Danuta Śmiałowska

"Mr. and Mrs. Łopaczyńscy were good friends of my parents. They couldn’t have children so they used to ‘borrow’ me for the holiday. My parents would always choose laying on the beach at the seaside which never interested me. So many things happened in Leotopol at the same time! First of all – horses were there and I am absolutely crazy about horses so it was enough for me to be there. Beside that the place, had such a special atmosphere and the local colours! Everything was like the gold old times. An old noble butler was still there – I can’t remember his name – and he was the last butler there. I remember a women worked as a equerry. She owned a bunch of keys and was the one who administrated the kitchen. The keys hung down attached to her belt and she kept her eye on everything! We all were in the habit of making tea together on the terrace on the garden side. Adults had coffee, we had cucumbers – it was a speciality of the Vilnius region – fresh cucumbers with honey… honeycomb. It was extreme fun and pleasure, a local delicacy. The cucumbers were just plucked. They were so fresh and good with the honeycomb, delicious! What else happened there – we could ride horses. The place was near the border and the Border Protection Corps stationed there. We made friends with the young colonel, his wife and son so they often came around to see us or to have tea with us. The colonel used to take me and a priest from the village on patrol. We rode horses through the forests, we knew the secret password… That was really a pleasant experience. We also had harvest a festival that was celebrated very sumptuously in the park. Tables were full of food, barrels with a tar were served as torches and lit up the whole park. Buckets with vodka and special cups to scoop it were everywhere! The best thing ever was when people were coming back from the field, carrying crops and singing at the same time. They sang in the Belorussian language. In general, they used Belorussian so even Russian was a familiar language for me. Even though I’ve never learned it, I could speak Russian. If you asked them about their nationality, everyone would answer in one way – “local inhabitant”. Not Polish, not Belorussian – just „local inhabitant”. Those “locals” always gave me a special wreath in the harvest festival. Even though I wasn’t there they would bring it for a ‘little lady” – as they called me. As I spent so much time in the stables I was very popular with the carters. Over and over again, some of them used to come to see a Mr Łopaczynski and they asked him – “If the little lady feels like going dancing, will you let her go Mr Łopaczyśki?”. Mr Łopaczyński always agreed and I, as a little lady always had a will to go, so dances in Leontopol had no end! I used to wear a snow-white dress that I found full of dark marks with the shape on handprints after every party. They were finger-marks of my dear hardworking friends from the stables. What else I can say about Leontopol…. It was a dream land for me. Simply the most beautiful place in the World".

"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".