Photo Journal Mondays: Dorothée Nowak
© Dorothée Nowak
Tell me her story because was is only the half of it is a documentary project based on Nowak’s family immigration history from Poland to France in 1938.
© Dorothée Nowak
The project focuses on the journey her grandmother, Teresa, began with her family when she was only 11 years old. Born in 1927, she was raised in Ostrów Wielkopolski (Poland) which was, before the end of World War II, in the territories of the Republic of Germany. Her family left on the eve of the Second World War by train and arrived in the north of France.
© Dorothée Nowak
In December 2016, Nowak went to Europe and traveled to Poland and France in order to find out more about her polish roots. In Ostrów Wielkopolskki, she researches traces of family member in the National Archives where she was able to know more about Teresa’s father, Stanislaw. Jozefa, her great-grandmother, remains a mystery as no traces about her were found. The only thing known about Jozefa is that she was a single child living in Krempe, a neighborhood near Ostrów Wielkopolski’s center. This area was destroyed during WWII. Nothing concrete emerged from the research in Europe. Yet, the idea that Teresa’s mother Jozefa was from a Jewish family is growing as she found out that her last child’s name was Salomea. Although, it is only a couple of month ago that she discovered it. Salomea comes from the Hebrew “Shalom” and means “peace.”
© Dorothée Nowak
Tell me her story because War is only the half of it is about her quest in order to find out more about her roots and a portrait of a family whose descendants escaped their homeland on the eve of the WWII.
© Dorothée Nowak
