made-vodka that everybody drunk because it was the only alcohol that was available. Who else was there…? – Mr Michał Melina was with us as well. To be honest the whole theater company stayed with, the whole group. Afterwards, we went outside the flat, full of excitement, encouraged with bialostocka vodka. And duty guards stopped us and asked: - What is happening here? - A wedding – we answered. - A Wedding? – Fine, then go and enjoy your time. Just remember the password tonight is “ a pin”. So if anybody ask you just remember to say “a pin”. Thus, we were saying “a pin” everywhere around and that’s how our common life started".

"I was waiting near the theater as my husband came and said – “What do you fancy eating? What do you want – pork chop or something else?”. I answered – „ Don’t make a fun of me!” – It’s not time for this when you feel so hungry. Then he showed me a load of money. Not thinking anymore, we found the first little restaurant on Floriańska street. We came in and the old lady was sewing or doing something like that. There was a canary in the cage and some fresh rolls on the counter and some other things… We reached for the food straight away. That’s how the order was: we asked for two scrambled eggs, two eggs each, fresh rolls, butter for both and two glasses of vodka! We completely got drunk with this vodka! We were able to buy cigarettes as well and firsts few issues of Odrodzenie magazine! We had to read a bit what was in the news! On the whole – the World came back to normal".