MY father and his family emigrated from war-torn Europe some time after the end of the second World War. Ukrainian by birth, my grandparents were lucky to have survived the Holodomor. The Great Famine of 1932 to 1933, a manmade famine responsible for the deaths of millions of ethnic Ukrainians and arguably an act of genocide by the Soviet government against its own people. They then had to deal with the Nazi invasion and were lucky to survive a two year journey on foot, ultimately settling in Regensburg in Germany.
It was from here that they embarked on another journey to Australia and eventually settled in Newcastle. My dad doesn't really discuss much about his history, his memories of Ukraine, Poland, Germany or his eventual journey to Australia. Every now and then he does volunteer a small piece of information about his early life, war-torn Europe or being a refugee in Australia in the 50s.
