Posted by Kristen on July 1, 2002, 7:32 pm --Previous Message--
: Madsen reminiscing.
: I have read everyone's contribution on this
: topic. Okay, you've done it - you have
: drawn me in!
: I spent the first six years of my life in
: Madsen!
: 1952 - 1958
: Family History or Myth has me being born in a
: bathtub in Madsen or on the way to the
: Hospital or the Red Lake Hospital. If you
: want historic precision, go see John
: Richthammer - God chose John for Red Lake
: - lucky us! Now with gravel roads and my
: dad's Ford swerving back and forth and
: with my Mom in Labor - I don't know which
: option was more preferable - the tub - the
: car or the hospital.
: Madsen had a significant Polish Community at
: this time and as a consequence I had to
: learn English when I attended Grade 1 in
: Madsen. I think my parents thought that
: Madsen was an extension of Poland and that
: eventually everyone in Canada would speak
: Polish anyway. I know now this is an
: amazing colonial way of thinking! With
: Poland surrounded by three powerful
: neighbors one would think that this would
: have inhibited colonial ambitions somewhat
: - but with my parents this does not seem
: to have been a problem.
: The contrast between where the Kaluzny's
: originate from and Madsen was drastic to
: put it mildly.
: The Kaluzny's come from a small farming
: community right smack in the middle of
: Poland. A little Hamlet called Niewiec
: (translated into English as 'Don't
: Believe') My grandfather was a political
: activist, farmer and musician who
: administrated an area of about 40 farming
: families. The cemetery in Niewiec has four
: distinctive graves - the simple cross with
: the Polish Eagle for polish soldiers - the
: monument for the mass killings - the
: families who had enough survivors to fund
: head stones for their survivors - the
: compacted earthen mound with a window (a
: lord's grave or some say the grave of
: ancient Polish Kings) This was the old
: world.
: Madsen - hard rocking mining - Head Frame -
: Tailings Pit - Mill - Forests - Fishing -
: Hunting - Freedom from Communism -
: opportunity for those that chose to work
: hard. This was the new world.
: This amalgam of old world and new world came
: together on the soccer fields of the Red
: Lake District. The first game played in
: Madsen in 1954 (See Article in Red Lake
: News dated May 13 1981) on the tailings
: flats commonly known as the cyanide flats.
: World Class soccer - in Madsen - in
: Canada!
: When I sing 'Oh Canada' I also sing the
: Polish National Anthem with the same
: breath. I think many peoples of the world
: who have settled here do the same. No one
: minds.
: Madsen was our door to the Freedom and
: Opportunities offered by this great
: country.
: Les Kaluzny
:
Happy Canada Day Les.
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