We met and stayed with the Vira family. It is quite traditional for men to build their own homes and Peter built his with the help of friends. He is an electrician, but also very good at woodwork. They have a large four bedroom home with family room, beautiful fireplace that he made from recovered ceramic tiles.
Members of the Krupka family joined us for dinner. A traditional dinner was served of Sunday soup with homemade noodles, meat and potatoes. Magda (Peter's wife) is a very good cook and fussed over everyone. We have a feeling we are not going to lose any weight here.
After dinner, we all brought out our photos and took some too.
Left to right, Peter Vira, Walter Krupka, Hilde, wife of Ludwig (deceased), Marta Krupka, who Ida first contacted, Ida, her son Paul, Magda Kakutova (nee Oswald), Magda Virova (wife of Peter), and Zuzannah, Peter and Maya (children of Peter and Magda).
We learned a few things that first night. Both families were orginally German. The Oswalds arrived in Slovakia in the early 1500s and Anton Oswald senior (Ida's grandfather) arrived in Hniezdne in the 1800s. We are not sure where he is from, but are confident he is from a local village in this area.
The Oswalds and Krupkas were able to identify people in our photos that Ida did not know and vice versa. We had pictures that they did not have and they had a TON of photos that we did not have. Nearly everyone had a set of photos for Ida to keep. The photos tell a fascinating story of family life in this small village and....they had lots of pictures of some of ourfamily in Canada and the US. Ida was quite taken aback by all of this.
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