Yesterday I received an e-mail from Interinfo containing an exact translation of the letter to Russia that was returned to my Grandfather in 1917.
I'd gotten a rough translation of this letter several years ago from a Czech researcher, the Reverend Jan Dus. Since I'm now in contact with a researcher in the Ukraine (because that's where John and Uncle Jim were born) I asked for a translation done by a Ukrainian -- someone who would be fluent in the language of our letter - Ukrainianized Russian.
In reading this updated translation, I was at first confused because the writer has just been drafted into the U.S. army and has a girlfriend in the Ukraine. I recognized that Military Service during WWI was our Great-Uncle Jim's story, not my Grandfather's. When the writer finally says he's listing his brother's address as his contact information, it became clear that this letter was, in fact, written by Jim. Jim makes a very poetic observation about friends and mountains that's beautiful and heartbreaking. The request for detailed information about his girlfriend may explain why he never married.
The Austrian passport we have is definitely Jim's, as we realized a few years ago while comparing it to passenger arrival information on the Ellis Island website. The Zvolanek family photo was taken after our Grandfather left Ukrainia -- John is not in that photo. Since Jim is standing at the far right of the photo, he probably brought it to the United States with him. So, at least some of the paperwork we've had all these years belonged to Uncle Jim.
The letter of 1917 was perhaps passed on to our Grandma Mabel upon Jim's death in 1964, or, more likely, kept by our Grandfather John upon its return - undelivered - to John Zvolanek's home address in late 1917 or early 1918.
Waclav Zvolanek, "Uncle Jim" -- the true author of The Returned Letter.
Regardless of which documents originally belonged to each brother, both Grandpa's and Uncle Jim's papers have enabled me to find out a lot about our Ancestry and to continuously update new information on this blog. I've recently found another Czech researcher who believes that with the verification of our Great-Grandfather's birthplace in Krucemburk, he can trace our Zvolanek family back 4 generations within the Czech Republic. I hope that's the case, and I look forward to uncovering more surprises about our Zvolanek family. Given that we knew next to nothing, everything is a surprise!
Currently, Interinfo is trying to find out what happened to Great-Grandfather and Grandpa John's siblings after this letter was returned, a question central to my research. Jim's letter mentions that his family was still writing to him from Jahubec in 1917. We now have official documentation about their residence and activities in the Ukraine up until 1914 - three years before Uncle Jim wrote this letter home. But I'm staying on the trail until we find documentation that gives us insight about what happened to them beyond October 1917, which was the beginning of the Russian Revolution - and the apparent end of all correspondence.
Here, now, is an excellent translation of the Returned Letter, originally written in Russian by our Uncle Jim, Waclav Zvolanek. In it, he mentions the names of his brothers Edward, Joseph and other family members, names that our Grandfather passed on to his sons, names that have been recently verified by the Russian Documents retrieved by Interinfo:
Page 1
November 25, 1917
Dear parents and brother and sister-in-law,
My greetings to you, dear parents and brother and sister-in-law. In the first lines of my letter I would like to inform you that, thank God, I am safe and sound; recently I have been drafted into the military, and I wish you all the best and every success in your undertakings, and bow low to you all and kiss you hard. I would also like to inform you that on November 25 I received your letter (the month is illegible, looks like November), for which I am very grateful as I had learned from it about the developments in Russia and your life there.
Dear parents, I do not know the reason for your not receiving my letters. About my becoming a soldier
Page 1B
I wrote 2 letters. But judging from your letter of August 20 you did not seem to have received my letter by then. Perhaps, it was lost or its delivery may still be pending. And if you receive this letter, please reply instantly, and I also beg Edward and my sister-in-law to write me something. And if you receive this letter, please also write to Brother Jozef how I am getting on and what service I am now in. I thought that I had saved my life, but Holy God knows what’s going to happen next, and whatever happens I will write you about it. Dear parents, I also enclose some photographs to remember me and ask you to give them to all the relatives, and besides
Page 2
I ask you to give one photograph to my girlfriend, Antonina Kopernitska. I also request you to tell them that I would be very much glad to write to them as well. I wrote 2 letters to them, too, and have no idea if they received them. Perhaps, they did not, as I have not got any reply yet, and I don’t know the reason why. Therefore, I ask you, dear sister-in-law, Mrs. Edward Zvolanek, if you receive this letter and the photographs, please write a letter to Antonina telling her how I am getting on and about my life as a soldier in America.
Page 2B
Please ask her in your letter if she got married and how Milka is getting on, etc. I also request you to write me about your children and how they are. Dear parents, I think of you and Russia a lot. I recall how I lived there and what I did while growing up, and I also often recollect where I walked, along with the places I used to visit, villages, etc., and I will never forget anything of that. If I am alive, we may probably meet again. As they say, friends may meet, but mountains never greet. It may happen just this way.
Dear parents, with great pleasure I ask you not to forget about me, and on my part I promise I will never forget about you.
Dear parents, please keep correspondence with
Page 3
my Brother (the brother’s name is not indicated, instead the word Brother is used) Ivanovich Zvolanek, and I will ask him not to forget you either, moreover, I will ask him to communicate his address to you; and in case you do not have the address, here it is. Write it the way I put it here, as follows:
Mr.John Zvolanek
Du Bois Nebr.
Du BoisNebr.
That’s all.
Fare you well, while I remain your brother Vasiliy I.Z. (I.probably stands for Ivanovich (son of Ivan) and Z. - for Zvolanek). Thank God, I am alive and well, kissing all of you hard and looking forward to receiving your reply. Zbohem. (means good-bye in Czech).
Page 3B
Dear parents, with great pleasure I ask you to write me about how you all are getting on and who is now in Mr. Martin’s workshop. Please also give my best regards to (illegible abbreviation). Tell him that I am very much grateful to him for his training and that I will write to him as well with due respect. Thank you for teaching me, so that now I can earn my living. And now good bye,
Zbohem. (Good-bye!) I (and) Zbohem. (Good-bye!)
I still have one question about the very last page (3B) of the letter. It appears to be a letter within a letter, again greeting parents and friends, again saying goodbye. So perhaps Grandfather John placed a quick note into Uncle Jim's letter before it was sealed and mailed to the Ukraine. The original handwriting on this last page is larger, wider and quicker, less exacting than the prior pages... and it would certainly make sense that Jim invited his brother John to add a quick hello to his family in Ukrainia.
*****
About Jim's statement, "friends may meet, but mountains never greet." This is a Romanian proverb. It's also listed on the internet as an Italian Proverb. Shakespeare ironically alluded to in "As You Like It" (iii. 2), by Celia—"It is a hard matter for friends to meet; but mountains may be removed with earthquakes and so encounter." I found a nice link about Russian proverbs that includes Jim's - along with several other fun and interesting proverbs. The author of this article states that "every adult Russian language speaker (over 20 years of age) knows no fewer than 800 proverbs."
I'll close for now with a Russian proverb that fits all my research quite nicely: Blizok lokot', da ne ukusish'. -- The elbow is near, but you can't bite it! -- So near, yet so far.
