Interesting People: Antonina and Wojciech
Welcome to what I hope will be the first of a new series of caches, interesting people found in cemeteries. While some of them might be famous people, the majority will be just random people with interesting stories. These two stories take place during WWII.
This is a three-stage multi, with the first two stages able to be done in either order. You'll need to visit the graves of two interesting people in order to figure out the coordinates for the final.
Grave #1 - Visit Antonina Demczyna at N 44 08.451 W 77 24.937
This series was inspired by Antonina Demczyna. At some stage, I acquired a book written by her called "From East to West". It recounts her life during WWII, starting with the invasion of her village, Maloarchangelsk in Ukraine in October of 1941, and then subsequently being shipped by train to Germany and being forced to work in a labour camp for a number of years. Despite the hardships endured, she ended up falling in love with Stefan who was also a POW, got married and had twins while in the labour camp. It then outlines her journey west, eventually arriving in Montreal, and then settling in Belleville where she lived the rest of her life fulfilling the vow made as a young girl in the labour camp that "whoever should survive that hell would tell the world." Along the bottom of her grave is the inscription ВІЧНАЯ ПАМЯТЬ or Eternal Memory. More information can be found online about her if you are interested. This is not required for the cache.
You need to answer the following questions from her grave.
A = Look at the very top of her grave, you'll find a number of holes drilled in to mount something at some stage. X is the number of holes. So A = X+755
B = Based purely on the grave marker, the age of Antonia when she passed away (Year - Year), minus 77.
C = Based purely on the grave marker, the age of Stefan when he passed away (Year - Year), minus 58
D = Above her name is a shield graphic, with some text above it; how many characters is this?
Grave #2 - Visit Wojciech Rogoziński at N 44 08.486 W 77 24.954
While trying to find Antonia's grave, I noticed this nearby grave. Unlike Antonia whose story is available in print and online, I wasn't able to find a whole lot about Wojciech personally, but did find some infomation about his family. The following is a likely reference to his family that I found online.
"There was a group of Jews sheltered in the cellar of their house. Early in January 1943, when the Rogoziñskis were away, their Volksdeutch neighbours brought in the Gestapo. The Gestapo threatened that the whole village would be punished if the Rogozinskis didn't show up, with the result that they were given away to the Germans by their neighbours"
Reading his grave, I'm sure his stories were just as horrible, and yet inspirational as he not only survived but thrived.
You need to answer the following questions from his grave.
E = How many concentration camps did he survive?
F = What was his career? Doctor = 1, Dentist = 2, Politician = 3, Economist = 4
G = Finish this text - "Rest in Peace, Dearest ....." Brother = 1, Father = 2, Papa = 3, Uncle = 4
H = What was he the last of? Escapees = 15, Rogozinskis = 30, Prisoner of War = 45, Masons = 60
The final can be found by visiting N 44 B.A W ED CG.FH
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' (George Santayana-1905)